Bahrain This Week

Gulf Air promised fair treatment for Omani staff after their country pulled out of the airline, putting Bahrain in sole ownership.

The new development will not mean Omanis being targeted in the airline’s previously announced downsizing, over other employees, said airline spokesman Hisham Abu Alfateh. “It will be based on performance and skill and not on nationality or location,” he said.
A committee is currently being set up to look into matters related to Oman’s pull out, including the 250-strong staff based there. Most of the staff are Omani and more than 200 work at the airline’s call centre.

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Anzio departed the 5th Fleet area of operations this week after transiting the Suez Canal, marking the completion of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group’s support for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Maritime Security Operations in the region.
 The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle has also left the Gulf area of operations.  USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is on its way to the region and will join USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, which has been operating here since February. 

Bahrain has urged a negotiated peace settlement to the Iranian nuclear programme.”The diplomatic option should rank high in any multilateral discussion between parties involved in the conflict, Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said. While warning against the disastrous pitfalls of a new conflict, the Premier said any escalation would thwart the GCC’s current development momentum.

Samples may be sent abroad to help determine the exact cause of the food poisoning which claimed the lives of two children in Bahrain.
Juval Saji, 13 and her brother Joel, three, are understood to have died after eating contaminated food with their father Saji Varghese and mother Mini Saji last Friday evening. The family ate home-cooked food at their apartment in Salmaniya before falling ill.
Police are continuing their investigations into the incident.

Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa will open a new BD2.7 million Muharraq Municipality building in Busaiteen today. The three-storey building has offices for 160 people and will accommodate the municipality director-general, Muharraq Municipal Council chairman, councillors and other staff members. It includes the council’s main conference hall as well as a multi-function hall seating 100 people.
The new building will also provide municipal services for Muharraq Governorate residents.

A football pitch in Isa Town has been closed for good after repeated complaints from residents that noisy youngsters were robbing them of sleep. The Central Municipal Council hesitated at first, but after consulting residents found that more than half of them wanted the pitch closed.
Councillors voted to lock off the pitch until they decide what to do with it. “It is true that youngsters have no place to go, but the decision to close it down was made in the most democratic way possible and that’s by consulting residents,” said councillor Adnan Al Malki.

The British School of Bahrain, Adliya, is to merge with one of Bahrain’s newest educational institutions, the Al Ruwad School, Hamala. The Education Ministry has reportedly issued a circular announcing the ‘amalgamation’. The move entails the BSB moving to the Al Ruwad School campus at the beginning of the next term.

And finally, Bahrain must take action now to save its marine turtles before it is too late, says a leading environmentalist. Marine turtles are losing their habitats because of dredging and reclamation work on Bahrain’s shores and consequently their numbers are declining, Environment Friends Society (EFS) president Khawla Al Muhannadi told the GDN. “Fasht Al Adhm is a very important habitat for turtles, but it is at risk,” she said. “The island has sandy beaches where turtles lay their eggs, sea grass which serves as their feeding ground and a coral reef that acts as an important mating ground.”