Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed stated that the Ministry will take all needed measures to not enforce the added value tax (VAT) on local and international exempted transport services.

The Israeli Ynetnews news website said that Schneier predicted that Bahrain would be the first of the Gulf states to officially establish diplomatic relations with Israel, and believes this will occur in 2019.

The Australian SBS website stated that Football Victoria has urged its 350,000 members to get in contact with Australian government officials to call for the release of Bahraini footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi.

Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning Essam Khalaf explained that residential, commercial or industrial buildings would not be affected by VAT as well as the construction services were construction or planning permission services.

CSB President said that in order to ensure the functioning of health services in the usual quality and ensuing that the course of the educational process and interest of students are not affected, it was decided that June 30, 2019 will be the last day for the employees who work in educational and administrative jobs in schools and who were accepted in the voluntary retirement program.

Health Minister Faeqa Saeed Al Saleh said that the Ministry of Health will take all the necessary measures to ensure that no VAT is collected on health services including medicines and medical essentials.

Bahrain will exclude oil products from a value-added tax (VAT) due to be implemented next year, part of an essential goods exclusion from the tax, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said on Tuesday in remarks carried by the state news agency.

The follow-up team for the treatment of Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim said that he left London on Tuesday (December 25, 2018) to visit the holy shrines in Iraq.

The National Audit Office report on labor fund “Tamkeen” showed the absence of a new minister tasked with monitoring the “Fund's” work after the former Media Minister, who was previously concerned with the "Fund" according to decree number 32 for 2015. This led to the absence of the monitoring role tasked to the minister concerned with the "Fund."

Organization and Budgeting director at Civil Service Bureau (CSB) Jamal Abdulaziz Al-Alawi said that the government entities have formally contacted their employees to inform them about accepting those who met the requirements and rejecting the ones who didn't meet the requirements of the voluntary Retirement program.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism said it will monitor markets and prices after implementation of value-added tax (VAT).

An official statement said that Finance Minister Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and Minister of Industry Zayed Al-Zayani will hold a meeting with Chamber of Commerce and Industry today to discuss the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT).

The First High Criminal Court in Bahrain decided to postpone the case of 171 citizens arrested by the authorities during dispersing the peaceful sit-in held outside the home of the spiritual leader of the Shiite majority in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) confirmed that it “will not forget Nabeel Rajab”.

Secretary of the Higher Education Council Abdulghani Al-Shuwaikh said that the equivalence of academic qualifications issued by foreign universities is not a condition of employment in private higher education institutions, according to the provisions of the regulations issued by the Higher Education Council.

Iraqi campaign owners and tourist offices in Bahrain demanded the cancellation of security clearance for issuing visas to tourists and re-work in individual visas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) summoned Nihad Rajab Askar, Deputy Chargé d'Affaires of the embassy of Iraq to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The National Audit Office report showed that the Higher Education Council prepared a single booklet after a survey that showed that graduates did not meet the expectations of employers, because they lacked the requisite skills. Meanwhile, the council claimed that it completed 80% of its initiatives, and that the Secretariat did not seek the implementations of 15 initiatives that it adopted, and only sufficed with what it included in the Government's Programme of Action, which does not help achieve the strategic objectives.

The National Audit Office report criticized the inaccuracy and non-objectivity in implementation of some of the projects of the Ministry of Transport and Communications in the follow-up reports of the Government's Programme action for the years 2015-2018 and their incompatibility with the data contained in the budget implementation in the same reports.

The National Audit Office report revealed the existence of numerous irregularities in the Gulf Air Company, the national carrier of the Kingdom and associated with the revenues, as the detailed notes on passenger revenues and dealing with sales agents showed that the company did not claim the receivables of total $18 million from travel agents outside Bahrain during the period from 1 August 2014 until 1 August 2017.