As teargas slowly dissipates into the night air, a Shia protester rails against Bahrain’s government during another bout of unrest in the Gulf kingdom.

Suddenly, police approach the gathering, nervously pointing shotguns at the demonstrators. One asks a policeman to lower his weapon, only to be punched in the chest.

A FUGITIVE facing extradition to Britain in connection with the murder of a woman 11 years ago slipped into Bahrain under a new name, it emerged yesterday. Lebanese Youssef Ahmed Wahid was arrested in Bahrain on Tuesday, after years on the run. More >

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Bahrain either to release or formally charge eight activists, including clerics, the groups said the Gulf kingdom has arrested.

“The Bahraini authorities must make it clear why these eight men have been arrested, and either release them or charge them with recognizable criminal offences,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said in a Wednesday statement.

Bahrain’s foreign minister says his country has no plans to follow its Persian Gulf neighbours in banning some BlackBerry services.

Sheik Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa says that security fears do not outweigh the technological benefits.

His comments come as Canadian manufacturer Research in Motion faces opposition by some countries on how its encrypted e-mail and messenger services are managed.

Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, or TRA, said Thursday it has not directed mobile operators in the country to ban or partly suspend any BlackBerry functions.

“TRA has issued no directions to licensees requiring the blocking of BlackBerry or other services offered by Research In Motion,” TRA ICT Director Ahmed Al Doseri said in an emailed statement.

ahrain Telecommunications plans to raise its holdings in local communications firm S Tel has been rejected by the Indian government, officials with direct knowledge of the developments told ET.

Earlier this year, Bahrain Telecommunications had sought approval to hike its nearly 42% stake in S Tel by an additional 6.3% more for about $53 mn. If the deal had taken place, S Tel’s foreign holding would have risen to 54.61% because another foreign entity – Mauritius-based Telecom Investment Private already has a 5.6% stake in the telco. After deliberating the proposal for nearly six months, the India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal agency for clearing all major foreign investments, rejected it in its last meet on July 12 on security grounds, documents available with ET reveal.

Bahrain, the smallest economy in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), is pushing for the creation of a regional stability fund to counter potential fiscal crises, its finance minister said in published remarks.

The fund should also work on bridging economic disparities among the GCC member states, Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa said in an interview published on the bloc’s July news bulletin Almaseera.

Bahrain-based Almoayyed Computers has signed an agreement with the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) to provide Microsoft services to the government, Gulf Daily News has reported. According to the three-year agreement, Almoayyed will provide Microsoft licences, services and technical and human support to all government institutions of Bahrain. The government is looking to reduce the gap in technology between its ministries.

Bahrain Duty Free has announced the latest seven winners of its ‘Daily Draw’ summer promotional campaign ‘Win a Holiday Every Day’.

The winners of the draw, held during the third week of June, were Eva Moualem, Surriya Arshad, Arif Ebrahim Hassan, More >

Bahrain does not plan to sell shares in the Bahrain Stock Exchange .BSE that is currently being converted into a commercial company, the country’s central bank governor said in remarks published on Thursday.