KUWAIT: Security sources revealed that assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, Lt General Abdul Hameed Al Awadhi, recently met the General Director of Criminal Investigation and the Director of Morale Detective Administration Brig Mahmoud Al Tabbakh apart from a number of detectives’ t...

KUWAIT: Demolishing the Ghazali Bridge, part of the comprehensive Jahra Road project, has been temporarily put on hold until solutions are found to the traffic jams that are expected to take place after the busy bridge and its surrounding roads are shut down, a local daily reported yesterday. “The c...

RIYADH: The number of nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries who bought up real estate properties in another GCC member state, other than their home country, increased by 51.1% in 2011 to 16107, up from 10654 in 2010, recent figures from a report issued here today by the GCC Secre...

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) canceled a deal signed last year with an American hospital, under which it was expected to manage four public hospitals, due to “lack of feasibility on the medical level,” according to minister Dr Mohammad Al-Haifi. The five-year $350 million contract with John H...

Kuwait: Police are trying to track down a man who sexually assaulted a teenager in a Jlai’ah camp after luring him there on the pretext of teaching him how to drive. The 14-year-old victim had engaged in a conversation with an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) driver who had stopped near a grocery store in ...

Kuwait: Security man commits ‘suicide’A security man at a mall was found dead in a market in Sabhan on Friday morning in what appeared to be a suicide, according to preliminary investigations. The 29-year-old Indian’s coworkers who were searching for him after he went missing for two hours found him...

KUWAIT: Kuwait doctors are warning of a continual rise in the number of patients suffering from asthma, a disorder that causes the airways of the lungs to swell and narrow, leading to shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing, estimating that prevalence has risen to approximately 17 percent...

KUWAIT: Seven cases have been diagnosed with bird flu in Kuwait recently, a local daily reported yesterday quoting a senior Ministry of Health official who reassured that there is no fear of an outbreak of the dreaded disease. Speaking to Al-Rai on Thursday, Al-Sabah Hospital’s Director Dr Abbas Ram...

Kuwait: A company representative faces human trafficking charges after he used his workshop’s license to release work permits illegally and then sell them to expatriate workers. Investigations are underway after Migration General Department detectives received information about a workshop with 29 re...

KUWAIT: In a surprising decision that fell like a bombshell, the information ministry yesterday withdrew the licence of Al-Youm private satellite television station, almost the lone station that backs the opposition. The channel received a letter from Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al...

KUWAIT: Several MPs in the newly elected National Assembly yesterday strongly criticized Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali for saying that the government will not accept proposals calling to write off interest on loans taken by Kuwaiti citizens. Some MPs threatened they will grill the minister and...

KUWAIT: In a room scented with incense, twelve men in long traditional robes sip sweet tea and debate the political future of Kuwait’s tribes at one of many “diwaniya” across the country, a tradition of evening social gatherings older than Kuwait itself. The issue looms large in the tribal areas aft...

KUWAIT: Not only are the prices of airline tickets to the Philippines becoming sky high but also many of the airlines are fully booked, especially during the Christmas season. A travel agent in Dawliah Complex, Kuwait City, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said some Filipinos were unable ...

KUWAIT: Former public works minister Dr. Fadhel Safar blamed “governmental mismanagement” as being the main problem that slows development in Kuwait, denying, in his first statements after leaving the cabinet, allegations that his exclusion came as part of a deal to help MP Adnan Abdulsamad win the ...

WASHINGTON: The United States has been quietly reducing its military presence in Kuwait. Congressional sources said the Defense Department was reducing the US military presence in Kuwait in the aftermath of the withdrawal from Iraq. They said the reduction included the removal of US military personn...

Kuwait: A man faces domestic abuse charges after striking his wife when she asked for a divorce only one week after being married. The case was recently reported at a local police station in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, where the woman fled following the assault. According to her testimony, the woman had fir...

KUWAIT: A citizen came to the Salmiya police station to accuse his son, who is in his twenties, of beating him and then fleeing from the family’s home. The father, who is in his sixties, provided police with a medical report. Another citizen contacted Sabah Al- Salem police to accuse an Indian maid ...

KUWAIT: A worker was killed during an accident in the Abdullah Port area and a truck driver involved in the tragedy is being held for manslaughter. Police and paramedics were called to the scene, where a man was reported buried under sand unloaded by a dump truck. The Pakistani victim was pronounced...

KUWAIT: Two more MPs yesterday submitted proposals calling for the government to purchase an estimated KD 6 billion in bank loans of citizens and then waive the incurred interest before rescheduling repayment over a long duration. MP Khaled Al-Adwah and Khaled Al-Shulaimi joined Askar Al-Enezi and N...

KUWAIT: The Constitutional Court is scheduled to set hearings to look into an unprecedented 51 challenges to the election results after six cases were filed on Monday at the end of the deadline to do so. The challenges forwarded by voters and candidates vary between calls to recount votes and annulm...

KUWAIT: The Muslim Brotherhood denied allegations of intervention in the referendum vote at the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait, stating a Wall Street Journal report that had reported on Muslim Brotherhood members providing a printer for the distribution of ballots to Egyptian expatriates was “inaccurate...

KUWAIT: A case regarding the suspected inflation of bank accounts belonging to former lawmakers was officially closed at the end of the legal period during which the complainants could have challenged the initial Public Prosecution decision to shelve it for lack of evidence.

KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Ali Al- Rashed indicated yesterday that the parliament is in need to restore confidence with the Kuwaiti people, expressing optimism (this) Assembly would be an achiever and cooperative if harmony was shown by all. “We are in need for dialogue and cooperation, and t...

KUWAIT: Newly-elected MP Nawaf Al- Fuzai yesterday submitted a draft law calling on the state to purchase all bank debts on Kuwaiti citizens and forgive all incurred interest on them as a way to help Kuwaitis repay their debt. The bill calls for the state-owned Kuwait Investment Authority, which man...

KUWAIT: The Committee tasked with the removal of encroachments on state property regrouped its special teams in all industrial, commercial and investment areas and home residences throughout Kuwait. The priorities of removing all encroachments that were rebuilt during last summer have been set and s...

KUWAIT: The parliament’s inaugural session remained calm, as many had expected, given the lack of opposition figures present because they had boycotted elections in protest against an emergency decree that adopted the singlevote system. And while lawmakers lobby to put the past behind them and move ...

KUWAIT: Kuwait is ready to help Iraq address the issue of remains of Kuwaiti prisoners and Kuwaiti properties to quickly close this file, a senior government official said yesterday. “Kuwait has been flexible in helping Iraq exit from Chapter VII (of the UN Charter) and is ready to offer assistance ...

KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary for Experts Affairs at the Justice Ministry, Khalid Al-Dakhil, spoke about the main features in the strategic plan for the experts sector, including its three components: the Experts department, Technical Inspection Administration, and Experts Technical Bureau.

KUWAIT: Manila-based Filipino recruitment agencies have expressed hope that new parliament in Kuwait would look into the issue of domestic workers and pass a domestic labor law hanging fire. The passage of the legislation would enable these firms to resume their business which they had unilaterally ...