María Beltrán

Much of the American space program is run out of nondescript offices in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. That’s where Kam Ghaffarian, the billionaire space entrepreneur, could be found on an auspicious day. Exactly 47 years before, he had immigrated to the United States from Iran. Mr. Ghaffarian, 66, sat at a table made of gently glowing white onyx, also from Iran.Mr. Ghaffarian said he imported the stone because of its unique translucence when lit and because of the energy (spiritual, not physical) that the billion-year-old mineral emits. He is a big believer in the importance of meditating to connect with…

Grandes acuerdos aguardan en la pista mientras Wall Street y el mundo empresarial anticipan cómo las elecciones presidenciales cambiarán la aplicación de las leyes antimonopolio.El presidente Biden ha adoptado un enfoque agresivo para vigilar acuerdos que algunos han calificado de excesivos y otros han elogiado como un retorno necesario al control sobre el poder ejercido por las grandes empresas. Los corredores dicen que están retrasando algunos acuerdos con la esperanza de un enfoque más indulgente en la próxima administración.Doha Mekki está sobre el terreno para implementar la estrategia. Ha trabajado en el Departamento de Justicia durante tres administraciones: como abogado…

Robert Lanter lives in a 600-square-foot house that can be traversed in five seconds and vacuumed from a single outlet. He doesn’t have a coffee table in the living room because it would obstruct the front door. When relatives come to visit, Mr. Lanter says jokingly, but only partly, they have to tour one at time.Each of these details amounts to something bigger, for Mr. Lanter’s life and the U.S. housing market: a house under $300,000, something increasingly hard to find. That price allowed Mr. Lanter, a 63-year-old retired nurse, to buy a new single-family home in a subdivision in…