Bahrain’s king has issued new decrees, giving authorities more powers to strip citizenship and block suspected funding channels in attempts to quell escalating anti-government violence in the Gulf nation. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A rights activist in Bahrain says authorities have arrested a prominent blogger just days after warning of harsher measures against anti-government protesters in the violence-wracked Gulf kingdom. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Police say a Bahrain-born banker who founded Malaysia’s fifth largest bank has been shot to death in Kuala Lumpur. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Saks Fifth Avenue announced Monday that it has agreed to let Hudson’s Bay Company – the Toronto-based firm that owns Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay – buy the company for $2.4 billion. This means one of America’s most famous department-store chains is now owned by a Canadian business, and it also means Saks will soon expand into the Great White North.
The chain’s new owners plan to build Saks Fifth Avenue locations and its Off Fifth outlet stores throughout Canada, according to Dealbook. These stores will join Saks’s other international outposts in Mexico, Dubai, Bahrain, and Kazakhstan.
“We are excited about what this opportunity and being part of a much larger enterprise can mean for the future of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand,” said Saks CEO Steven Sadove in a statement.
Technically, Saks still has a 40-day “go-shop” period, during which it can still entertain other offers before officially becoming part of Hudson’s Bay. Earlier bidders for the retailer included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a private equity firm that might have merged Saks with Neiman Marcus, and the Qatar Investment Authority, which owns stakes in Tiffany & Co. and LVMH, among other holdings.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at fashionologie
Bahrain’s King Hamad ordered the government on Monday to implement a parliamentary call for tough measures against what the authorities are calling an upsurge in “terrorism” linked to Shiite-led protests. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Tim Worstall, Contributor I must admit that this rather surprised me with the speed that it came about. Non-British readers might not be aware that David Cameron, our Prime Minister, has been adamant that search engine companies must make certain that no pornography can be found on the internet. This is, as you will imagine, something of a taxing technical task. But in that great British tradition of bodging and innovation we seem to already have the solution to this problem. And it’s being offered for free too: So taking inspiration from other great Internet filtering nations such as North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Bahrain, Belarus, Burma, Uzbekistan, Saudia Arabia and Vietnam I decided to help out the UK government and build an Internet filter that only allows pornographic material through. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Bahrain police said on Wednesday they recaptured two men suspected of attacks on security forces, two months after they escaped from custody along with other detainees. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Bahrain says authorities have arrested three suspects in connection with a bombing last week outside a mosque near the royal residences in the Gulf kingdom. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Bahraini authorities have arrested three “terrorists” who allegedly hurled firebombs at the home of a Shiite lawmaker without causing casualties even though he was inside when the assault occurred, police said on Tuesday.
“Investigations have led to the identification and arrest of three terrorists who will be referred to public prosecution,” the police said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency.
It said other suspects involved in the attack remain at large.
Shiite MP Abbas al-Madi was at his home in the town of Deir, near the capital Manama, during the early Monday attack that left parts of his house damaged and burnt.
Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa denounced the assault as an “attack against democracy”.
“This terrorist act is unacceptable,” he said in a statement, adding that “sabotage was never a means for reform and using terrorism to silence others has never been a way towards democracy”.
He was apparently referring to opposition groups of young activists who frequently clash with police forces and who are branded as “terrorists” by authorities.
Bahrain’s 40-member parliament is dominated by pro-regime lawmakers since the 18 MPs of the Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq resigned in February 2011, in protest against the authorities’ crackdown on demonstrations that began the same month.
The Shiite-led protest movement, demanding a constitutional monarchy in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, continues but is confined to Shiite villages surrounding the capital.
At least 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the protests first erupted, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
A national dialogue conference, that brings together government and opposition representatives to end the kingdom’s political impasse, has so far failed to achieve any results since it opened in February this year.
The talks were suspended on June 27 for the summer vacation and will resume on August 28.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Opposition groups in Bahrain are appealing for authorities to call off crackdown warnings over plans for a major anti-government rally next month.
Protest factions in the Gulf nation have called for large demonstrations Aug. 14 inspired by the toppling of Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi.
Bahrain has been wracked by 29 months of near nonstop unrest as majority Shiites seek a greater political voice in the strategic Sunni-ruled kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Authorities have vowed a harsh response to next month’s planned demonstrations, apparently fearing it could sharply escalate the ongoing street clashes.
A joint statement by five opposition groups Monday urged authorities to remove the threats and allow the “right for peaceful protest.” It also expressed worries over possible arrest sweeps.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Assailants hurled firebombs at the home of a Shiite lawmaker in Bahrain on Monday, without causing any casualties even though his family was inside at the time, parliament said.
It was unclear if the lawmaker, Abbas al-Madi, was himself at his home in the town of Deir, near the capital Manama, during the early morning attack.
“The house of MP Abbas al-Madi was targeted by a terrorist attack Monday dawn in which parts of the house were damaged and burnt,” the parliament said in a statement.
“If it wasn’t for God’s mercy and the fact the several family members were awake at the time, the attack could have caused a disaster, but we were capable of overcoming the issue,” Madi was quoted as saying.
Police launched an investigation to hunt down the attackers and bring them to justice, added the statement.
Bahrain’s 40-member parliament is dominated by pro-regime lawmakers since the 18 MPs of the Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq resigned in February 2011, in protest against the authorities’ crackdown on demonstrations that began the same month.
The Shiite-led protest movement, demanding a constitutional monarchy in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, continues but is confined to Shiite villages surrounding the capital.
At least 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the protests erupted, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A home-made bomb wounded four Bahraini policemen outside a Shiite village, the interior ministry said on Sunday, in the latest unrest to rock the Sunni-ruled Shiite-majority Gulf state.
The bomb was “planted by terrorists” near Janabiyah village, west of Manama, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency.
The device was “remotely detonated,” the Al-Ayam newspaper cited a security official it did not identify as saying.
Police said later that security forces arrested “one terrorist” who had been involved in preparing the bomb that exploded late on Saturday.
Other culprits had been identified and would be arrested.
Earlier this month, a policeman was killed and two others wounded in what security officials said was a “terrorist” bombing outside a police station in the Shiite village of Sitra, south of the capital.
Bahraini authorities often use the term “terrorists” to refer to Shiite demonstrators who have kept up pro-democracy protests despite a 2011 crackdown backed by Saudi-led Gulf troops, sparking repeated clashes with security forces.
In mid-February, a police officer was killed by a petrol bomb during clashes with protesters, after a teenager was shot dead during a demonstration marking the second anniversary of the launch of the protests.
At least 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the protests erupted, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
Strategically located across the Gulf from Shiite Iran, Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is an offshore financial and services centre for its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbours.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Authorities in Bahrain say a bomb explosion has injured four policemen in the latest blast targeting security forces in the violence-wracked Gulf nation.
Anti-government factions have increased bombings as part of a 29-month uprising by Bahrain’s Shiite majority seeking a greater political voice in the strategic Sunni-ruled kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
The Interior Ministry said Sunday’s homemade bomb exploded in Janabiyah, a mostly Shiite area northwest of the capital Manama.
Last week, a policeman was killed and three injured in separate bombings. More than 60 people have died in Bahrain’s unrest.
Some opposition groups are calling for major protests Aug. 14, inspired by the toppling of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry warned it would take all measures to block such demonstrations.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A Saudi special court has sentenced two Shiite men to eight and nine years in jail, respectively, for taking part in protests in Eastern Province, SPA state news agency said on Friday.
The first defendant was found guilty of joining three protests in the town of Awamiya, in the province’s Shiite Al-Qatif region, it said.
He was also found guilty of having “anti-kingdom and anti-rulers pictures on his mobile phone… and of knowing dissidents in Qatif and covering up their activities”.
The second defendant, who was sentenced to nine years, was found guilty of taking part in “most demonstrations” in Qatif.
He was also convicted of “surfing dissident Internet websites, and posting statements inciting opposition to the rulers… as well as calling for the release of prisoners”, SPA said.
The two defendants and the prosecution have decided to appeal the verdicts, it said.
There are an estimated two million Shiites in the Sunni-ruled kingdom of around 27.5 million people.
Shiite towns in the oil-rich Eastern Province have been rocked by sporadic violence as protesters clashed with police over what they say is the marginalisation of Shiites.
The unrest first erupted after violence between Shiite pilgrims and religious police in the Muslim holy city of Medina in February 2011.
The protests escalated when Saudi Arabia led a force of Gulf troops into neighbouring Bahrain the following month to help crush Shiite-led pro-democracy demonstrations in the tiny Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.
Human rights groups say more than 600 people have been arrested in Saudi Arabia since the spring of 2011, most of them in Qatif. The majority have since been released.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Associated Press Three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday, easily beating Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in a race that has been the target of rights groups and anti-government protesters in the divided nation.
Groups protesting Bahrain‘s Formula One race have put up makeshift roadblocks and barricades of burning tires during clashes with security forces in the violence-wracked Gulf nation.
The demonstrations on Thursday were mostly isolated to anti-government hotbed areas, however, and unlikely to disrupt preparations for Sunday’s race, which is the premier international event in the kingdom.
Anti-government groups have stepped up protests against the race in attempts to embarrass authorities. Rights group, including Amnesty International, have criticized Bahrain‘s arrests and other security crackdowns.
The latest clashes were mostly in Shiite districts that are often scenes of unrest. Graffiti on walls said: “No F1. Don’t race on our blood.”
Bahrain has faced more than two years of violence between the Sunni-led government and majority Shiites seeking a greater political voice.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/TJmDwWi2L18/
Iran‘s president has slammed “foreign presence” in the Persian Gulf, claiming it’s the source of insecurity in the region.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran has “always guarded peace and security” in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
Ahmadinejad says that “foreign presence has been main reason of insecurity in the region” — an apparent reference to Western nations and the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Iran sees the large American-led naval presence as foreign military meddling in the Mideast.
Ahmadinejad’s remarks — typical rhetoric from the president — came ahead of a military parade in Tehran on Thursday as Iran marks National Army Day.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/TpqUK_d0IpE/
By Zach Bowman
Filed under:
Law enforcement in Bahrain is once again cracking down on pro-democracy protesters ahead of the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix. The Formula One race focuses the world’s attention on the Middle Eastern kingdom each year, and protesters take the occasion to demonstrate against the ruling family.
This year, human rights organizations cried foul after the government arrested 70 people in a preemptive move to quell unrest. Around 20 people from the Dar Klaib and Shanrakan villages near the Bahrain International Circuit have been detained along with a further 50 individuals from Aldeir and Sameheij closer to the airport.
Some of the detainees are known journalists and photographers, and contrary to the government‘s hopes, the arrests have seemingly served to fuel the protests. Demonstrators hold that the F1 race lends legitimacy to the current government while the ruling party continues to oppress its people.
You can watch the full news report below for more information. The Bahrain GP is slated to take place on April 21.
Continue reading Protests embroil F1 in Bahrain yet again [w/video]
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From: http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~3/h0vCp20-9Kw/
Seismologists say a major earthquake has struck a region near the Iran-Pakistan border, less than a week after a quake in Iran killed at least 37 people.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 7.8 quake struck the slightly populated region. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the quake was felt as far away as New Delhi and Gulf cities of Dubai and Bahrain. The USGS report says Tuesday’s quake was at a depth of 15.2 kilometers (nine miles).
Across the Gulf, high-rise buildings swayed and officials ordered evacuations. Dubai has the world’s tallest tower, the 828-meter (2,717 -foot) Burj Khalifa.
Last week, a deadly 6.1 magnitude quake about 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, the site of Iran‘s reactor.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/OwFDnQDN16k/
A human rights group is suing the British government over the export of sophisticated surveillance technology that has been used to spy on dissidents in Bahrain and elsewhere.
