Chinese Consortium to Buy Glencore Xstrata's Peru Copper Mine for $5.85bn

The logo of Glencore is pictured in front of the company's headquarters in the Swiss town of Baar

Natural resource giant Glencore Xstrata has agreed to sell its entire interest in the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru to a Chinese consortium, completing a condition set by Chinese authorities to approve the mammoth merger between Glencore and Xstrata.

The Chinese consortium led by MMG will pay $5.85bn (£3.5bn, €4.2bn) in cash to the commodities trader as consideration. Other members in the consortium are GUOXIN International Investment Corporation and CITIC Metal Company.

In addition, all capital expenditure and other costs incurred in developing Las Bambas in the period from 1 January, 2014 to closing of the sale will be payable by the consortium.

As at the end of March, the company's total capital expenditure and other costs incurred for the mine since the start of 2014 totalled $400m.

"Since we acquired Xstrata on 2nd May 2013, our team has taken decisive steps to de-risk Las Bambas, which has culminated in this compelling offer from the Consortium," Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said in a statement.

"Our willingness to sell reflects the level of the offer and our conviction that we can utilise the sale proceeds to create additional shareholder value."

The company said it would use the proceeds for further investment opportunities, adding that it would return any surplus capital to shareholders.

The transaction is subject to approvals by the China Ministry of Commerce and MMG shareholders. The transaction is supported by China Minmetals Non-Ferrous Metals Company, which holds about 74% of the share capital of Hong Kong-listed MMG.

The sale of Las Bambas was required to secure approval from China's competition authorities for Glencore's takeover of Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata.

Ever since the mine was put on sale, analysts have been expecting a Chinese buyer for the asset due to the high demand for copper in the country. China is already the largest consumer of copper in the world.

Las Bambas is scheduled to start production in 2015. It is expected to produce more than 450,000 tonnes of copper per year in its first five years of production and 300,000 tonnes per year thereafter.

Former Libyan Dictator Gaddafi's Sons Face Trial for War Crimes

Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son Said al-Islam stands accused of war crimes alongside dozens of members of the country's former ruling elite.Reuters

Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's two sons will stand trial on Monday accused of war crimes against civilians during the country's 2011 civil war.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his younger brother Saadi are accused of orchestrating a campaign of murder, torture and bombardment of civilians, and will appear alongside Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi, two former prime ministers and 34 senior officials.

The defendants are accused of masterminding several massacres in the early days of Libya's revolution and later rounding up, torturing and killing hundreds of opponents.

Saif al-Islam and Saadi are also accused of appropriating state funds to fund extravagant lifestyles abroad.

Due to security fears, the trial has been moved to Tripoli's maximum security al-Hadba prison, which has been surrounded by armoured cars and barbed wire.

Although few details of the case have been released, documents filed by Libya with the International Criminal Court (ICC) reveal a substantial charge sheet, with 40,000 pages of evidence and over 200 witnesses.

Among the pieces of evidence central to the case are telephone intercepts which allegedly recorded the accused of ordering war crimes and a video, confirmed by ICC judges as genuine, which depicts Senussi giving orders to "destroy these filthy groups altogether".

The ICC, which charged Saif al-Islam and Senussi, has yet to agree to Libya's request to try both men at home. Judges at The Hague ruled that Saif al-Islam must be sent to the ICC and his lawyers are lodging an appeal against a decision that Libya is fit to try Senussi.

Government spokesman Ahmed Lamin insisted that the trial would be transparent and take place "according to the correct legal procedures".

The trial takes place against a backdrop of violence in Libya, with rebel militias blockading oil production in key ports.

Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni resigned on Sunday, weeks after his appointment, amid claims of threats and an attack on his family.

Foreign Man Dies of MERS Virus in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's MERS death toll now stands at 68.Reuters

A foreign national has died from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, bringing the nationwide death toll to 68.

The nationality of the 45-year-old man was not disclosed but the Saudi health ministry said eight further people, including five health workers, were infected by MERS in Jeddah.

The total number of people infected by the virus in the world's most affected country now stands at 189. MERS first appeared in Saudi Arabia in September 2012 and was initially concentrated in the eastern region before spreading to other areas.

Saudi health minister Abdullah al-Rabinah visited hospitals in Jeddah on Saturday, days after the virus spread among medical staff leading to the closure of the emergency room at the city's main public hospital.

Neighbouring Yemen reported its first case of MERS on Sunday, when a local man was revealed to have caught the disease.

Yemen's Public Health Minister Ahmed al-Ansi told al-Thawra newspaper: "Medical personnel have recorded one case of the coronavirus in Sanaa and the victim is a Yemeni man who works as an aeronautics engineer.

"The ministry is working in effective cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to confront this virus, and is in direct and constant communication with all hospitals to receive information on any other suspected cases."

The WHO said on Friday that it is aware of 212 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS worldwide, of which 88 have been fatal.

MERS is considered to be a deadlier but less transmissible variety of the SARS virus, which erupted in Asia in 2003, killing around 744 people and infecting over 8,000.

Pyramid Tour Guides Turn to Opium Farming as Visitors Shun Egypt

Cultivation of the opium poppy has increased since Egypt's tourism trade has dipped dramaticallyGetty

As the number of tourists visiting ancient Egyptian sites such as the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings continues to plummet, local guides are cultivating poppy fields for heroin to survive.

Tourism has dried up during the months of political unrest that followed the military overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Last September, Egypt experienced a 90% year-on-year drop in visitors from overseas. The latest figures show a further 28% fall, according to Middle East Monitor.

Sinai's Red Sea coast has been particularly badly affected. Hundreds of tourists returned home after a tourist bus was attacked in Taba in South Sinai, close to the Israeli border at Eilat in February. Four people were killed in the blast, including three South Korean visitors and the Egyptian driver.

Following the attack, many tour operators stopped running excursions from the Red Sea Resorts to nearby St Catherine's Monastery - the Greek Orthodox site that dates back to the 6th century.

The UK has advised against all travel to the Sinai region with the exception of the Sharm el-Sheikh resort.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, a large half-human half-lion statue on the Giza Plateau near CairoGetty

This dearth of visitors to the region has had a devastating effect on the 300,000 Bedouins who rely on foreign travellers for their livelihood.

Opium has been grown in south Sinai for many years, but - faced with poverty or worse - many more people are beginning to cultivate poppies.

"Most traffickers do their morphine refining close to the poppy fields, since compact morphine bricks are much easier to smuggle than bundles of pungent, jelly-like opium," says Alfred McCoy in The Politics of Heroin.

In Wadi Safra, east of St Catherine's Monastery, locals estimate there are over 100 poppy plots.

"Before the revolution, when there were still tourists, there was only 20% of the opium production that is happening now," Abu Salah, a Bedouin tour guide told the Sunday Times.

Last year, his field produced 340 ounces of opium which he sold to dealers at £27 an ounce. An ounce of opium costs £220 on the streets of Cairo. Salah claims he earns three times more than working as a tour guide.

Egypt has seen a big increase in opium use recently. "The youth are particularly using opium," says Amr Osman, manager of the National Front for Drug control. "The starting age is about 11 years old."

Opium was widely used in ancient Egypt. As the most potent form of pain relief then available, it allowed ancient surgeons to perform their work.