Category: News

Cinescape just signed a deal with the company CJ 4DPLEX to bring their ScreenX theater technology to the Middle East.

ScreenX is cinema technology that brings a 270-degree viewing experience to the movie similar to the picture above. The technology projects the film onto the screen in front of you as well as the walls on the left and right of you and then seamlessly connects the three. Movies need to be filmed with ScreenX technology in mind for this to work and since the technology is new, not a lot of movies support it yet. Black Panther was a recent movie that had ScreenX support and the upcoming movie Ant-man and the Wasp will also support it so it’s going to start picking up.

I personally enjoy watching my films in 2D on a large iMax screen but ScreenX might be interesting since it doesn’t involve the use of 3D glasses and isn’t as gimmicky as 4DX. Check out the press release [Here]

We made it to BBC. [Link]

The new Jazeera Airways Airport Terminal is expected to start accepting passengers as early as mid-May. The new terminal is meant to alleviate the current overcrowding at Kuwait International Airport but like Sheikh Saad Terminal, it also means you don’t have to fly in and out of the main airport. I might just start flying with Jazeera again once this terminal opens up. Oh, and the new terminal has it’s own parking as well!

BBC posted a short video (watch above) on a team of European and Arab women who are trekking to the North Pole. One of the woman taking part in this trek is Lamees Nijem, a Kuwaiti who applied to be part of this adventure and got accepted. To prepare for the trip Lamees went on three training trips, one in Oman and two in Iceland. The trainings covered the basics of cross-country skiing, pulling sleds, sharing a tent with 3 other people and dealing with cold weather and extreme climate conditions such as snowstorms and very low temperature.

The main purpose of this expedition is to foster greater dialogue and understanding between women from Western and Arabian cultures. The team consists of 11 women that represent the countries of Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Cyprus, Kuwait, France, Oman, Qatar, Slovenia, Russia and the UK. For more information you can check out the expedition web site [Here] or follow them on instagram @northpole2018

In a bid to maintain Kuwait’s beauty, the Kuwait municipality is now imposing a fine of up to KD300 if you’re found drying your clothes on your balcony. This law doesn’t affect me since I don’t hang my clothes on the balcony anyway, but from all the issues we have, this is the one the municipality wants to fix?

How about the overflowing garbage bins in Salmiya? I would think overflowing garbage bins have a bigger impact on visual pollution as well as hygiene when compared to people hanging laundry on their balcony. Like seriously… [Article 1] [Article 2]

Top photo via Arab Times

The 2018 edition of the World Happiness Report was released last week and Kuwait moved down a few spots from 39 to 45. The highest Kuwait has ever been was 31 and that was back in 2012.

Below is a list comparing Kuwait’s ranking to some other countries in the region including the highest ranked and lowest.

1. Finland
20. United Arab Emirates
32. Qatar
33. Saudi Arabia
43. Bahrain
45. Kuwait
156. Burundi

The scoring is based on a number of factors including answers submitted by people who were asked to assess their satisfaction with their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10. For a more detailed explanation as well as the full list of rankings, you can download the World Happiness Report from [Here]

Thanks Haneen!

I thought Kuwait had canceled plans to build a nuclear power plant but a Russian company just applied for a building permit so they could construct one.

The Russian state corporation Rosatom has applied for building permit for construction of the nuclear power plant in Kuwait, announced the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Currently, the main talks on the implementation of the project are under way. [Source]

I have mixed feelings about this, I’m pro-nuclear power but in our case, solar kinda makes more sense since its sunny all year round and it’s safer. Nuclear is a lot more practical though:

– Kuwait consumes around 13,000MW of electricity

– The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in the USA is the largest solar station in the world and it produces 392MW

– The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan is the largest in the world and produces 7,965 MW

So one nuclear power plant could supply more than 60% of Kuwait’s power needs while the largest solar station would supply just 3%.

The administrative court recently issued a verdict by powers of which the cabinet is to issue a decision banning the usage of water guns in National and Liberation Days’ celebrations. The verdict was made in response to a case filed by lawyer Mona Al-Arbash demanding the ban for public interest, on grounds that thousands of water gallons are wasted every year during national celebrations, costing the country – which is already poor on natural water resources – a lot of money. Use of water guns and water cannons during national celebrations have become very popular in recent years after the government banned the use of spray foam for environmental reasons. [Source]

I’ve really hated what the celebrations have turned into over the past years, and I’m sure a lot of other people as well. So glad we’re finally done with this.

Image via Getty

The first phase of the metro will be completed in the year 2025 and is for one line that starts from Salmiya and heads towards the airport. It will be 50km long and have a total of 27 stations, 9 of which will be in the city center. The full metro project which comprises of five phases is expected to be completed by 2040.

2025 is not THAT far away, just 7 more years to go… [Article]

Below is the latest map I have of the metro, no idea if it’s still valid or not, but it should give you an idea of what it might look like.

Thanks lovelykuwait

Over the weekend the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) announced that they signed Nasser Alruwayeh, the first Kuwaiti ever to join the WWE. I haven’t watched WWE since back when it used to be called WWF, but I still think this is a pretty cool signing.

Nasser is a crossfiter who took part in the invitation-only tryout in Dubai last April. He managed to impress the WWE coaches and training personnel which is why they decided to sign him along with Shadia Bseiso, the first Arab woman to sign with the WWE.

For more information on the signing you can check out the WWE website [Here]

Forbes released their annual “Top 100 Startups In The Arab World” list and Tap Payments was the only startup from Kuwait that made the list coming in at #66. The majority of the startups on the list are based out of UAE, Lebanon and Egypt.

It’s pretty impressive that Tap made the list, but pretty disappointing overall for Kuwait that we don’t have more successful startups (also why isn’t Carriage on that list?). For the full top 100 list, click [Here]

In their red, white and blue uniforms, Kuwait’s first female ice hockey team is training hard in the desert ahead of their debut world tournament later this month.

Affectionately dubbed the “ice ladies” by local media, athletes in hijab or with their hair hastily tied in topknots pull on their helmets before taking to the rink in the Kuwaiti capital — where temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on a sunny October afternoon. [Source]

The team will play their first international game on October 30 at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Bangkok.

Back in 2015, Kuwait passed a law making DNA tests mandatory for all residents. Anybody who refused testing would end up facing a prison sentence along with a hefty fine. I obviously found this an invasion of privacy and made that clear in a number of posts on the blog, but some people were actually for this and were defending the decision. Thankfully, it doesn’t matter anymore, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court overturned the law ruling it unconstitutional.

This means the government will not be collecting DNA samples of every resident in Kuwait as well as tourists. Thank you to the lawyers who fought this law in the courts. If you want to read a bit more about this, Ars Technica has an article about it [Here]

A few days ago, Heathrow released its latest “Fly Quiet and Clean” report which shows which airlines are using the quietest and cleanest aircrafts at their airport. The report also shows which airlines are using the noisiest and dirtiest (pollution wise) aircrafts and Kuwait Airways topped that list.

At first I thought it was because Kuwait Airways was flying their old planes to London but I just checked the route while writing up this post and they’re actually flying their new 777 planes. Since this report is for Q2 of this year which runs from April to June, I figured Kuwait Airways might have been running their older 747 planes back then. So I asked a friend of mine who’s a flight attendant with Kuwait Airways and flies the Kuwait London route and I was right. Kuwait Airways has only been using their new 777 plane on that route for just the past two months. This means Kuwait Airways should end up much higher on the list in the next report because of their quieter and less polluting new planes.

Anyway you can see the full rankings over [Here]

No surprise here but Kuwait is still one of the worst countries for expats according to the latest Expat Insider survey by Internations. Kuwait came in 64th place out of a total of 65 countries surveyed. On the bright side, at least we’re not in last place like we were last year.

Kuwait has improved by one place, coming 64th out of 65 countries in 2017. In fact, it’s improved by at least one place in all indices, with particular progress in the Working Abroad Index: job security has improved by 15 places, putting Kuwait in the middle of the ranking (32nd). Quality of life still remains a struggle, however, and Kuwait comes last for leisure options and personal happiness.

Surprisingly, Bahrain was voted as the best place in the world for expats. Check out the full result of the survey and rankings [Here]

Thanks Bashar