Bahrain Press Association (BPA) issued in May its annual report for 2018 entitled "Bahrain, the Kingdom of Closed Doors".

The first session of the fifth legislative round of the Shura council and House of Representatives ended on Wednesday (May 15, 2019) on King Hamad’s order. What did the House of Representatives achieve during this time?

Many decades may pass without the Bahraini people, especially the poor, hearing such a cynical laugh at their poverty and need, the laughter of the speaker of the Shura Council Ali Saleh Al-Saleh.

A member of the Finance and Economic Committee, MP Ahmed Al-Salloum, said that the health insurance project will be fully implemented by 2020, according to the what was stated by the Minister of Health Fa'iqa Al-Saleh during a meeting with the joint committee between the Shura and Representatives Council yesterday.

Amid heaps of worries and hardships faced by Bahrainis, and the series of piled up bad news, Bahrainis were hit by the announcement that the House of Representatives approved on March 19, 201), the deduction of 230 million BD from the Unemployment Fund to finance the voluntary retirement program.

A wave of popular discontent among Bahraini citizens struck after the House of Representatives passed a legal amendment allowing the government to put its hand on the Unemployment Insurance Fund to finance the voluntary retirement program.

he Secretary General of the General Federation of Workers Trade Unions in Bahrain (GFWTUB), Hassan Al-Halwaji, expressed his regret that those who are considered representatives of the people passed the proposed amendments to the Unemployment Fund law and disregarded and facilitated the encroachment on the workers' funds instead of protecting them.

The Bahraini House of Representatives approved on March 19, 2019, a bill referred by the government as a matter of urgency. It includes amendments to the law on unemployment insurance. Among the amendments are the transfer of funds from the Unemployment Fund to finance the voluntary retirement program, and the sum amounts to 230 million dinars.

The first investigative committee formed by the House of Representatives, which was elected in November 2018, was disbanded on Monday (March 11, 2019), causing one of the first disappointments regarding such a committee, which was made up of 12 MPs to investigate the Bahrainization of jobs as well as the issue of marginalization of Bahrainis to which they are subjected in both the public and private sectors.

The government has referred a bill as a matter of urgency that would allow the government to benefit from the surplus of the Unemployment Insurance Fund to fund the voluntary retirement program.

The Bahraini House of Representatives will vote in its meeting next Tuesday on the request, submitted by 9 MPs, to form a parliamentary inquiry committee on the failure of the competent authorities to “Bahrainize” posts in the public and private sectors.

The head of the Parliament Services Committee MP Ammar Qambar said that the committee will hold another meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Education following its meeting with a number of Bahraini students who have obtained university degrees from China.

Minister Ghanem Al-Buainain did not lie when he said that “the Civil Service Bureau does not act alone, but implements state policy”. Yes, it favors foreigners and anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.

MP Ahmad Al-Salloum called on the government to stop issuing flexible work permits, which is granted by the the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) to non-organized workforce.

Fawzia Zeinal, backed by the Royal Court and the Supreme Council for Women, won the post of Speaker of the Bahraini House of Representatives after winning the election over her rivals Adel Al-Assoumi and Issa Al-Kooheji, to become the first Bahraini woman to preside over the House.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society declared in a press conference held by the Society's Deputy Secretary General, Sheikh Hussein Al-Daihi, on Saturday (November 24, 2018), that the parliamentary and municipal elections in Bahrain have failed miserably.

Andrea Delmastro, Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, expressed his concerns regarding the restrictive political environment in Bahrain ahead of the upcoming elections for the Council of Representatives of Bahrain’s National Assembly in a letter addressed to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The elections are due to be held on Saturday 24 November.

The Bahrain Court of Appeal has rejected the nomination of four current members of Parliament: Nabil Al-Belushi, Jalal Kazem, Usama Al-Khaja and Ahmed Qaratah.

Bahraini public opinion and social media sites are currently preoccupied with the issue of "forged degrees", since a considerable number of officials holding positions in both governmental and private agencies have been exposed to have obtained fake academic degrees from "fake" universities.

Bahrain’s government has rejected parliament’s proposals to reform allowances paid to Bahrainis squeezed by years of austerity on the grounds that they would break government spending caps, lawmakers said.