Bahrain bans Al-Jazeera

MANAMA: Bahraini authorities have banned Al-Jazeera television, based in the adjacent state of Qatar, from operating in the kingdom for “violating” professional norms, the state BNA news agency said on Wednesday. The ministry of culture and information “has decided to temporarily freeze the operations of the office of the Qatari satellite channel Al-Jazeera,” BNA said quoting a ministry statement issued late on Tuesday. It said the measure was in response to Al-Jazeera’s “violation of professional norms and not abiding by the laws and rules that regulate press and publishing.”