From February 15-16, U.S. president Barack Obama will host Southeast Asian leaders as well as the ASEAN Secretary-General for a special summit at the historic Sunnylands Center in Rancho Mirage, California. While observers may be looking for headlines on big-ticket items such as the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, the true significance of ...

Who had it worst in New Hampshire? Hillary Clinton: Might as well start with the obvious one, but her defeat is unlikely to cost her the nomination. It may be similar to George W. Bush’s landslide loss to John McCain in New Hampshire in 2000. There was a fuss, but nothing more, as it turned out. Chris Christie: The first ...

RITIKA SHARMA The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a Minister of Happiness now, and guess what is adding to the beauty of this position? The minister is a female! In an exemplary move, UAE has appointed Her Excellency Ohood Al Roumi as the Minister of State for Happiness. While some countries are banning females from entering public spheres and others ...

Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Kazakhstan still finds itself situated awkwardly between two long-time allies: Russia and Turkey. Up until late November 2015, when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet it claimed violated its territory, Russia and Turkey were allies too. Now, Russians won’t be vacationing in Turkey any time soon and Turkish businesses in Russia are facing ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Technology adds tempo to life. One of the major sectors that is reaping benefits out of the technology marvels is education. E-classrooms have started dominating the traditional form of learning, providing countless online resources for students. Draft a roadmap for the future, leading global technology stalwarts are converging in GESS Dubai next month (March 1-3). ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business As part of its concerted development strategy to strengthen its programming during 2016, OSN has signed a six-year exclusive partnership with Gulf Film. This pact will facilitate the region’s leading pay-TV network to access nearly 1,000 brand-new films distributed by Gulf Film in Arabic and English through 2021. This landmark deal will ensure that movie-lovers ...

Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business Apart from keeping up pace with developed economies and putting up shows worth a global recognition, direct communication remains one of the main challenges for the Middle East MICE industry. Though pegged one of the fastest growing sectors of the region, organisers need to put across right message to get the best out of their ...

Kuwait / Emirates Business The MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of the Pan Arab region, in partnership with Community Jameel, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Abdul Latif Jameel and Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator across the Middle East and Africa, announced that a total of 78 teams from 15 countries have qualified for the next round of the ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM In line with its strategy aimed at ensuring the provision of all services that meet high standards of quality and efficiency, the National Media Council announced on Wednesday the launch of a unified call centre for customer service (600 5355585) to create an integrated platform for responding to customer inquiries, while providing quick and transparent information. ...

Brussels / AFP US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday sought more help from dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition against IS extremists, as Russia mounts its own air campaign in Syria. More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter is hoping renewed alarm over terror attacks around ...