Bloomberg BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s biggest mining company, forecast that iron ore production could be flat this fiscal year, while it sees petroleum output declining as much as 17 percent and the prices of its top earning materials remaining volatile. Capital spending on oil assets will plunge 44 percent to about US$1.4 billion in the year, after petroleum …

  Bloomberg A crippling drought in Vietnam will probably cause the government to miss its 6.7 percent growth target this year, adding to pressure on new Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as he seeks to reassure investors of his economic reforms. The economy will need to expand 7.6 percent in the second half of the year to achieve its full-year …

  Bloomberg Japan’s largest mobile phone carriers are poised to report the highest quarterly profit in at least a decade, a rare bright spot as aggregate earnings at the nation’s largest companies slump under a stronger yen and weak consumer confidence. Operating income at the three largest carriers will probably rise 6 percent in aggregate to 858 billion yen (US$8 …

  AFP Oil prices rose on bargain-buying in Asia on Wednesday after hitting two-month lows but gains were hobbled by concerns about an oversupply and weak demand after the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecasts. Investors are playing a holding game ahead of the release later in the day of official US stockpile figures, which will provide a better …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants are locked in a grinding conflict with no end in sight even after the botched coup, following a year of renewed fighting that has sown death and devastation in Turkey’s southeast. The coup bid on Friday to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was staged by disgruntled members of the Turkish …

  Ankara / AFP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday chaired a crunch security meeting for the first time since the failed coup, after a widening purge that has seen around 50,000 people either detained or sacked. The Turkish air force meanwhile launched its first strikes since Friday’s putsch against targets of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in …

  Washington / AFP US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen urged Washington to reject Turkey’s efforts to extradite him and rejected as “ridiculous” the claim he was behind the past week’s coup attempt. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics,” Gulen said in a statement. …

  London / AFP Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has released nearly 300,000 emails linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, with Turkey immediately blocking access on Wednesday. WikiLeaks said the emails came from the party’s web domain akparti.org.tr and mainly related to world affairs and not “the most sensitive internal matters”. It said the emails, which date between …

  Jerusalem / AFP Israel’s parliament passed a controversial law that allows the ouster of members accused of racial incitement, which critics have said is intended to target opposition Arab legislators. The bill, supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allows parliament to vote to sack a member “who incites racism or supports armed struggle against the state of Israel”. The …

  Paris / AFP Three French soldiers have been killed in Libya, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, in the first confirmation that France has troops in the country where the IS extremist group has rear bases. “Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian regrets the loss of three French officers who died while on mission in Libya,” the ministry said in …