Category: News

Yesterday it was announced that in order to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, movie theaters in Kuwait would be temporarily shut down. I understand the idea behind this, but I think there were more people waiting in line for a burger at Wachamean last night than there were people at the movies. If we’re closing down theaters and schools because it’s this big of a deal, then we should really close down the whole country for two weeks and not just the cinemas.

Note: Just to clarify, I don’t want the country to shut down, quite the opposite, I think businesses are suffering as is.

Deputy Minister of Public Works Ismail Al-Failakawi announced that the new airport project will open in August 2022, according to the schedule, indicating that the second package project for the airport has been recommended for award at the lowest prices, and we are awaiting the final approval of the agency reports Al Rai.

Al-Failakawi said, on the sidelines of the inspection tour organized by the Ministry yesterday in the presence of Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development Khaled Mahdi, “There are no obstacles facing the project, as work is currently being done in cooperation and coordination with the contractor, consultant and the Supreme Council for Planning to remove any obstacles.” He explained that the project is going According to the schedule, there is no delay, as the completion rate was 26.9 percent. Source

I’m not trying to be pessimistic here but I passed by the new airport this past weekend (picture above) and I can’t see how it will be completed by August 2022. That’s just two years away which seems crazy but then again, it’s a Diwan Amiri project so maybe 2 more years of construction doesn’t seem too far reached.

Originally the first phase of the metro was meant to be completed 2020 but that’s obviously not happening since work hasn’t even begun. But now according to Kuwait Times, there is a new updated plan for the metro network:

The Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project (KMRT) will be built over five phases stretching over 160 kilometers, and will have 68 stations along three lines, according to the plan. The first phase of the project includes a railway stretching 50 kilometers from Kuwait City to Kuwait International Airport, with 27 new stations, 30 percent of which will be underground with two underground stations, heavy duty maintenance warehouse. The first phase will cover areas in several governorates and include nine stations within Kuwait’s business center. Source

No completion date was given this time around…

A Kuwaiti makeup artist was accused of racism after she posted a video and a picture of herself painted in dark makeup, in what critics condemned as blackface.

Ghadeer Sultan first posted a short video clip on her Instagram page on Wednesday, with the song We Are the World playing in the background, showcasing her different looks in a range of skin colours and wigs.

She then posted a photo of herself in blackface, which has garnered more than 44,000 likes.

Sultan’s page, which has two million followers, was then inundated with comments denouncing her blackface while others argued she had done nothing wrong. Source

This happened last week and I thought with all the negativity she’d end up removing the photos and videos but she hasn’t yet. Not only that but she’s also been reposting all the negative news articles about her that are being published in the media into her instagram story. So not really sure what to think about all of this. I hadn’t heard of her until last week but don’t think she’s actually racist, just unaware that blackfacing can be deemed offensive.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ghadeer Sultan – غدير سلطان (@ghdor.sultan) on Dec 31, 2019 at 11:31am PST

After the photos and videos went viral she posted the following statement and apology yesterday on her story (spelling mistakes fixed):

I’m sorry, I can see how blackface event must have been frustrating for you. I appreciate how difficult it must have been for you to deal with blackface. However it was absolutely not in my intention…

I was trying to show how artists could show things in a professional way.

I am professional artists and I did my best to show the beauty in colors.. the people and my millions of followers who knows me would definitely know what I’ve meant by doing this and what is my feelings towards all people’s and all colors.

Thanks for alerting me to blackface. I recognized that this can’t have been an easy thing to deal with and I’m so sorry that I have caused you to feel humiliations however on the contrary I looked more beautiful in my dark colors…

I’ve tried to explain several times why and how I’ve done this and what was my goal behind it, but I can’t really change the sensitivity behind the whole issue.

You were absolutely right to bring this to my attention, so I can immediately resolve any issues or any misunderstanding with my loved followers…

I will try everything I can to get this fixed and live with all people with love joy and peace once again… I am fully committed to my followers to show how artists could make your life peaceful and beautiful…

I will work on resolving the miss understanding and I will be careful in approaching or touching another culture, so we can all enjoy the beauty behind the arts..

Love u all

I think she’s the only influencer that’s made the news for something negative and then apologized. But, she still hasn’t removed the video or any of the blackface photos and don’t think she will.

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VIVA today announced that they’ve rebranded to STC in Kuwait. This was expected to happen after the Saudi Telecom Company purchased a majority stake in Viva back in 2016.

It’s that time of year again when the Expat Insider list of worst places to live comes out and Kuwait gets named the worst place in the universe for expats. No surprise really, but it’s also not that bad when you compare us to other places you’d think would be much better off. Here are some of the worst cities for expats to live and work:

82 – Kuwait City
81 – Rome
80 – Milan
78 – Paris
77 – San Francisco
76 – Los Angeles
74 – New York

Ummm yeah, so Kuwait is basically like Paris, NY and LA so really, it can’t be that bad right?

For the full data and reasoning behind our poor ranking, click here. You can also check out the Arabian Business article on this here.

Thanks Musty

Last year I posted about how much I hated the housekeeper’s category on the Q8 4Sale website since people were listing their housekeepers for sale. After my post, the 4Sale website started removing those posts and set new rules for the category but I still wished they had closed it down instead. Well it took a thorough BBC investigation and reporting for that to happen.

Over the weekend, BBC published its investigative video below exposing the trade by interviewing a number of people who were selling their housekeepers including a police officer and a woman who was selling her 16-year-old housekeeper!

Posing as a couple newly arrived in Kuwait, the BBC Arabic undercover team spoke to 57 app users and visited more than a dozen people who were trying to sell them their domestic worker via a popular commodity app called 4Sale.

The sellers almost all advocated confiscating the women’s passports, confining them to the house, denying them any time off and giving them little or no access to a phone.

The 4Sale app allowed you to filter by race, with different price brackets clearly on offer, according to category. Source

After the video and article went viral, Kuwait announced that it was cracking down on slave traders and I checked the 4sale website and it looks like they finally completely removed the housekeeper’s category. Hopefully, this will cause the government to consider reforming the kafala (sponsorship) system which in it’s current state is flawed and being abused. Check out the BBC articles on this subject below:

Slave markets found on Instagram and other apps (Oct 31)
Kuwait moves on Instagram slave traders after BBC investigation (Nov 1)

Last night was the cultural event for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and Kuwait. As part of the cultural filled evening, a variety of Korean traditional and modern music performances were meant to take place including a performance by the K-pop group D-Crunch. But just before they were meant to perform, the Ministry of Information ordered a halt to the event.

Meanwhile in Riyad the popular K-pop group BTS performed 2 weeks ago in a packed stadium…

Not only that but the hashtag #dcrunch_come_to_saudiarabia has also been trending with Saudis apologizing to D-Crunch for what happened to them in Kuwait. This is just too weird, how did Saudi Arabia become more liberal than Kuwait overnight?

Al-Hashim demanded the implementation of her proposal to impose fees on expatriates for using roads “because it is time to apply it” while reiterating the need to collect fees on remittances. “We have to take a fee even on the air that the expatriate breathes,” She added. Source

Sadly, this is not the Onion.

A couple of weeks back Ice Breaker gum got banned for containing non-halal ingredients and now a bunch of protein bars were also banned for containing non-halal ingredients:

Public Authority for Food and Nutrition (PAFN) has called to ban all imports of several protein bars as it contained non-halal ingredients. Secretary General Adel Al-Suwait said that it was found that products like Snickers, Mars, Bounty and Milky Way protein bars contained non-halal ingredients. Source

The odd thing is I looked through the ingredients and can’t figure out what the non-halal item can be. For example, this is the ingredients list for the Mars protein bar:

Protein Blend (27%) (Soya Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Skimmed Milk Powder, Whey Protein Concentrate (from Milk), Egg, Albumen, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin)), Caramel (16%) (Sweetened Condensed Skimmed Milk, Glucose Syrup, Invert Sugar Syrup, Palm Oil, Butter (from Milk), Sugar, Emulsifier (E471), Stabiliser (Pectin), Salt, Natural Flavouring), Milk Chocolate (15%) (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Skimmed Milk Powder, Cocoa Mass, Lactose and Protein from Whey (from Milk), Palm Fat, Whey Powder (from Milk), Milk Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Natural Vanilla Extract), Hydrolysed Collagen (12%), Humectant (Glycerol), Fructo-Oligosaccharide, Humectant (Maltitol), Flavourings, Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder, Barley Malt Extract, Salt.

So bizarre.

via Reddit

Al Qabas newspaper launched a new service recently called Al Qabas Premium where they’ve digitized all their issues going back to 1972 and made them available online.

This is such a cool thing and I’m so surprised they did this. Previously the only way I could access their archive is by going to the National Library and having to flip through large and heavy books, so this is way more convenient.

Al Qabas Premium isn’t free, it costs $60 a year but you can sign up to a monthly package ($6) if you want as well. They do have some free content available and I just found the picture on top of Cinema Salmiya dating back to 1972 as part of their free content. But, $6 is pretty reasonable so I’ll be signing up to their monthly package.

Al Qabas Premium is in Arabic and if you want to check it out then click here.

Thanks Omar!

Update: Here is a video they just published about Al Qabas Premium

The current Municipal Council building would be turned into a museum under the umbrella of the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters, said Chairman Osama Al-Otaibi Monday.

After relocating to a new one, the old building would be preserved due to its historic significance, Al-Otaibi told a press conference. Source

I’m so glad they realized the importance of the building and won’t be demolishing it. After the decision to demolish Sawaber and the Ice Skating Rink, I wouldn’t have been too surprised if they had decided to demolish this building as well.

The Kuwait Municipality building was designed by the architect Sami Abdul Baki and constructed between 1959 and 1962 by The Arab Contractors. I tried to find information on the architect but really couldn’t find anything other than a design he had proposed for the Martyr’s Square in Lebanon that never came to be. Interestingly, the Kuwait Municipality building features arcs similar to the one in his Martyr’s Square design (check below). So either that was his design signature or, maybe since it was never executed in Lebanon he decided to implement it into this building.

If anyone knows what other buildings he might have designed in Kuwait let me know in the comments below.

Image on top and building information was taken from Modern Architecture Kuwait 1949-1989

The Commercial Control and Consumer Protection Sector has issued a citation against a shop for displaying the ‘homosexual’ logo, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources.

The daily added, this happened when a number of shoppers complained about the sign and the concerned commercial control department sent officers to run a check and the signboard was removed and the person responsible has been referred to the concerned authority.

The sources stressed the need to abide by the laws in force and its responsibility in applying the law in its context that does not allow any irregularities that conflict with the laws and regulations. Source

You guys have probably already come across this article that was published last week since it went viral on social media. It was pretty vague with no mention of the shop and what was actually removed. After doing a bit of research it turns out the shop in question was Louis Vuitton. I thought they might have had a special display to celebrate the LGBT+ community but I did a bit of googling and couldn’t find any information or photos on a special display LV was using in their stores for this.

So I decided to ask around locally and turns out the display that was deemed offensive was actually not related to the LGBT+ community at all. LV have a window display called the dream catcher which features colorful dream catchers and someone must have complained to consumer protection that LV was displaying the gay pride flag in their display and LV was forced to remove it. The picture above isn’t of the actual dream catcher window display that was removed but one similar I found online and as you can see the colors don’t even match the pride flag or the correct order of the colors. Yet, they were still asked to remove it. So weird.

Last month I posted that Saudi Arabia is going to start offering permanent residency to some expats like doctors, engineers, innovators, investors and residents who contribute to the country. But now they’ve expanded the programme even further where you can also buy a permanent residency:

Saudi Arabia has opened applications for a permanent residency programme designed to attract foreign investment to the kingdom, but it will cost a hefty 800,000 riyals ($213,000).

…

The so-called premium residencies will allow foreigners to buy property and do business without a Saudi sponsor, switch jobs and exit the kingdom easily and sponsor visas for family members, according to the website for registrations. Source

That’s one pretty expensive visa. At first, I thought you needed to invest at least $213,000 for example by buying an apartment, which is reasonable, but turns out it’s actually the fee you need to pay for the residency. At least it’s a start and expats in Saudi have an option.

Last month I posted that FIFA was considering Kuwait to co-host the World Cup with Qatar, that offer is now off the table. FIFA originally wanted to increase the teams participating in the World Cup to 48, but Qatar didn’t have enough stadiums and facilities to host the extra games. So Kuwait and Oman were both considered to co-host since nobody else in the Gulf is in talking terms with Qatar at the moment. Oman didn’t have the stadiums to host the games and Kuwait wasn’t interested in co-hosting either so FIFA scrapped the plans to expand the World Cup.

As someone who wanted Kuwait to host the World Cup, this is obviously disappointing news.