Istanbul / AFP Turkey on Wednesday denied agreeing to a US-brokered truce with Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, saying it would not compromise with a “terrorist” group a week into an unprecedented cross-border offensive. Washington said on Tuesday the two sides—both US allies—had agreed to a cessation of hostilities between their forces in Syria after deadly clashes at the ...

  New Delhi / AFP The United States is united with its allies in upholding freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea following a tribunal’s decision on the contested waters, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. Speaking on a visit to New Delhi, Kerry called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration tribunal’s ...

  Tripoli / AFP Thousands of migrants are “racing against the clock” to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Europe before summer ends, with authorities in the conflict-torn country at a loss to stem the flow. Abdel Hamid Al Souei of Libya’s Red Crescent said improved weather triggered this week’s mass outflow that has seen more than 10,000 migrants rescued ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is developing new features for the iPad to cater to professional users, along with new Mac laptops and desktops, according to people familiar with the matter. Upcoming software upgrades for the iPad include wider operating-system support for Apple’s stylus accessory, while hardware performance improvements are also in development, according to the people. The refreshed Mac hardware ...

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc. will tie up with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. on its Android Pay platform, a person with knowledge of the matter said, the latest move by a technology giant to tap Japan’s rapidly growing digital payments market. Starting as early as Japan’s autumn, users of certain Android-based mobile phones will be able to use MUFG’s debit ...

  Bloomberg The company that made its name by building cases for iPhones that double as battery packs is launching a new range of devices that will power and recharge any smartphone, past, present or future. Every year smartphones get smarter and faster and thanks to technological convergence, they’re also getting bigger in terms of display as they continue to ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s plan to allow Japanese customers to use iPhones to pay for their daily commute underscores the potential for digital payments to grow in a nation where people still prefer to hold cash. Japanese have for years been using rail passes that double as electronic money cards, which a growing number of retailers now accept for payments. ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Banks Federation announced that the MoU regarding the ownership and operation of the mWallet platform has been signed by all 16 UAE equity partner banks in the entity. The mWallet platform, which is the financial component of the UAE Smart Government initiative, or the mobile wallet, was initially unveiled in 2014 as an ...

  Dubai / EMIRATES BUSINESS Emirates Islamic, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, on Tuesday announced that it successfully closed a US$ 250 million tap of its earlier US$ 750 million 5-year Sukuk issued in May 2016. This is under the bank’s US$ 2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme. The tap generated an order book of US$ ...

Dubai / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Smart Dubai Office hosted 30 MBA students from the International Institute of Management Development (IMD), Switzerland for an interactive Smart Dubai workshop held at His Highness the Ruler’s Court yesterday. The one hour workshop included HE Dr Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office sharing an overview of the office, its current ...