The annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress kicked off in Beijing this weekend, highlighted by Premier Li Keqiang’s government work report on Saturday. The NPC always finalizes China’s targets, goals, and areas of emphasis for the coming year. This year’s session, however, will see the final adoption of China’s next Five Year Plan, which will cover the period from …

The two clashing readings on the US economy and the appropriate monetary policy are quite interesting. Two of the central bank’s most influential policymakers differ over the best options to stimulate the growth of US economy. Fed Governor Lael Brainard, who has emerged as a leader of the Fed’s dovish faction, argued for “patience” in raising interest rates. “Given weak …

They were just four words, but they denoted something that led to a wonderful swerve in world history. They were words Ronald Reagan repeatedly used when referring to something that happened long before he spoke his most famous four words: “Tear down this wall.” The other four words described the most important event in his eventful life, an event without …

How dependent is China on foreign military technology? Despite enormous progress over the past two decades, the answer remains “a lot.” But the reasons for this dependence are complicated, and in any case the situation appears to be changing fast. Much discussion of the competition between the United States and China concentrates on American vulnerabilities. Analysts have conclusively established that …

The very strange U.S. presidential election bears some surprising similarities to the 1996 campaign in Russia — a momentous event that undermined a fragile democracy and led to the emergence of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime. This precedent could be especially telling if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump end up their parties’ nominees in the general election. The electoral systems in …

As its governing council prepares to meet in Frankfurt on Thursday, the European Central Bank finds its scope for action influenced not just by regional issues but also by the world’s other systemically important central banks. The ECB is wedged uncomfortably between, on one side, the Federal Reserve — which is able but unwilling to venture deeper into unconventional monetary …

ABU DHABI / WAM Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, and Eladio Loizaga, Paraguay Minister of Foreign Affairs have discussed ways to enhance economic relations between the UAE and the South American country. In a meeting with a high level delegation from Paraguay, Al Mansouri called for the intensification of such visits between the two countries. He …

DUBAI / WAM Exhibited for the first time ever, the private photography collection of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, will be on display at The Dubai Photo Exhibition from March 16-19. This collection, which exemplifies HH’s strong passion for photography, offers a rare visual insight into …

DUBAI / WAM The clinical nutrition department of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has kicked-off its nutritional awareness campaign for this year. The campaign known as Angiz Akhar (Do More) is taking place for the third consecutive year and will go on until end of April 2016. As part of the campaign, DHA nutritionists and physiotherapists will carry out 10 …

Dubai / WAM Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr. Abdulla bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure development and Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority – Land & Maritime, opened the Middle East Rail 2016 was launched at Dubai World Trade Center on Tuesday. ”The …