The security authorities summoned on Tuesday (October 17, 2017) prominent opposition leader and former Secretary-General of National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad) for interrogation next Monday.

A raid campaign carried out by forces affiliated to the Interior Ministry led to the arrest of at least 4 citizens from A’ali.

Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist and author, wrote an article in “The Washington Post” newspaper entitled “Saudi Arabia wasn’t always this Repressive. Now It’s Unbearable” in which he spoke about measures taken in Saudi Arabia against those who express their opinions as well as the wave of arrests that took place after Mohammed bin Salman rose to power.

CEO of Gulf State Analytics, Giorgio Cafiero, said in an article in the “Al-Monitor” that tensions between Bahrain and Qatar have reached an enormously high level. Last month, Bahrain’s Shura Council condemned Doha’s alleged “coordination and cooperation” with the Arabian archipelago country’s Shiite opposition and Iran “to spark chaos” amid the unrest of 2011.

The Bahrain International Defense Exhibition and Conference was launched as part of Bahrain's vision of making this a regular event held every two years, the Air & Cosmos website.

Bahrain announced on Tuesday (October 17, 2017) it had signed a $3.8 billion deal with Lockheed Martin for 16 upgraded F-16 fighter jets, after US President Donald Trump’s administration resumed arms sales to Bahrain.

The High Court of Appeal in Bahrain handed down a 15-year prison term instead of life imprisonment to four defendants in the case of communicating with Iran, establishing and joining a terrorist group, training on the use of weapons and explosives, and importing weapons, ammunition and explosives from Iran.

The seventh minor criminal court (specialized in traffic cases) in Bahrain sentenced a 22-year-old Gulf national to one month in prison, also fining him 500 Bahraini dinars for making a rude gesture at the speed camera, which caught him exceeding the speed limit.

Lawyers and law professors criticized the decision to sell distinctive identification card numbers to those who wish to provide their children with special ID numbers.

A civil defense team managed to extinguish a second major fire in the warehouse of the International Agencies Company Limited (Intercol) for import and logistics services, located in the industrial zone of Mina Salman. The fire caused a black cloud that covered the skies of the Bahraini capital Manama.

The First High Criminal Appeals Court sentenced 2 defendants to 10 years in prison instead of 15 and handed down 2-year jail term instead of 4 to 4 defendants accused of taking part in planting a bomb in security patrol location in Karana and attempting to murder 3 policemen. The court upheld binding the defendants to pay 1178.550 BD for the damages caused to the security patrol and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

Activists on social media outlets said that the security authorities referred child Mahdi Ahmad Muftah, from Diraz, to the hospital to undergo a surgery in his genital organs, days after the authorities raided his house.

Human rights activist Zainab Al-Khamis said that the authorities prevented her on Monday (October 16, 2017) from leaving the country through Bahrain International Airport.

The United States sought on Monday to avoid openly taking sides in an Iraqi-Kurdish dispute, as Iraq’s capture of the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk raised the risk of an open conflict between U.S. allies in the fight against Islamic State.

An Iraqi Yazidi group affiliated with a Shi‘ite-led armed faction took control on Tuesday of Sinjar, said residents of the northwestern city that is claimed by both Kurdish and central Iraqi authorities.

Britain and France are firmly committed to a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal and will work to ensure it is enforced, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said on Monday after she spoke to French President Macron.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday to work closely with European allies as it develops its new Iran policy.

After years of focusing divided Iraq on a shared fight against the Islamic State group, the United States is now straining to leverage its limited influence to avoid a full-blown conflict between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces it has armed and trained.

U.S. forces killed dozens of Islamic State members in a strike on Monday on two training camps in Yemen, the Pentagon said.

The European Union on Monday reaffirmed its support for a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers despite sharp criticism of the accord by President Donald Trump, and it urged U.S. lawmakers not to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.