Aleppo / AFP Opposition-controlled parts of Syria’s battered northern city Aleppo came under total siege on Sunday, after government forces severed the last route out of the east. Beleaguered rebels have failed to thwart a major Russian-backed army offensive around Aleppo city, which has been devastated by the country’s five-year conflict. On Sunday, regime fighters descended on the Castello ...

Hanoi, Vietnam / AFP Scores of activists were detained in Vietnam’s capital on Sunday as they gathered to protest against China after it rejected a recent international ruling that dismissed its claims to much of the South China Sea. Anti-Chinese sentiment runs deep in communist Vietnam but the country’s authoritarian rulers move swiftly to tamp down expressions of public anger, ...

  Multan / AFP The brother of a murdered Pakistani celebrity said Sunday he is “not embarrassed” to have killed her, as Qandeel Baloch’s death reignited polarising calls for action against the “epidemic” of honour killings. The strangling of Baloch, judged as infamous by many in deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan for selfies and videos that by Western standards would appear ...

  Bloomberg Most Gulf stock indexes rose, even after an attempted coup in Turkey that began on Friday rattled global markets. Saudi Arabia’s Almarai Co., the region’s largest publicly-traded packaged-food manufacturer, climbed as much as 5.5 percent before closing 2.3 percent higher as it posted a 19 percent increase in second-quarter profit. It was the third-biggest contributor to the Tadawul ...

  Bloomberg A trucker’s strike delaying coffee exports from Colombia and the stronger Brazilian real have widened the price gap between arabica and robusta beans to the most in 17 months. Shipments from Colombia, the second-largest producer of arabica, may fall 50 percent this month as truckers block roads and prevent beans from reaching the ports, said Carlos Ignacio Rojas, ...

  BLOOMBERG The Turkish government moved swiftly to calm investors before financial markets reopen on Monday after a failed coup, with the central bank promising unlimited liquidity to lenders and the deputy prime minister posting on Twitter that there’s “no need to worry.” Turkey’s lira plunged the most against the dollar in eight years on Friday as tanks rolled through ...

  Cairo / AFP The final leg of an unprecedented world tour by a solar-powered plane was postponed due to the pilot’s health, he said in a message on Twitter. The Solar Impulse 2 had been scheduled to leave Cairo for Abu Dhabi. “I’m sick. Stomach upset. I prefer to postpone the take-off @solarimpulse. I cannot go flying for 48 ...

  Miami / AFP SpaceX is poised to launch its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station on Monday, carrying a key piece of equipment that was lost last year in a rocket explosion. The international docking adapter will function as a parking spot for space taxis, enabling commercial spaceships carrying astronauts to latch on securely to the orbiting ...

  Washington / AP Americans spent more money at retailers and factories revved up production in June, offering encouraging signs of the US economy’s resilience in the face of global headwinds. Industrial production shot up 0.6 percent, fuelled by a big rebound in auto output. It was the best showing since last August. Meanwhile, retail sales also rose 0.6 percent last ...

  CHICAGO / AP Chicago is planning a multibillion dollar effort to expand the city’s O’Hare International Airport that includes more gates, larger terminals and upgraded amenities. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the latest modernisation plans this week. They include new gates in O’Hare’s international terminal, which has not been expanded since it opened 23 years ago. The planning process is expected ...