WASHINGTON Political conventions are echo chambers designed to generate feelings of invincibility, sending forth the party faithful with a spring in their steps and hope in their hearts. Who would want to be a wet blanket at such moveable feasts? Steve Munisteri would. Although he calls himself “the eternal optimist,” he respects reality, which nowadays is not conducive to ...

  British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Berlin would largely focus on establishing working relationship with strong woman of Europe, German Chancellor Angel Merkel. This would be necessary when May triggers the Article 50 to kickstart the UK’s exit process from the European Union (EU). Ahead of her meeting with Merkel, she already took the first step towards Brexit ...

  Megan McArdle At first after the convention broke for the night on Monday, everyone on the cable news networks agreed that Melania Trump’s speech was good. An hour later everyone was talking about how much her apparent plagiarism from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech would hurt the Trump campaign. This morning Trump supporters are offering the only defense they can: ...

  Tajikistan appears to be inching toward joining the Eurasian Economic Union. With Dushanbe long suggested to be considering membership, this news ought to be taken with a grain of salt. According to Asia-Plus, the head of the Customs Service, Abdufattoh Ghoib (who had previously headed the anti-corruption service before President Emomali Ramon’s son took it over), told reporters on ...

  Bloomberg Positive earnings set the tone for equity markets while the dollar traded at a seven-week high as speculation grew the U.S. will raise interest rates this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average headed for a ninth straight gain, as Microsoft Corp. jumped after profit topped estimates. Technology companies and carmakers led the Stoxx Europe 600 Index higher as ...

  Bloomberg In the race to supply wheat to the world’s biggest buyer, Russia is running away with the prize. Russia has supplanted the U.S. as the top exporter of the grain and won the lion’s share of the wheat purchased in the first two tenders this season by Egypt, which buys huge amounts of wheat to provide citizens with ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Stock markets in Qatar and Saudi Arabia were pulled lower on Wednesday by two blue-chip companies whose weak second-quarter earnings missed forecasts, while Egypt was hurt by a fresh slide of its currency in the black market. Commercial Bank of Qatar slumped 6.6 percent after it posted a 63 percent drop in second quarter net attributable ...

  RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business National and international companies, with their operations in UAE, are doing their extra bit in enabling the country to exponentially grow in areas such as speed, connectivity and reliability. Helping the UAE to fast climb the ladder of digital transformation, corporates are investing huge money in infrastructure and global partnerships, thereby contributing towards a ...

  Ras Al Khaimah / Emirates Business Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), which develops the emirate’s tourism infrastructure and drives its domestic and overseas promotions, gathered close to 100 tourism stakeholders for a destination workshop designed to increase collaboration and alignment of the emirate’s promotional activities. Hosted by the Rixos Bab Al Bahr, the five-star resort on the ...

  Emirates Business In collaboration with Najahi and Success Resources, the leading seminar organizer in the world, the Middle East is welcoming its first National Achievers Congress 2016 on the November 18 and 19 at Festival Arena Al Badia in Dubai. In its 23rd year, the renowned international congress brings together a line-up of outstanding global achievers and influencers to ...