Category: News

According to Arabian Business, Kuwait is raising the bar and aims to generate 10 percent of its electricity from sustainable sources by 2020. All I have to say is it’s about time. With our sunny cloudless skies all year round, solar energy is the way to go. Next stop should be replacing all the heavily polluting buses with electric running ones and it should be pretty easy to do. [Link]

The Kuwait Airport security is getting a shipment of T3 electric stand-up vehicles. I’m not sure why since the airport is pretty tiny but the Ministry of Interior seems to think it will make them modern. Maybe they can use them to chase smokers? [Link]

A friend of mine sent the email below which was sent to him by his couriers account manager:

The Kuwait customs have gone on an indefinite strike. The strike will affect clearance at the airport and land customs, as well as the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. There will be no road movements into or out of Kuwait until the strike is over.

Clearance of inbound material (including Documents) at both the airport and land customs will be suspended throughout the strike.

Export from Kuwait will also be affected, and only Conveyable Non documents and Documents that can be transferred via passenger channels at the airport will be able to move.

Regular pickup’s will be carried out, until further notice.

There is a possibility that the strike could last more than one day, however we do not have confirmation of this as yet and will communicate as soon as we do.

I’ve got six packages currently held in customs and I guess I shouldn’t be expecting them to be cleared anytime soon. This sucks.

Update: Spotted the below on Buz Fairy taken outside the customs department. Can someone please tell me what “Customs we apologize to serve you strike a comprehensive” means?

I woke up this morning to find out that Tikka and the Fashionway complex opposite Fanar in Salmiya had caught fire this morning. I don’t have any information yet on what caused the fire but it looks like the fire engulfed the whole top floor and probably causing damage to the shops below as well. The video above is of Tikka on fire and below are some shots taken after the fire was put out. [YouTube]

Thanks Rami and Karim

Update: Below are some shots of the fire taken by Hudson

Update2: Below is a 27 minute video of the fire, better quality than the one above.

Thanks Khaloody

Arabian Business has a list of GCC’s top employers and the only local company to make the cut and come in at #2 is Alshaya. Siemens Kuwait also makes a cameo appearance due to their state-of-the-art office, which according to the article is fully equipped with a gym, pool and shops. Sounds like my kind of office. Here is the link tot he full list on Arabian Business [Link]

I just read about this in Arab Times and I’m kinda concerned since all I drink is mineral water and I drink a lot of it, around 6 liters a day.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 5: The US Embassy in Kuwait has warned its citizens against drinking a certain kind of mineral water, reports Al-Shahed daily. The report could not be independently confirmed.

The embassy in a statement said this water contains contaminants and materials unfit for human consumption and harmful to public health.

The statement said random samples of mineral water, the type sold in the local market, were sent to a special lab in the United States and the results were not convincing.

Sources say the statement added it is surprising the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Kuwait Municipality laboratories have failed to warn citizens and residents against drinking this water.

Here is the link to the article [Link]

According to an article on KuwaitNews.com, the municipality is going to be closing down some streets in the city and opening them up to pedestrians. The municipality is hoping to make the city a nicer place by doing so. They will be closing down Abdullah Al-Salem Street which is the one next to Liberation Tower as well as Palestine Street which is near Safat Square and the old souk. Both streets will be opened up to pedestrians from the first of November.

Although I find it a bit strange they’re closing down those two streets specifically, I do hope this experiment becomes a success since I want them to do the same to Salem Mubarek Street. Now that’s a street that would make more sense open only to pedestrians. Here is the link to the article [Link]

Thanks Ads2Blog

Update: Looks like it’s not the main Abdullah Al-Salem Street but the smaller branch of it on the opposite side of Safat Square (pictured above). It seems they’re closing the streets in and around the old souk which makes a lot more sense. I’ve highlighted in red on the map below what I understood are the streets they’re closing.

Thanks Barrak

Alshaya recently stopped cash and credit card refunds in all their stores for returned items. According to the article on Arabian Business, this decision by Alshaya has caused an uproar of a sort with shoppers in the UAE but surprisingly I haven’t heard much about this in Kuwait. I don’t think I’ve ever returned anything back to a store so this won’t have much effect on me but I’m sure it’s going to piss quite a few people off. [Link]

Thanks Fred

A reader emailed to tell me there is a window cleaning crew trapped on top of a cleaning lift which stopped working because of a mechanical breakdown. The workers have been up there since noon and they still haven’t been able to get the truck to bring them down. The building is the Global Tower which is located in Sharq opposite United Towers. You can see some pictures below.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Thanks Fahed

Note: I’m guessing the workers were rescued right after the pictures were taken

I know this sounds weird and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it but according to an article on the Hotelier website it seems they’re planning on bringing the famous Swedish Ice Hotel to Kuwait. The Ice Hotel is basically a hotel built out of ice and everything inside is made of ice so I have no idea how this will work in Kuwait. Check out the article [Here]

Another day another burger joint. Smashburger to me isn’t as exciting as Five Guys but, the more the merrier. First store will be opening up sometime next year. [Link]

I just found out Tory Burch is coming to Kuwait and the rest of the region courtesy of the Chalhoub Group. They’re opening their first branch at Dubai Mall this year and a branch in Kuwait next year. [Link]

Just a quick update on the attempt by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family to break the record for the worlds largest kite. After yesterdays failed attempt they were supposed to try breaking the record today but they had to call it off since it was too windy.

It’s now not know when they will try to break the record again. [Link]

Yesterday I posted about the attempt by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family to break the record for the worlds largest kite. They already hold the record but they’re trying to re-break it with an even larger kite. Sadly, the kite ended up getting ripped today and so they couldn’t continue with the record attempt. They are currently working overnight to try and repair the kite and will hopefully be flying it again tomorrow. The BBC website has more information on this as well as a video from today’s flight. [Link]

Kuwait’s Al Farsi family already holds the record for the world’s largest kite but it seems like they’ll be trying to break their own record in the next two days with their new Manta Ray kite at the Bristol International Kite Festival. In case you didn’t know the current world’s large kite is actually in the design of the Kuwaiti flag (pictured above). Here is a link with some more details on their new record attempt. [Link]