U.S. on pace to lead world in oil output

Compiled from news services

The U.S. is on pace to leapfrog both Saudi Arabia and Russia and reclaim the title of the world’s biggest oil producer for the first time since the 1970s.

The latest forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that U.S. output will grow next year to 11.8 million barrels a day.

Saudi Arabia and Russia could upend that forecast by boosting their own production. In the face of rising global oil prices, members of the OPEC cartel and a few non-members including Russia agreed last month to ease production caps that had contributed to the runup in prices. The last decade or so has seen a revolution in American energy production, however, led by techniques including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling.

Comcast ups bid for Sky

LONDON— The battle for European pay TV service Sky escalated Wednesday as U.S. rivals Comcast and 21st Century Fox took turns upping the ante in their quest to expand their media empires.

The stakes now stand at 26 billion pounds ($34 billion) — the value of Comcast’s latest offer. That bid came after Fox raised its bid to 24.5 billion pounds ($32.5 billion) earlier in the day. Comcast’s new bid translates to 14.75 pounds per share, or 18 percent more than its original offer. Fox is dangling 14 pounds per share for the 61 percent of Sky that it doesn’t already own, more than 30 percent above its first bid in December 2016.

The duel for Sky is unfolding as Fox itself is the object of a takeover battle between Comcast and Disney.

U.S. eases ZTE regulation

The Commerce Department on Wednesday took a major step to loosen its restrictions on the controversial Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp., signing an escrow agreement that paves the way for the firm to continue doing business with U.S. companies.

The move came under pressure from President Donald Trump, who had told Chinese leader Xi Jinping he would help ZTE after the company was met with severe restrictions for violating U.S. sanctions.

The Commerce Department in April announced severe penalties against ZTE, punishment for violating sanctions by selling products to Iran and North Korea and then lying about its practices to federal investigators. Among other things, ZTE was barred from doing business with U.S. companies, a move that many in the U.S. and China believed would serve as a death sentence for the firm.

Afghan suicide bombing

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — Suicide bombers targeted an Education Department building in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, striking the commercial hub for the second time in 24 hours and killing at least 12 people.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of strikes on educational sites in the province. But suspicions quickly fell on the Islamic State group, which has a foothold in the region and has announced its plans to attack schools in retaliation for airstrikes and other military operations that have killed its fighters.

A suicide attack at a security checkpoint in the Khales Family area of Jalalabad on Tuesday killed at least eight civilians and two security officers, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar.

BEIJING — China slammed the U.S. threat to expand tariff hikes to imports including apples, fish sticks and French doors as a “totally unacceptable” escalation of their trade battle and vowed Wednesday to protect its “core interests.”

The government gave no details but the Commerce Ministry threatened “comprehensive measures.” That prompted fears Beijing might go beyond matching U.S. import tax increases.

The conflict over Chinese tech policy threatens to chill global economic growth. It stems from Washington’s belief that Beijing steals or pressures companies over

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Residents shoveled mud and debris to clear streets so they could get out for food and other supplies Wednesday in areas of western Japan hard hit by landslides and flooding that still swamped some areas.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited an evacuation center in the city of Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, where more than 40 of the 176 victims died. He ducked in front of an elderly woman sitting on the floor, and pledged to her that his government will do its utmost to bring back her ordinary life as soon as possible. About 200 residents were taking refuge at the shelter.

Thousands of rescue and recovery workers were searching for at least 79 people still missing.

In areas where searchand-rescue operations had ended, construction workers and residents worked in neighborhoods to clear mud and debris and restore vehicle access to the outside and get supplies and food.

In Hiroshima’s Asakita ward, resident Nobuaki Hyuga walked to a neighborhood convenience store but