Gulf Air A320. Courtesy, Airbus Bahrain-based Gulf Air will launch a major cost-cutting plan and focus increasingly on regional services. In a statement issued Tuesday, the carrier said it intends to strengthen its Middle East and North African (MENA) services, target 24% in cost savings by year end and simplify its fleet structure. The restructuring was foreshadowed by October’s announcement of a BD185 million ($494 million) government cash injection in the loss-making national Read more [...]

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz was "killed by the government," his father told mourners Tuesday during his son's funeral in suburban Chicago.Swartz, who help create Reddit and RSS, the technology behind blogs, podcasts and other web-based subscription services, was found dead Friday in his New York apartment. He was facing federal charges that alleged he illegally gained access to millions of articles from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer Read more [...]

(AFP) – 12 minutes ago  DUBAI — Bahrain's appeals court upheld on Tuesday a 15-month jail sentence for a former Shiite opposition MP over his role in anti-regime protests in 2011, lawyers said.Jawad Fayruz, a leading member of Al-Wefaq, the largest opposition formation in the Gulf kingdom, was sentenced for taking part in unauthorised protests that broke out on February 14, 2011, before being brutally quelled a month after, lawyers said.He was also convicted of calling for protests without Read more [...]

MANAMA: His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, has offered congratulations to the UAE national team on qualifying for the final match of the Gulf Cup Championship in Bahrain after beating Kuwait today 1-0.In a telephone call made on Tuesday to Yousif Yaqoub Al Sirkal, Chairman of the UAE Football Association, Sheikh Sultan praised the performance of the UAE Read more [...]

Despite Bahrain's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the US has continued to provide weapons and maintenance to the small Mideast nation.Defense Department documents released to ProPublica give the fullest picture yet of the arms sales: the list includes ammunition, combat vehicle parts, communications equipment, Blackhawk helicopters, and an unidentified missile system. (Read the documents.)The documents, which were provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and Read more [...]