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

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc-owned Whole Foods Market is changing medical benefit eligibility requirements next year that could leave as many as 1,900 part-time workers without coverage. Employees will have to work at least 30 hours a week to qualify for a healthcare plan beginning January 1, up from the current eligibility requirement of 20 hours, the company said in an emailed ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s air traffic declined last month as protests took a toll on the city. Hong Kong International Airport handled 6 million passengers in August, down 12.4 percent from a year earlier, according to figures published by the Airport Authority. It said the decline was mainly due to lower visitor numbers. There was also a “significant” fall in passenger ...

Bloomberg The UK aviation regulator is preparing for a possible collapse of tour operator Thomas Cook Plc ahead of a showdown with bondholders, the Times of London reported, without saying where it got the information. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is making contingency plans for the possibility of having to repatriate “hundreds of thousands” of passengers stranded abroad, the newspaper ...

Bloomberg The Philippines’ largest flight school is trying to bring more women into the cockpit to help meet a shortage of pilots in Asia. At Alpha Aviation Group’s campus in Pampanga province north of the capital, one in five of its 550 students each year are women, whereas only about 3 percent of the world’s pilots are female, founder Bhanu ...

WAM / Bloomberg The UAE strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Saturday that targeted two Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq province and Hijrat Khurais in Saudi Arabia, causing fires that were later brought under control. In a statement issued on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation denounced this terrorist and subversive act, saying it is new evidence ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), announced on Saturday the distribution of over AED25 billion in cash dividends to 572,774 eligible investors on behalf of its listed companies. In comparison to the 2018 dividends, the 6.95 percent increase demonstrates the attractiveness of the investment environment in the Emirates and especially in Abu Dhabi. According to a statement ...

Geneva / WAM The UAE announced completion of a draft law on the establishment of a national human rights institution (NHRI), following the Paris Principles. This was stated by Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Jarman, Assistant Minister for Human Rights and International Law at Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in a speech at the 42nd session of the Human Rights ...

Bloomberg Oil fell to a two-week low as the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned of a looming supply glut. Futures in New York ended the week 3% lower after four straight days of declines. Sentiment continues to be dominated by an International Energy Agency report highlighting the challenge facing Opec and its allies in balancing the market as production ...

Bloomberg India unveiled new measures involving a more than $7 billion boost to exporters and housing projects, as part of efforts to revive a flagging economy. A program to refund taxes and levies for export promotion will be effective January 1 and involves forgoing 500 billion rupees ($7 billion) in revenue, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in New Delhi ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Materials Handling Middle East, the region’s dedicated warehousing, intralogistics and supply chain solutions show, racked up a 12% visitor uplift on the 10th edition of the biennial event which closed at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Some 3,882 visitors from more than 50 countries turned out for the show which has evolved into a futuristic showcase ...