Bloomberg North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday morning, a move that came after Kim Jong Un’s regime strongly criticized US-South Korea joint military drills. US Pacific Command said afternoon that two of the missiles flew 250 kilometers (155 miles), clarifying an earlier statement that an initial assessment had indicated they failed in flight. The other appeared to …

TAL AFAR / Reuters Iraqi forces have dislodged IS from 70 percent of Tal Afar, a stronghold of the militants in northwestern Iraq, including its central citadel neighborhood, officials and military commanders said on Saturday. “Seventy percent of the city has been liberated…. God willing, the remaining part will be liberated soon,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a …

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley pressed the International Atomic Energy Agency to seek access to Iranian military bases to ensure that they are not concealing activities banned by the 2015 nuclear deal. “I have good confidence in the IAEA, but they are dealing with a country that has a clear history of lying …

DUBAI / Reuters An air raid struck a building in Yemen’s capital, killing at least 12 people, six of them children, when an adjacent apartment block collapsed, residents said. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) denounced the loss of life as outrageous and put the death toll in the early morning attack on the Faj Attan area of …

Bloomberg On a Saturday in mid-August, Iranian entrepreneur Mehdi Nayebi received an email from Apple Inc.’s App Store Review stating that his application, AloPeyk, a delivery service in Tehran, had been removed due to sanctions put in place by the US government. He wasn’t the only one. About a dozen other Iran-focused apps, including Delion Foods, a meals delivery startup, …

Bloomberg When the US government finally got around to regulating auto safety in 1967, it insisted that every car have seatbelts and that the steering column be engineered to absorb impact so it wouldn’t spear the driver. The safety rulebook has since swelled to nearly 900 pages and encompasses everything from electronic stability control to rear-view backup cameras. Through all …

DUBAI / Emirates Business A developer for innovative technologies; I-Life Digital Technology announced launch of its advanced All-in-One (PAIO) PC under its Zed product series. The ultra-slim ZedPC is designed to offer business and home users the best PC experience at a valuable price. Powered by latest Intel Celeron Processor, Intel HD Graphics & Windows 10 operating system, the ZedPC …

DUBAI / Emirates Business The new LG SIGNATURE brand from LG Electronics (LG), which combines finest of LG’s cutting-edge technology and world-class design with an exquisite attention to detail for today’s most discerning consumers, has been launched across the GCC. The ultra-premium brand was unveiled at a gala ceremony at the Dubai Opera. The rich and exquisite design of the …

Bloomberg Few companies have come to symbolise China’s global ambitions quite like HNA Group Co. In just three years, the private conglomerate has invested at least $45 billion around the world. How did HNA pay for it all? That question is gaining new urgency as Beijing moves to curb debt-fueled overseas investments that could ultimately pose risks to the nation’s …

Reuters Nigeria’s central bank said it is setting up two financial instruments to provide liquidity support to its non-interest paying lenders. It is a push by Nigeria, home to the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, to establish itself as the African hub for Islamic finance, which follows religious principles such as bans on interest and gambling. The central bank …