BEIJING / WAM A Chinese government space agency successfully launched its first rocket meant for commercial use as firms in the country compete to join a commercial satellite boom, Reuters quoted state television CCTV as saying. Smart Dragon-1 rocket, which weighs 23 tonnes and was developed by a unit of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) successfully delivered three …

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways’s flight attendants unions said they were “saddened” and “regret” the departure of CEO Rupert Hogg and Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Paul Loo. In a Facebook post published on Sunday, the unions representing flight attendants of Cathay Pacific and sister firm Hong Kong Dragon Airlines said the resignations were made to “take up the collective responsibility …

Bloomberg Caviar and seared tuna will be on the menu for Virgin Galactic astronauts in training when they arrive at the company’s new home in the desert scrublands of southern New Mexico. As they gaze out at the mountains east of the otherworldly structure, a master of espresso arts will dose out shots from a barista island, accompanied by multiple …

Bloomberg Entry for people arriving at airports across the US began returning after a Customs and Border Protection computer system failed, forcing the manual processing of passengers on a busy summer travel day. The system was being restored and passengers being processed, the agency said in a statement at 6:25 pm New York time. The failure was isolated to operations …

KHARTOUM / WAM The UAE on Saturday expressed its support for Sudan in its quest to create a polit-ical system capable of achieving the development of the state and driving the country towards a prosperous future, affirmed Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State. In a statement following his participation in the ceremony held in Khartoum to …

Bloomberg Drones attacked oil and gas facilities at the Shaybah field in southeast Saudi Arabia but failed to disrupt production, the kingdom’s Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih said. Aramco extinguished a small fire at a natural gas liquids plant at Shaybah on Saturday morning, it said in a statement. There were no casualties and oil operations were not interrupted by the …

Bloomberg For Brits looking to escape the UK in an increasingly wet August, the pound might offer some relief with a recovery against the euro. Sterling ended a record run of losses against the common currency this week and analysts are cautiously optimistic on its near-term prospects. Growing resistance among opposition lawmakers to a no-deal Brexit has led traders to …

Bloomberg China’s biggest energy company is backing away from direct purchases of Venezuelan crude as the Trump administration tightens sanctions against the South American nation. China National Petroleum Corp. has canceled plans to load about 5 million barrels worth of Venezuelan oil onto ships this month in the aftermath of the latest executive order by President Donald Trump, according to …

Bloomberg Total SA is committed to developing the Mozambique natural gas project that it will take over from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. as part of its expansion in Africa, the company said. The project, to cost as much as $23 billion to develop, will be Africa’s biggest single investment, and Mozambique is counting on it to transform the economy. The southeastern …

Bloomberg Facebook Inc has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe clips of audio from users of its services, according to people with knowledge of the work. The work has rattled the contract employees, who are not told where the audio was recorded or how it was obtained — only to transcribe it, said the people, who requested anonymity …