The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

Idomeni / AFP Greece said on Monday it was taking action to persuade Macedonia to take in Afghan migrants as thousands remained stranded at the border and the main port in Athens. “We have begun diplomatic moves… we believe the problem will be resolved,” junior interior minister for migration Yiannis Mouzalas told parliamentary television, without elaborating on what steps were ...

Kandahar / AFP Afghan troops have retreated from two districts in the southern province of Helmand, officials said on Monday, a move which highlights the challenge from Taliban fighters in the opium-producing region. “The Afghan army retreated from two army bases in Musa Qala and one base from Nawzad district” on Saturday, provincial governor Khan Rahimi said, leaving no troops ...

New Delhi / AFP Much of New Delhi’s water supply was cut off on Monday after members of an influential Indian caste sabotaged a canal as part of protests seeking preferential treatment that have killed at least 19 people. A representative of the Jat caste said they had called off their week-long protests which saw thousands of troops deployed in ...

Kampala / AFP Uganda’s main opposition leader was held by police on Monday at a police station outside the capital after being taken from his home where he had been under house arrest. Kizza Besigye has rejected the results of Thursday’s election won by veteran President Yoweri Museveni, and called on his supporters to join a protest march to the ...

Ankara / AFP Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday announced a multi-million-dollar aid package for the country’s struggling tourism industry which has been hit by a crisis with Russia and security concerns. Davutoglu said that a total of 255 million Turkish lira ($86.5 million) in financial aid would be given to Turkish tourist agencies while there would also be ...

Lyndon Johnson simply was exasperated. Barack Obama’s mischief was methodical. Four days before the 1966 congressional elections, Johnson, asked about criticism from Richard Nixon, testily responded: “I do not want to get into a debate … with a chronic campaigner like Nixon.” Johnson’s disparagement endeared Nixon to Republican voters, thereby propelling him toward the presidency. Four days before Saturday’s South ...

Unrestrained growth has a price. The case in point is China’s overcapacity in heavy industries whose over-proportional development is causing damage to its own and the global economy, even as Beijing struggles to regulate and reform its industries. The hardest hit is China’s steel industry, which manufactures more than the next four largest producers combined — Japan, India, the US, ...

In assessing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to stay in power and defy the West, one crucial question is how much longer his government’s finances can stand extremely low oil prices. Judging from an analysis by economists at Deutsche Bank, he might be able to hold out longer than previously thought. Russia is peculiarly sensitive to energy prices, in part ...

The so-called war on cash has been getting a lot of airtime in recent days. On one side of the battleground are European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, calling for the abolition of high-denomination banknotes to (they say) combat crime. Opposing the plan are skeptics who fear it will lead to abolishing cash ...

Bahrain / Emirates Business BisB announced that it has achieved positive financial results which reflect on the continuous improvement on the Bank’s position. The Bank has realized BD 11.2 million as net profit for the year ended on 31st December 2015, compared to BD 9.3 million for the previous year, an increase of 20%. The Bank has registered net profit ...