Category: News

Fast Company released an infographic showing the life expectancy of nearly every country in the world including Kuwait. In Asia, Kuwait came in at 11th place with a life expectancy of 77 while Macau and Japan both topped Asia’s list with 84. Regionally, both Bahrain and Qatar performed better than Kuwait with a life expectancy of 78.

So where would you have to be born to live the longest? The answer is Monaco where the life expectancy is 90 years of age. Check out the full article [Here]

Thanks John

Just a bit of positivity to start off the day (yes my day starts at noon). Local startup FishFishMe have secured $200,000 from investors to expand their operations globally. FishFishMe is an online platform to book fishing charter boats and they’re already pretty global as it is but with the new investment they’re hoping to expand even more while also improving their current offerings. If you haven’t checked out FishFishMe before you should, here is a link to their [Website]

Goes to show, a good idea is a good idea no matter where you’re based.

One of my favorite news sources Quartz just published a list of the cheapest beer prices in the world as well as the most expensive. On the list of cheapest beer prices, Saudi Arabia came fourth which kinda makes sense since I know non alcoholic beer like Barbican are super popular there. Quartz also put up a list of the most expensive beers in the world and thats where Kuwait comes in.

According to their data, the price of 0.5L of draught beer is $6.48. Problem is I don’t know of any place in Kuwait that serves draught beer (that’s beer from a tap). Quartz assumes the reason the price of beer in Kuwait is expensive is because it’s illegal and link to a post of mine from last year in which I had published the prices of alcohol in Kuwait (taken from a newspaper). Problem is if the price was based on illegal alcoholic beer then Kuwait would top the chart. The price I had posted was around KD150-KD180 for a case. A case has 24 cans and KD150 is around $530. 24 cans x 330ml = 7.92L ÷ 0.5L = 15.84. $530 ÷ 15.84 = $33.4. So the price of 0.5L of beer in Kuwait is $33.4 which is a lot more than $6.48.

Anyway check out their article [Here]

According to the Arab Times, any expat arrested tonight for drinking alcohol or being drunk will be immediately deported. So be cautious and have your wasta on speed dial.

On a more serious note though, don’t drink and drive tonight. Here are some cab number in case you need them:

London Limo – 60005466
Kuds Taxi – 22413414
Salwa Taxi – 25658203
Al-Rissalah Taxi – 25730398
Al-Areej Taxi – 1808022
More numbers [Here]

Happy New Year.

A woman in Kuwait has filed for divorce one week into her marriage after she discovered that husband did not like to eat peas with a fork and preferred to use bread. Accusing him of failing to abide by table manners and proper eating etiquette, she said that she was disgusted by the “shocking sight” and could not stay with her husband the rest of life and wanted a divorce, local daily Al Qabas reported on Monday.

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In another case, a woman told her lawyer that she wanted to divorce her husband for insisting on squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle and not the end. “We are always arguing,” she reportedly said. “I keep telling him that he should squeeze in the end of the tube, but he stubbornly refuses and keeps squeezing it in the middle. He is so obstinate.”

[Source]

According to Kuwait Times, the zoo is going to start selling some of their animals because they have too many of them and not enough space. My recommendation is to go for a Pygmy Goat, they’re just too damn cute (they’d make great funny YouTube videos). [Link]

Kuwait was the first Gulf country to grow a motor racing industry. But it lost out and these days, Bahrain and the UAE host prestigious Formula One races while the last proper track in Kuwait closed a few years ago.

Kuwait actually has a motor racing heritage dating back to 1964 not 74 (like mentioned in the news report) if you consider the Ahmadi karting track. [YouTube]

The 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index is out and Kuwait is still dropping down the list every year. In 2011 Kuwait was ranked 54th place worldwide, then last year we dropped down to 66th place and this year we dropped down further to 69th place. Below are some of the rankings:

1- Denmark
14 – United Kingdom
19 – United States of America
26 – United Arab Emirates
28 – Qatar
57 – Bahrain
61 – Oman
63 – Saudi Arabia
66 – Jordan
69 – Kuwait
94 – India
94 – Philippines
114 – Egypt
127 – Lebanon
144 – Iran

You can check out the full list [Here]

Thanks Tariq

Some readers reported feeling an earthquake yesterday around 5PM. Turns out an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 hit Southern Iran yesterday, around 300km north of Kuwait. [Link]

Three Kuwaiti drug addicts and their massive dog were in their car heading out of their capital when a police patrol waved them to stop after suspecting their behavior.

The three quickly put the narcotics in a plastic bag and hid it under the dog before asking it to lie on the bag and stay there.

When the cops told them to get out to search the car, one of them warned the police not to come near the dog on the grounds it is savage and could be easily irritated.

“But the police insisted on searching the car…they were surprised to find that the dog is very calm and obedient…when they led the dog out of the car, they found the bag which contained hashish and other drugs,” Alanba daily said. [Source]

I thought this was funny to share.

[YouTube]

So the news of Kuwait banning gays from entering Kuwait by “detecting” them has been picked up by news sites all over the world including the Taiwanese company that create the hilarious news animations. They made one on this subject and it cracked me up. Check it out here.

Jimmy Fallon also mentioned Kuwait in his opening act which you can watch below starting at 4:36.

[YouTube]

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Kuwait will conduct medical screening tests to “detect” homosexuals who attempt to get into the Gulf kingdom, according to a senior official.

Yousouf Mindkar, director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry, said that the routine clinical screening of expatriates coming into the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) will include tests to identify LGBT people who will then be banned from entering the country. [Source]

Good luck with that!

A falcon was recently sold at an unbelievable price: KD 209,000. This is a record price for a bird of any kind. The unique falcon was sold during an auction held in Jahra.

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This falcon is a unique Iranian Farsi falcon which was hunted by Kuwaitis in Al- Nuweisib when it was flying over Kuwait from Iranian mountains during the migratory season, seeking warm weather. According to a local daily, these hunters were training their falcons in the area, and when they saw this unique falcon, they immediately sent a hunting pigeon with a net to capture it.

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According to Al-Ruwei, if the falcon was hunted in Kuwait while it was flying over the country, its price would be higher than if it was hunted abroad. “People who love this hobby spread news about this on social media, so they always know where the falcon is hunted and when the auction takes place. When a falcon is imported into Kuwait, its keen followers will immediately know when exactly it entered Kuwait and passed through the customs,”

There’s a whole different world out there… [Link]

Metal detectors may soon be installed at all mall entrances in Kuwait following the fatal stabbing of a man on Thursday.
Minister of Interior Major Raed Buslaib said the ministry had agreed to increase security at malls after residents were shocked by the public killing.
“The ministry is now discussing the security systems in the malls. We agreed that the number of surveillance cameras should be increased and alarms and metal detectors should be installed at mall entrances and maintained regularly,” Buslaib told the Kuwait Times. [Arabian Business]

I hope that’s not going to happen just because based on current security setups around Kuwait at hotels and even at the airport, I don’t think it’s going to be effective since security tends to slack off. Also even if they did stop people bringing knives in from outside the malls they could still buy them once they’re inside.

Kuwait Times also have the full story on this weekends stabbing, turns out it wasn’t over a girl. [Link]

A Kuwaiti Airways passenger plane used blankets and bed sheets to block an air leak discovered through an emergency door while the jet was en route from Thailand to Kuwait, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Passengers began to panic when they saw the pilot and cabin crew hurrying to block the leak caused by erosion of a small part of the door, the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Alwatan said, citing Kuwaiti Airways sources. [Source]

On the positive side it looks like they might be getting 20 new planes by next year.