In the poorest of the Gulf kingdoms, all added values (not just tax) are collected by the government to partially offset its accumulating deficit. It does not pay the citizens the value of what they endure, but rather gives them no value at all.

The case of forged certificates in Kuwait triggered the public opinion in Bahrain in August to question the certificates of governmental officials and private sector employees.

The revocation of citizenship in Bahrain after 2018 has become no more than a symbolic punitive measure� a pattern and part of a clear plan to purge the country of the opposition at any price, or perhaps a plan to change the country's demographic makeup the quickest way possible, even by the most brutal means.

Around 7,602 media items were the outcome of the hate speech and hate-provoking messages targeted at human rights defenders, political activists, Bahraini citizens and international human rights institutions in 2018.

The official website of the tournament and its social media pages posted pictures and videos showing Germany�s Patrick Lang winning the Ironman World Championship.

Bahrain's announcement of the discovery of a large shale oil field off the country's west coast was one of the highlights of 2018. It was the largest discovery as described by the state agency since 1932; estimated to be over twice the size of the Bahrain Field. It was a great occasion for formal government celebration, but it also quickly turned into unanswered questions.

The former Bahrain football player Hakeem Al-Araibi is still being held in a Thai prison, pending a final court decision on his extradition to Manama, although he had entered Thailand as a refugee in Australia.

Bahrain has used the foreign labor issue as a cosmetic product to cover up the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. There has; however, been no real change in the conditions of this category of residents despite Washington's award granted to its ally in this field.

Parliamentary elections were held in Bahrain on November 24, 2018, the third since 2011 when mostly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets demanding democracy. The 2018 Executive Elections Committee said the total number of voters was over 365,000.

Since the beginning of 2018, until its end, the compass of order in Bahrain is moving towards the Zionist regime, wishing that this time it would be the next destination for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Oman.

Bahraini Follow-up Minister at the Royal Court Ahmed Attia Allah Al Khalifa started an aggressive feud with the Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa thrusting the conflict between the Al-Khawalid's wing and Khalifa Bin Salman's wing into the public eye.

The case of the martyr Mohammad Sayyah (1998) should have been an example for the security authorities in Bahrain, warning of the consequences of their brutal treatment of political prisoners, from torture during interrogations, abuse in prison, to denial of treatment, even if they suffer from cancer.

The Capital (Municipal) Secretariat launched a sudden campaign against Jidhafs market vendors in August 2018, one day after the newly appointed municipal director Shawkiyya Hmaidan visited the market.

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became irritated during the Ashura season this year once again. However, this time he closed down a Ma�tam (obsequies) � Shiite center in which religious occasions are commemorated, namely Ashura.

Dramatic developments have been witnessed in the case of �spying� for Qatar, which was raised by the authorities in Bahrain against the opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman and Al-Wefaq officials Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Al-Aswad following the severing of relations with Qatar on June 5th, 2017.

Just as the political decision in Bahrain is dependent on Saudi Arabia, now the economic decision depends on Riyadh�s conditions as well after a new grant worth 10 billion dollars was provided to the island kingdom.

Bahraini authorities reported that they arrested on September 8, 2018, 14 Iranians who allegedly entered the country using forged Asian passports and fake names. This was the first time such an allegation was made.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) named 2018 as a death penalty year, condemning the Bahraini judiciary�s determination in issuing death sentences, which have reached 35 since 2011, 3 of which were executed.

On April 25, 2018, the Military Cassation Court in Bahrain upheld death sentences against 4 Bahrainis over charges of attempting to assassinate Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force, Marshal Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. It was the strangest charge issued since the eruption of protests in 2011.

Illness put an end to the house arrest imposed on the spiritual leader of the Shia in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, since May 23, 2017, when the authorities forcibly dispersed a sit-in that was held around his house for about a year, leaving five martyrs.