2018 wasn’t much different from previous years in Bahrain, since the beginning of political crisis, in terms of media and public freedoms such as rights to freedom of opinion and expression. There are about 86 documented cases which proved there's no tolerance in Bahrain with regards to freedom of expression about topics authorities don’t like to discuss.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the decision by Bahrain's court of cassation on 31 December to reject citizen-journalist and human rights defender Nabeel Rajab's appeal against his five-year jail sentence.

The Bahrain Court of Cassation, the country's court of last resort, on December 31, 2018 upheld a five-year sentence for Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights defender, an act that was condemned by Human Rights Watch.

Samuel Hanryon, the press relations manager of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), posted a tweet on his personal Twitter account saying that the Paris municipality and Mayor Anne Hidalgo had announced their solidarity with human rights defender Nabeel Rajab.

It’s been a grim 2018 for partisans of free expression in the Gulf, said Joe Stork in an article published on the LobeLog website, mentioning the final appeals court rulings on the long prison terms of the leading human rights figures in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

The Australian SBS website said that an international criminal justice watchdog has released a letter criticizing the Australian government for facilitating the detainment of Bahraini refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi.

Shura Council first vice-chairman Jamal Fakhro said that the Value Added Tax (VAT) will be applied gradually, not comprehensively, during 2019.

SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights said that the number of citizens whose nationalities were revoked exceeded 800 Bahrainis, with the increasing use of the judiciary for punishment despite international convictions.

Bahrain said on Friday that its embassy in Damascus and the Syrian diplomatic mission in Manama had been operating "without interruption", a day after the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Syria, which is still suspended from the Arab League.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman ordered a sweeping government reshuffle Thursday, replacing key security and political figures including the foreign minister, as the kingdom grapples with the international fallout over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

The British school said it will retract the Value Added Tax fee on a number of services it provides to its students, including formal dress, food, stationery and school activities after being imposed on these services.

The spiritual leader of Shia majority in Bahrain Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim arrived in Iraq on Thursday from London to visit the holy shrines. Sheikh Isa left London on Tuesday (December 25, 2018) after months of treatment.

The National Bureau for Taxation (NBT) today highlighted its ongoing efforts to enhance consumer protection and compliance with the VAT law and its Executive Regulations in preparation for its induction on January 1, 2019.

The Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that "work is continuing at its embassy in the brotherly Arab Republic of Syria," indicating that air flights have also continued without any interruption between the two countries.

The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus Thursday, the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian government back into the Arab fold.

The volume of investment in industrial activity in Bahrain declined in 2018, compared to last year. The number of industrial licenses decreased to more than 20% as well.

The Assistant Undersecretary for Development and Policy of Public Revenues at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, Rana Ebrahim Faqihi, affirmed that over 1,000 enterprises have registered for the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki responded to the Bahraini regime's summoning of an Iraqi diplomat to protest what it described as interference in Bahraini affairs.

The Head of Hoora Police Station in the General Directorate of the Capital Police announced the arrest of a Gulf national suspected of stealing a precious art object from a Manama shop.

President Donald Trump made a surprise Christmas visit to U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday, his first trip to a conflict zone nearly two years into his presidency and days after announcing a pullout of American troops from neighboring Syria.