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  TUNIS / Reuters Oil and gas industry contractor Petrofac is halting gas production in Tunisia after two weeks of renewed protests on the southern Kerkennah islands, officials said on Wednesday. The announcement comes just three months after Petrofac restarted operations at Kerkennah’s Chergui gas field, following nine months of disruptions due to protests. Petrofac had threatened in September to ...

  CAIRO / Reuters Edita Food Industries, one of Egypt’s largest snack food producers, said on Wednesday it was raising prices by between 20 and 50 percent amid higher input costs due to the drop in the value of the Egyptian pound last month. Inflation surged to an eight-year high of 19.4 percent in November, propelled by a steep depreciation ...

  Bloomberg Oil retreated from the highest close since July 2015 as focus shifted to expanding US crude stockpiles after OPEC and other producing nations agreed to cut output to stabilize the market. Futures slid as much as 1.7 percent in New York after climbing 6.5 percent over the previous four sessions. US inventories rose by 4.68 million barrels last ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabian Oil Co. signed contracts with US companies to build dozens of oil rigs over 10 years as the kingdom builds for the long-term future of its most prized industry even while coordinating with other producers to cut output for six months to stabilize crude. The Saudi state producer known as Saudi Aramco signed a contract with ...

  Bloomberg Sharply falling water levels at Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa dam, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest hydropower plant, are threatening electricity supplies to countries including South Africa, which buys about a third of its output. Levels are the lowest Phil Bezuidenhout, a lodge owner at the dam, has seen in the 24 years he’s operated on its shores in the country’s northwest. ...

  Rome / AFP Italy’s parliament on Wednesday endorsed a new government tipped to be so short-lived that its inauguration was seen as the start of battle for the next election. Incoming Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s new line-up, appointed after Matteo Renzi quit a week ago following a crushing referendum defeat, was approved by 169 votes for to 99 against ...

  Washington / AFP President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Texas governor Rick Perry, who once famously said he would abolish the Energy Department, to serve as its secretary Wednesday. The nomination puts Perry, the oil-rich state’s longest-serving governor, in charge of a vast array of energy oversight, including enhancement of nuclear security and science and innovation in the energy field. “As ...

  The Hague / AFP A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that priceless Crimean art treasures loaned to an Amsterdam museum shortly before Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014 should go back to Ukraine. Four Crimean museums launched a joint legal bid in November 2014 to force the Allard Pierson Museum to return the historic collection of archeological artefacts, displayed in ...

  Sydney / AFP The United States will keep challenging Beijing’s “assertive, aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea”, the US Pacific commander said on Wednesday, as tensions between two powers rise over comments by Donald Trump. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, warned Washington would not accept Chinese control of the region, despite Beijing’s rapid development of ...

  London / AFP Britain’s divorce from the European Union could involve a transition arrangement “if necessary”, but a deal should be possible within 18 months, Brexit minister David Davis said Wednesday. The hardline eurosceptic told a committee of British lawmakers that such an arrangement could be struck “if it’s necessary, and only if it’s necessary” but that a deal ...