Bloomberg The US is backing Sudan’s bid to join the World Trade Organization, a Sudanese official said, days before Washington is due to decide whether to permanently lift some sanctions imposed on the African country two decades ago. “Our team is very much satisfied with the support of the US for Sudan going into the WTO,” Sudanese State Investment Minister …

Bloomberg Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week to meet with Gulf leaders as the US seeks to help end a standoff that pits US allies against one another. Tillerson will shuttle between Persian Gulf capitals from Monday to Thursday, US State Department spokesman R.C. Hammond said. The diplomacy is part of …

Bloomberg Soldiers cleared explosives from Mosul’s historic quarter after its liberation all but ended IS presence in Iraq, three years of occupation that left a trail of human misery and devastation that could cost $100 billion to rebuild. Power and water supplies will be restored in the first phase of a 10-year program to rebuild Mosul, much of which was …

Bloomberg Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta drew criticism from the chief justice and the nation’s top legal body after he questioned the independence of the judiciary over a court ruling in favor of the main opposition. Kenyatta on Sunday said the courts were “increasingly getting entangled” in what he said was the opposition’s attempts to delay elections scheduled for Aug. 8. …

DUBAI / Emirates Business The improvements in the overall business conditions in Dubai’s non-oil private sector gathered steam in June, with the seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker Index – a composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy – registering at 56.5, up from May’s seven-month low of 55.0. …

ABU DHABI / WAM The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has announced that its CubeSat development programme, MYSAT-1, has completed its critical design review (CDR) marking a key milest- one for the University’s space systems and technology programme. The programme has been designed with support from Al Yah Satellite Communications Company, Yahsat, and global aerospace manufacturer and defense industry …

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s eldest son met last year with a Russian woman who offered to provide potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton, his father’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 election. The meeting took place in June 2016, after his father had secured the Republican presidential nomination, according to a statement Sunday from Donald Trump Jr. The younger Trump said …

DUBAI / WAM A UAE trade mission, headed by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, recently concluded a successful trade mission to the Italian Riviera, Monaco and southern France, visiting Monte Carlo and Nice, to facilitate economic cooperation and explore trade and investment opportunities in the two cities. The trade mission, which was organised by Dubai Chamber of …

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Five students from the UAE have been shortlisted to represent the nation on an international stage, the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO). IPhO is an annual international physics competition for secondary school students. The process of shortlisting students for the big stage is done by IOF (International Olympiad Foundation), the only authorized body in UAE to …

DUBAI / WAM Gulf Navigation Holding has posted a net profit of AED8.8 million ($2.4 million) in the first quarter, Q1, of 2017, an increase of 39 percent compared to AED6.3 million ($1.7 million) in the same period last year. The Dubai-based company, listed on the Dubai Financial Market under the ticker ‘GULFNAV’, said in an announcement that it has …