Search: “kuwait”

Kuwait’s being mentioned on a bunch of celebrity gossip sites because of a Rihanna ad that got censored here. Funny. [Link]

Apparently it all started from [Here]

According to the Freedom of the Press 2011 survey release, Kuwait no longer tops the Arab world in freedom of the press, that position now goes to Lebanon. Previously Kuwait was always on top but this year it dropped from a global position of 115th last year to 124th place in 2011. You can check out the full results and press releases [Here]

Below is the freedom of the press ranking for the Middle East and North Africa:

1- Israel
2- Lebanon
3- Kuwait
4- Algeria
5- Jordan
6- Egypt
7- Qatar
8- Iraq / Morocco
10- Oman / UAE
12- Bahrain
13- Palestine / Saudi Arabia / Yemen
16- Syria
17- Tunisia
18- Iran
19- Libya

There seems to be some kind of miscommunication going around or maybe it’s me that is wrong. All the news sites are reporting the courier that led to the capture of bin Laden was a Kuwaiti.

Aide Who Led to Bin Laden Was Kuwaiti-Born Courier

A diplomatic source told CNN that the courier who was in close contact with Osama bin Laden and who eventually led the United States to him was a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad.

Phone call by Kuwaiti courier led to bin Laden

The guy’s nickname was “al Kuwaiti” but from what I’ve read he wasn’t a Kuwaiti but instead a Pakistani national who was born in Kuwait which doesn’t make him a Kuwaiti.

It took years of work before the CIA identified the courier’s real name: Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani man born in Kuwait. [Source]

I wonder if the Kuwait PR department will kick in to correct this bit of information since right now its giving Kuwait a bad image.

Update: The main headline right now on CNN.com is “U.S. tracked Kuwaiti courier since 2007”

[YouTube]

The managing director of the AC Milan Soccer School in Kuwait sent me some information regarding their participation last week in the 24th International Youth Tournament in Rovereto, Italy. It turns out it was the first time in the tournament’s history, a team from out of the EU participates in it. Even though the Kuwaiti team did not win the tournament they still had a great performance. For those of you who don’t know, the AC Milan Soccer School in Kuwait is in collaboration with Loyac and is a non-profit program designed to support the youth and improve football in Kuwait. Fore more information visit their website [Here]

Way to go guys!

I was just checking the blog ArtKuwait when I found out that there was an article on Art in Kuwait yesterday in The Economist. Turns out there is an artist who currently has his work exhibited on four billboards in Hawalli (who would have thought) and they’re going to be up there until the end of the month (check pic above). Here are some excerpts from the article:

ABOVE a busy roundabout in Hawalli, a suburb of Kuwait, loom four giant but subtle photographs about Arab identity and placelessness by Tarek Al-Ghoussein. A Palestinian photographer originally from Kuwait, Mr Al-Ghoussein has exhibited widely, but this is the first time his work has been seen in the country of his birth. Kuwaitis and Palestinians have a chequered past. Decades of relative harmony between the two peoples were soured when Yasser Arafat, as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, applauded Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Since then, the Palestinian population in Kuwait has dwindled from nearly half a million to around 40,000.

…

Mr Al-Ghoussein’s billboards will be on view in Kuwait until the end of April. They are the second instalment in a series of four art projects by Palestinians that includes Khalil Rabah, Jack Persekian and Tarek Atoui. Instigated and underwritten by Rana Sadik, a collector and philanthropist of Palestinian descent, the series is arranged to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s independence and the 20th anniversary of its liberation from Iraq.

“The billboards are a way to remind people on both sides of the positive historical relationship between Palestinians and Kuwaitis,” said Abdulaziz Al-Mulla, a board member of the Kuwait Graduates Society, an organisation of some 5,000 members. Interestingly, the artist’s father was Ambassador to America in the 1960s and instrumental in getting Kuwait into the United Nations. So it is apposite that Mr Al-Ghoussein’s photographs have been given such a cordial diplomatic role.

You can read the full article on The Economist [Here]

via ArtKuwait

The Kuwait Heart Foundation (KHF) has mobile stations which they move around from one area to another offering to test your cholesterol and blood glucose for free (maybe other things as well). Currently they’re stationed outside the Khaldiya Co-op if anyone is interested. I tried to get more information regarding these mobile stations from the KHF website which although is fairly well designed compared to other local government websites… majority of the links don’t work. [Link]

Thanks AbdulRahman

Note: Just noticed the irony of the post coming right after the McGangbang

Yesterday I posted a video taken at Flight Experience in 360 Mall, well there is another place that’s officially opening tomorrow (April 20th) that has a wider range of flight simulators available. The place is called Kuwait Flight Simulation Center and they are located in the basement of Discovery Mall in Kuwait City. I originally passed by them yesterday to take pictures but wasn’t allowed to since there was a miscommunication but the owner told me I could pass by today and take pictures which I did except I didn’t have my camera with me today just my iPhone 4 so apologies for the quality of the shots.

The place looks like a large plane fuselage from the outside. Once you walk in you have 7 simulation capsules on the right hand side, 3 combat stations on the left and right next to them you have a large enclosed room which is a proper full scale flight simulator similar in style to the one at 360 Mall. You also have a small coffee shop, a small shop that sells scale models and another shop that sells flight simulator accessories for PCs.

Today the place is open but it’s invite only, starting tomorrow though it should be open to the public. For more information you could visit their website [Here] or Facebook page [Here]

That’s how the inside of the capsule looks like

The 3 machines on the left are the fighter plane simulators

I think the fighter plane simulators actually move and give force feedback

Thats the inside of the full sized simulator

I’ve been meaning to update the Kuwait Blogs app for awhile now but due to the fact I do all the work on my iMac I haven’t been able to do so. My iMac had a problem with the screen and I sent it in to get repaired under warranty which took around a month to get done. I just finally picked up my iMac today so will most probably be working on an update for the app this weekend.

I’m aware that the current build of the app is unstable with iOS4.3 and it’s my priority fix. I already know whats wrong I just need to work on it. What I also want to do if I have time is update the blogs in the app. I can’t add any more apps since I’ve hit the limit, but I can swap out blogs that aren’t active anymore or aren’t as active as they used to be. So if you have any recommendation on what blog I should add to the app leave it as a comment below.

If you want to download the current app here is the [Link]

According to the latest report by CB Richard Ellis “How global is the business of retail?”, Kuwait City ranked 13th in the world the list of most targeted retail destination, up one place from 14th last year. Dubai and London tied for first place followed by New York in second and Paris third. 13th place is actually incredibly good (we tied with Berlin and Istanbul) since the 12 countries ahead of us are big shots like LA, Moscow, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Berlin etc. plus we beat out cities like Milan, Munich, Tokyo and Miami. Below is the top 20 list:

1 – Dubai
1- London
3- New York
4- Paris
5- Madrid
6- Hong Kong
7- Moscow
8- Los Angeles
9- Singapore
10- Barcelona
11- Beijing
12- Shanghai
13- Berlin
13- Kuwait City
13- Istanbul
16- Riyad
17- Milan
18- Munich
19- Tokyo
20- Las Vegas
20- Miami
20- Hamburg

You can download the full report from the CBRE website [Here]

Now slightly off topic, they represented Kuwait with two visuals in the icon above, one is a stretched out version of Kuwait Towers, but what is the other? Looks like our very own Taj Mahal maybe.

Ok so maybe it’s not such a slow day after all. I just found out a few minutes ago that the UK giant supermarket chain Tesco is coming to Kuwait. Can you figure out who’s bringing them? If you guessed Alshaya then you’re right! No location or launch date set or at least my source isn’t aware of them as of now. Will post more information when I find out. Last time I posted about Tesco was back in 2007. I was in London and got to experience their self checkout machines which I thought were pretty cool. You could read about my experience [Here]

I like posting strange and out of the ordinary stuff and I think this falls into that category. Abdulaziz Al-juraib is a 19 year old Kuwaiti special effects make-up artist who’s currently still studying in university. I took a look at some of the stuff he’s done and I have to say he’s not that bad. Keep in mind we don’t have any schools for this here nor do we have proper facilities or shops to purchase special effects products from. If anyone is doing a short movie that requires a bloody and gory scene then he’s probably the guy you should contact. Check out some of his work on his facebook page [Here]

Faisal Al-Salem is a Kuwaiti who lived in Japan for 10 years and is the lead singer for UNITED, one of the biggest thrash metal bands in Japan. He goes by the name Kenshin over there and the video above is for one of their songs. [YouTube]

You can find out a bit more on Faisal Al-Salem (Kenshin) by checking out an interview with him [Here]
If you would like to visit the bands website as well here is the [Link]

In case you missed it here are posts on a Kuwaiti country music singer and here is one on two Kuwaiti rappers.

via 248pm

Local movie maker Abdulrahman Alaskar emailed me saying he just found out his short movie titled TOKAI just got banned by the Ministry of Information from being screened at the Kuwait International Film Retreat that’s being held tomorrow. They haven’t given him any reason but if you search YouTube for “tokai kuwait” you can find and watch the movie (it’s in two parts). Once you watch the movie you can kind of develop your own theory on what their reasons for banning it might be. I would have embedded the videos or links in this post but I got worried if I did that then the MOI might ban my blog as well. Here is the synopsis for the movie:

TOKAI (street cleaner) is a short documentary that offers a glimpse into the lives of thousands of street cleaners who sweep the streets of oil rich Kuwait. In a country of abundance and wealth, these men earn menial salaries, as low as $50 a month and eventually regress into the forgotten inhabitants of the Middle East.

It’s a sensitive topic that’s for sure but do you think it merits a ban? I hope it all turns out to be just a misunderstanding.

Update: The Kuwait Film Retreat will still screen all banned films at the Hilton Hotel in Mangaf on Friday during the day. The Kuwait Film Retreat supports Kuwaiti filmmakers and will keep supporting them no matter what obstacles arise.

Not really, it’s just a knock off Target store I happened to pass by last night. What I found funnier was their poster below where they also managed to squeeze in the Best Buy logo as well.

I hadn’t heard of Pei Wei Asian Diner but it’s a Chinese fast food place and according to Wikipedia it’s owned by PF Chang’s which makes sense why it’s opening up in Kuwait and why it’s also Alshaya that’s bringing it. No idea yet when and where it will open just that they’ve got the franchise and it’s coming to Kuwait.