Bahraini.TV

A United Bahrain

His Majesty King Hamad yesterday praised the one-family spirit characterising Bahrainis, renowned for their generosity, knowledge, tolerance, love and hospitality – qualities they have acquired over hundreds of years.

He was speaking as he visited Shaikh Yousef bin Ahmed Al Siddiqui at his residence in Zallaq and Shaikh Ahmed Khalaf Al Asfoor at his residence in Boori and was reassured of their health.

His Majesty expressed pride over the efforts by the kingdom’s scholars and clerics to establish peace, love and co-operation among all people, praying that God Almighty may protect Bahrain and its people and preserve their safety and security.

He lauded religious scholars for their contributions to Islamic issues, reflecting the real image of Islam as a religion of love and peace.

He also praised their sincere calls to adhere to great Islamic values.

BlackBerry poses social, security risks: UAE

The BlackBerry, made by Research In Motion, is open to misuse that poses security risks to the United Arab Emirates, which said on Sunday it would seek to safeguard its consumers and laws.

Gulf state Bahrain in April warned against the use of BlackBerry Messenger software to distribute local news, drawing criticism from media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which called it an act of censorship.

That sparked concerns that other Gulf countries might also consider curbing the use of certain applications on the BlackBerry, which holds around 20 percent of the global smartphone market behind Nokia but ahead of Apple.

BlackBerry was operating “beyond the jurisdiction of national legislation,” the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement issued on Sunday.

“As a result of how BlackBerry data is managed and stored, in their current form, certain BlackBerry applications allow people to misuse the service, causing serious social, judicial and national security repercussions.”

The UAE was working to resolve “these critical issues with the objective of finding a solution that safeguards our consumers and operates within the boundaries of UAE law.”

Earlier this month, RIM said it was preparing to launch an applications store and consumer Internet services in China as part of its push into the world’s top mobile market.

A long-running censorship dispute between Beijing and Google Inc was only recently resolved. Google had said it might be forced to abandon the Chinese market because of hacking attacks and censorship concerns.

BAHRAIN TO PRIVATISE GULF AIR ASAP

Bahrain plans to privatise national carrier Gulf Air as soon as possible encouraged by positive results in its restructuring, a senior government official said in remarks published on Sunday.

The loss-making carrier could return to profit within a year, paving the way for privatisation, the head of Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa al-Khalifa, told newspaper Akhbar al-Khaleej.

Gulf Air was established as a regional airline but has undergone years of restructuring after shareholders Oman, Abu Dhabi and Qatar gave up their stakes, partly to establish national carriers.

The emergence of regional heavyweights such as Dubai-based Emirates has forced Gulf Air to revamp operations, cutting staff and refocusing its network on regional routes.

Sheikh Mohammed said in February that the company could be privatised within about a year.

Bahrain is a small oil producer that cannot afford to support a large public sector and has therefore launched a privatisation programme.

Gulf Air is one of the single largest employers in Bahrain, where privatisations are opposed by most opposition politicians and the general public due to fears over job security.

Sheikh Mohammed told the newspaper that the government would not allow Gulf Air’s return to profits and the subsequent sale to come at the expense of the “Bahrainis involved”.

Bahrain lifts ban on company insiders trading

The Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE) has decided to remove a ban on company insiders trading in their own shares on the stock exchange during a company’s close period.

The move means that key members of a company, including directors, senior management and such other persons as decided by the company board, can trade.

At present, they are banned from trading in their own stock for 15 days before they issue quarterly results.

The change is expected to be enforced from October 1.

A company representative appointed by the board will have to maintain and monitor a register which includes basic personal data of key persons and information on their holdings and dealings, and submit it to the BSE.

‘The new guidelines allow listed companies to issue the key person dealing policy without BSE’s approval taking in consideration that the policy should comply with the requirements of BSE’s guidelines,’ said director Fouad Rashid

He said the guidelines will reduce administrative burden on issuers of securities and key persons.

The new guidelines are also intended to establish greater transparency at the BSE and ensure a fair environment for the trading of all investors in the market.

Rashid confirmed that the new guidelines permit trading in securities of an issuer throughout the year, given that key persons do not possess or are aware of any inside information that might affect a share’s price in the market.

‘The new guidelines will require key persons in companies to inform the appointed representative about the details of the dealings conducted for their benefit in the shares and securities in Bahraini market listed on the BSE and other markets by the end of the next business day upon the completion of the dealing.

‘The representative must then notify the BSE immediately of such details,’ Rashid added.

According to the new guidelines, issuers should maintain a register of key persons containing the basic personal data of key persons of the issuer, their holdings and interests in the issuer, and details regarding their dealings in securities of the issuer.

The register should be updated regularly and a copy should be submitted to the BSE.

The BSE plans to organise a workshop in August for listed companies, licensed brokers and other related parties to explain the details of the new guidelines and the requirements for implementing them.

Bahrain’s labour authority sues firms

Hundreds of Bahrain companies are being taken to court by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) for not paying fees.

They are also being sued for failing to update their records on the LMRA system, our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej reports.

A statement from the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Committee said that it was being flooded by complaints from business owners about summonses from the Public Prosecution and the court, while others had received phone calls threatening them with legal action.

Committee member Nader Alawi said that the telephone calls had increased this week with the panel receiving 100 complaints up to yesterday.

He confirmed that small and medium enterprise owners have protested about their dramatically reduced revenues in light of the local market recession, which has in turn created a deficit in money available to cover their debts and obligations to different sectors – one being the LMRA.

The committee demanded that the summonses be looked into, since they have ‘angered’ the entire commercial sector and caused some firms to close.

The statement also urged His Majesty King Hamad to issue royal orders cancelling LMRA fees and fines, and stop all actions taken against businesses.

Akhbar Al Khaleej’s efforts to contact LMRA chief Ali Radhi until late last night proved futile. His mobile was apparently switched off as were those of other officials.

Farnborough signs Bahrain Airshow Deal

Bahrain International Airshow and Farnborough International Limited (FIL) have signed an agreement to formalise their partnership to jointly organise the Bahrain International Airshow from January 19 to 21 in 2012.

The event is targeted at the aerospace industry, delivering access to high-level delegations and opportunities for on-the-spot customer demonstration flights.

A major highlight of the Bahrain International Airshow is the demonstration of unmanned aerial vehicles from Sakhir Airbase, the airshow’s purpose-built home, said Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, chairman of supreme organising committee for the show.

Captain Abdulrahman Al Gaoud, undersecretary for CAA and vice chairman of the Supreme Organising Committee, was also present to sign a sponsorship agreement with Gulf Air as official carrier for the Airshow and a MoU with Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) as Ground Handling service provider.

Sheikh Abdulla said, “Aside from Bahrain’s long and historic association with aviation, BIAS has continued to help forge even stronger links between Bahrain and a number of international aerospace organisations who, like so many other global businesses, see Bahrain as a natural gateway to the Gulf’s trillion-dollar market.”

“Bahrain’s own investment in aviation is growing rapidly; from aircraft to training and maintenance to airport infrastructure, the Kingdom continues to embrace the economic advantages of this rapidly growing sector and BIAS has a significant role to play in strengthening this focus,” he noted.

The inaugural Bahrain air show which took place in January this year, had attracted delegations from 25 countries with 94 aircraft on display and 40 participating companies. The show finished with deals worth around $1 billion signed and visitor numbers surging to 30,000.

Batelco sees 2010 profit below BD100m – CEO

Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) sees full-year net profit to be below 100 million dinars ($265.3m), its chief executive said on Thursday.

“Below BD100m is the best I can offer now,” said Chief Executive Peter Kaliaropoulos when asked how much full-year profit he expected for the full-year.

Speaking at a news conference in Manama, Kaliaropoulos said making an acquisition abroad was going to be “a slow process.”

The operator has earmarked up to $2bn for an acquisition in Africa or southeast Asia to expand overseas after it bought a 49 percent stake in Indian mobile operator S Tel Ltd for $225m last year.

Gulf Air to scrap Thiruvananthapuram flights

Bahraini air carrier Gulf Air has decided to suspend flights to Thiruvananthapuram from the end of this month as the airline revises its business amid debt problems.

The final service will depart from Bahrain on July 31, with the last inbound flight to the kingdom on August 1, an official said on condition of anonymity.

The official said a review had been conducted before a decision to scrap the route was taken.

“Gulf Air apologises to passengers affected by these cancellations and will be contacting those booked and ticketed on these services to provide them with a full refund or offer alternative travel arrangements,” an airline statement said.

The airline is instead expanding more profitable routes across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Last month, it announced three new routes to Madinah, in Saudi Arabia, Alexandria in Egypt, and Aleppo in Syria.

Now ‘Lamhaa’ is banned in Gulf

Two Hindi films opening this Friday have hit the headlines for an unwanted reason. They have been banned in some foreign countries.

Rahul Dholakia’s Lamhaa, a thriller based on terrorism in Kashmir, has been barred from screening in five Gulf countries – United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. This comes a day after debutant director Abhishek Sharma’s Tere Bin Laden was not cleared for release by the Pakistan censor board.

Lamhaa was due for release in West Asia on Thursday, but has now been banned over what is deemed as ‘objectionable and controversial subject matter’. Dholakia said that Lamhaa distributors, PVR Pictures, are in talks with the censor boards of the five countries in a bid to reverse the decision.

On Tere Bin Laden, it is believed that the Pakistani censor board decided to ban the film two days before release on grounds that Islamic extremists could use the screening of the film as a pretext for violence. The film is a satire featuring a lookalike of Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as a central character.

Pakistani Censor Board vice chairman Masood Elahi has reportedly said that ” there is no justification for releasing the film in Pakistan under the present circumstances”. Lamhaa was set to be premiered in Kashmir, but plans were cancelled at the last minute due to the fresh spurt of violence in the Valley.

“What happened to freedom of expression?… Ban on honest film? Sadly, people of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and UAE won’t be able to watch our film,” tweeted Bipasha Basu, the film’s leading lady.