Bahraini.TV

The three women in head scarves and black abayas surged into the main atrium of the Seef Mall at 11 p.m. the other night, unfurling a banner outside the Next clothing boutique that read, “It is forbidden to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.”

A picture was taken, and in less than a minute they had dispersed. As they tried to leave, more than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police officers surrounded one of them, Fakhria al-Singace, pinning her spread-eagled on a cafe table.

Bahrain’s public prosecutor has banned media from reporting on a prominent Shiite activist and scores of other opposition members detained in an ongoing crackdown ahead of October parliament elections.

Bahrain’s foreign minister said Sunday the country has no plans to follow its Persian Gulf neighbors in banning some BlackBerry services because security fears do not outweigh the technological benefits. His comments come as device maker Research in Motion Ltd. is facing opposition by a number of countries around the world, including Saudi Arabia and [...]

Bahrain’s King Hamad on Sunday called parliamentary and municipal elections for October 23, the state news agency BNA reported. The king, who chaired a cabinet meeting attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, urged voters to turn out in large numbers for the polls. “Decision-making [...]

Parliamentary elections in Bahrain later this year will offer little to Shi’ite opposition groups pressing for more democratic reforms, and are unlikely to heal their rift with the country’s Sunni Muslim rulers.

The sentencing of seven youths to 25 years in prison for their roles in a riot-related arson that left a Pakistani immigrant worker dead could be more than Bahrain’s fragile security situation can handle, politicians and rights activists warn.

Bahrain needs to reinvent itself as a financial centre if it wants to return to growth and remain a destination for the region’s oil wealth after the financial crisis clipped the wings of its investment houses. Analysts say the only opportunity for the tiny island kingdom off Saudi Arabia lies in funding the large infrastructure [...]

The appetite for affordable freehold property remains extremely strong in Bahrain with as many as 47,000 Bahrainis currently on the waiting list for a government home, a report said. The developer who is able to provide a product that meets the needs of this market in terms of price and design is likely to deliver [...]

A new wave of opportunities is emerging in Bahrain as the country’s economy brings through a number of blossoming sectors which could benefit the local workforce, business leaders and the Kingdom as a whole, according to the a minister. Speaking exclusively to Oxford Business Group (OBG), the global publishing, research and consultancy firm, Minister of [...]

New arbitration legislation enacted by the Kingdom of Bahrain on July 2, 2009 makes it the first country in the world to create the equivalent of a free trade zone for arbitration. That legislation, Legislative Decree No. 30 (The Decree), gives parties to an agreement calling for international arbitration the option of holding the arbitration in Bahrain without concern that the courts of Bahrain might interfere with, or set aside, the resulting award, as long as the parties seek to enforce the award only in another country. The result is the creation of what this article will call the Bahrain “Free Arbitration Zone.”