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

  Kiev / AFP Ukraine said on Wednesday it no longer had conscripted soldiers fighting pro-Russian insurgents for the first time since a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives began in April 2014. The announcement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko comes as the former Soviet republic tries to form a fully professional army that can conform to NATO standards ...

  Karachi / AFP The death toll from an explosion and fire at a Pakistan shipbreaking yard has risen to 16, officials said on Wednesday, as a search continued for more victims. At least 59 others were wounded on Tuesday when a gas cylinder exploded and started a fire inside an oil tanker at the Gadani yard in the southwestern province ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Two lawmakers who want Hong Kong to split from China wrestled with security in parliament on Wednesday, with one of them dragged from the chamber and security staff left injured, as fears grow Beijing will step in over the saga. Widespread concerns that China is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city are fuelling an independence ...

  Eau Claire / AFP Republican Donald Trump has spent much of the past week in enemy territory, desperate to poach a Democratic state and carve a perilously narrow path to victory in his White House race against Hillary Clinton. Polls, history, demographics and Trump’s abrasive rhetoric are not on his side, even as he seeks to capitalize on never-ending revelations ...

  Yangon / AFP Foreign diplomats visited flashpoint areas of Myanmar’s strife-torn Rakhine state on Wednesday, authorities said, as pressure mounts on the government to address accusations of rights abuses in a region home to the Muslim Rohingya minority. The military has heavily restricted access to the state’s northwestern strip, which abuts Bangladesh, since surprise raids on border posts left ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean President Park Geun-Hye replaced her prime minister and finance minister on Wednesday, as she scrambled to contain a damaging scandal over a close friend accused of meddling in state affairs The top-level reshuffle, which also saw a new public safety minister, was the latest attempt to appease growing public anger with the president and her ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean coastguard vessels have, for the first time, fired machine guns against Chinese boats illegally fishing in Korean waters, an official said on Wednesday. No casualties were reported from the incident on Tuesday, the first of its kind since the coastguard announced last month that it would pursue a “more aggressive” firearms policy with Chinese ...

  Sydney /AFP Flight MH370 was likely out of control when it plunged into the ocean with its wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said on Wednesday, casting doubt on theories a pilot was still in charge. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and ...

  Pretoria / AFP South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday abandoned a court bid to block a watchdog’s report into corruption allegations against him, as calls grew for him to stand down. Zuma’s surprise move came as thousands of people took to the streets of the administrative capital Pretoria to demand that he leaves office. It paves the way ...

  As the presidential campaigns sink to the challenge of demonstrating that there is no such thing as rock bottom, remember this: When the Clintons decamped from Washington in January 2001, they took some White House furnishings that were public property. They also finished accepting more than $190,000 in gifts, including two coffee tables and two chairs, a $7,375 gratuity ...