World briefs

CHINA Revived appetite for emerging market stocks and bonds is starting to include China – and even its embattled currency.

HONG KONG shares fell the most in three weeks on speculation recent gains were excessive relative to earnings prospects. The Hang Seng Index slid 0.8 percent at the close.

KOREA A North Korean ballistic missile fired from a submarine yesterday flew about 500 kilometers in the longest flight by that type of weapon, Seoul officials said, a range that can place much of South Korea within its striking distance. North Korea on Tuesday asked for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council in relation to joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, which the country claims are bringing the parties “to the brink of a war”. More on p13

THAILAND Two bombs exploded near a hotel in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand, killing one employee and wounding 29 people, police and hospital officials said yesterday. The explosions occurred late Tuesday outside the Southern Hotel in Pattani; a region where Muslim separatists have waged an insurgency since 2004.

SINGAPORE Sellapan Ramanathan, Singapore’s president from 1999 to 2011, died this week at age 92, the government announced. Widely known as S.R. Nathan, the country’s sixth and longest-serving president was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a stroke on July 31.
TURKEY’s military and the U.S.-backed coalition forces yesterday launched an operation to clear a Syrian border town from Islamic State militants, Turkey’s prime minister’s office said. The operation was launched hours before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was due in Ankara for talks that include developments in Syria.

FRANCE Fewer foreign tourists are visiting the Paris region after deadly attacks last year and a season of strikes, violent labor action and exceptional floods. Reported figures for the first half of 2016 showed that the drop was especially high among Japanese, Russian and Chinese visitors.

CANADA Prosecutors say a Canadian man caught pulling a sled carrying more than 280,000 prescription pills across the border into Vermont has been sentenced to a year in prison. Authorities say the man was found with about USD1.6 million worth of Xanax pills.