Saudi Arabia launched commercial courts in three main cities last month, its justice minister said, a move aimed at easing investment to help wean the kingdom off its reliance on oil by diversifying the economy.

Goldman Sachs said that while oil output from the Kurdistan region was potentially at risk due to a standoff with Iraq, tensions between the United States and Iran remained a larger and longer term threat to global supply.

Minister of Interior Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa received British Ambassador Simon Martin on Monday (October 16, 2017).

Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received at Gudaibiya Palace outgoing US Ambassador to Bahrain William Roebuck.

Turkey said on Monday it would close its air space to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the central Iraqi government.

Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk on Monday, responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country.

Cabinet approved a draft-law on ratifying the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Unified Selective Excise Tax, in the framework of its efforts to compensate the sharp decline in oil prices.

The High Administrative Court in Bahrain rejected a lawsuit filed by two lawyers, demanding that the decision made by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry appointing the new chief executive officer of the Chamber be annulled.

Bahrain plans to export less shipments of BANOCO Arab Medium crude oil in December due to pre-planned maintenance of an oil field, trade sources said.

The Bahraini Minister of Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning Eng. Essam Khalaf announced the implementation of new fees for agricultural and veterinary services.

The Bahraini government has allocated more than 68 million dinars to the National Security Apparatus (NSA), which is involved in serious human rights violations, according to reports by Bahraini human rights organizations.

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) said the distinctive identity card number service that has been recently announced is found since 4 years and it is only for newborn babies.

The final accounts of state showed that the government borrowed 6 Billion BD that exceeds its actual need to cover the fiscal deficit, without specifying where it spent them.

The Al-Ayam local newspaper said that the government tends to increase the postal services fees to change the sector into a “profitable government association”, instead of providing postal services in return for symbolic fees.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said that it arrested a man who impersonated a security man and committed a number of forced robbery crimes.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardened stance towards Iran evoked a mixture of indifference and national pride among Iranians on Saturday but many were concerned about economic hardship should a multinational nuclear deal unravel.

Senior Trump administration officials said on Sunday that the United States was committed to remaining part of the Iran nuclear accord for now, despite President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the deal and his warnings that he might pull out.

Iraqi forces captured several positions south of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters on Monday in their bid to regain control of the oil-rich city, which is part of a region that declared itself independent at a referendum last month.

Iran on Sunday shut its border crossings with Iraq’s Kurdistan in support of measures taken by the Iraqi government to isolate the Kurdish region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.

A rebel former governor of Aden who is leading a movement for southern Yemen’s secession has said an independence referendum would be announced soon and a parliamentary body set up to administer the territory.