Bahrain

04 Nov 2022; MEMO: Pope Francis on Friday appealed to religious leaders to help bring the world back from "the brink of a delicate precipice" and oppose a new race to rearm that he said was redesigning Cold War-era spheres of influence, Reuters reports.

Francis spoke on his first full day in Bahrain as he closed a forum on East-West dialogue promoted by the King of the Gulf country where Christians are allowed to practice their faith publicly in churches.

04 Nov 2022; MEMO: Pope Francis arrived in the Bahraini capital Manama yesterday in the first visit to the Gulf kingdom by the supreme pontiff.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa welcomed the pope as his four-day visit began in an official ceremony, according to Bahrain's public broadcaster.

Pope Francis is scheduled to address in the "Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence" today, which started yesterday under the auspices of the Bahraini monarch.

MANAMA, Oct 13 (NNN-BNA) – Bahrain attracted 98 million U.S. dollars of direct investment, in its information and communications technology (ICT) sector, in the first nine months of this year, the Bahrain Economic Development Board said, yesterday.

“We are pleased to see more and more ICT companies calling Bahrain home, for their regional operations,” the kingdom’s investment promotional agency said in a statement, announcing the direct investment from 14 foreign companies.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: Israel and Bahrain on Tuesday announced the start of negotiations to reach a free trade agreement between the two countries, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Israeli Economy Minister, Orna Barbivai, held official talks on Monday with her Bahraini counterpart to establish a free trade agreement between Tel Aviv and Manama, the Israeli Economy Ministry said in a statement.

MANAMA, Sept 17 (NNN-BNA) – Bahrain’s Health Ministry reported the kingdom’s first monkeypox case yesterday.

The patient, a 29-year-old male expatriate, arrived in the kingdom after recent overseas trips, the ministry said in a statement.

“The patient is exhibiting symptoms and has been isolated while receiving the necessary care, based on the adopted protocols,” it added, without elaborating.

The ministry said, it was using contact tracing and disease surveillance systems, to mitigate the spread of the virus.

MANAMA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged its citizens to immediately leave Iraq or postpone travel to the country amid the political chaos and violence there.

The ministry also announced special hotlines for its citizens to contact in case of an emergency.

Clashes erupted on Monday in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after prominent cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr announced he would quit politics, leaving 22 people killed and 200 others wounded. 

25 July 2022; MEMO: A senior Bahraini official and member of the ruling Al-Khalifa family has been dismissed for refusing to shake hands with the Israeli ambassador to the country.

08 July 2022; MEMO: An additional month of financial support will be credited to the bank accounts of all those entitled to the cost of living allowance on Thursday, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reports.

According to the report, the move follows the directives of His Majesty, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to disburse an additional month of financial support to low-income families to mitigate the effects of rising global prices of goods.

MANAMA, Jun 30 (NNN-BNA) – Bahraini King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, met yesterday, with visiting Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, where they stressed the two-state solution as an imperative one to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The two leaders said, in a joint communique that, it is important to return to “serious and effective negotiations” to achieve peace “in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution,” which “guarantees the Palestinian people their right to establish their independent state, on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

29 March 2022; MEMO: Israel's Ambassador to Bahrain, Eitan Na'eh, revealed on Monday that a military attaché will be assigned to the embassy in Manama soon, Akka news website has reported. The office of the Israeli military attaché, Na'eh said, will be in the Headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain's capital.

"The date has not been set," he added, "but a full staff will be there, in addition to extra officials who will join the embassy."