Kuwait

17 Apr 2021; MEMO: Kuwait is set to implement value-added and excise taxes amid popular opposition due to the cash crisis resulting from COVID-19 and the instability of oil prices, The New Khalij reported on Friday.

14 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Central Bank of Kuwait today said on its website it has instructed local banks to appoint Kuwaitis in "leadership positions", as part of a drive to create more job opportunities for the country's nationals.

14 Apr 2021; MEMO: Kuwait's Ministerial Court yesterday ordered the pretrial detention of former Prime Minister, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, over the alleged mishandling of military funds, local media reported.

AnadoluAgency reported a Kuwaiti legal source as saying that "the court has ordered the imprisonment of Jaber Al-Sabah, who appeared before it today, in the case of the Army Fund."

12 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Funeral Department of Kuwait Municipality has rejected requests by Buddhists and Hindus to cremate the bodies of their dead in Kuwait, Al Rai newspaper reported yesterday.

According to the paper, the Funeral Department rejected a request to cremate corpses using modern incineration tools such as electric ovens.

KUWAIT CITY, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait's new government took the constitutional oath on Tuesday before the National Assembly, or the parliament.

According to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the ministers took the oath in line with Article 91 of the Constitution.

On March 2, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued a decree forming the new government under Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

26 Mar 2021; MEMO: A state of popular anger has prevailed in Kuwait following the discovery of Israeli food products being sold in local markets after it was imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kuwaiti activists circulated on social media a photo of the Israeli-made hummus which they said was being sold in Kuwaiti cooperative societies after being imported from the UAE.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: More than 45,000 housing units are standing vacant in Kuwait due to the repercussions of coronavirus, CSRGulf announced yesterday.

"Real estate companies face major problems, especially owners who have bank loan installments to reconcile, in addition to the delayed rent payments of thousands of expatriate tenants who left and never came back due to travel restrictions," the centre said in a report.

02 Mar 2021; MEMO: Kuwait's General Reserve Fund, managed by the state-run Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), has insufficient deposits to pay the salaries of public employees next month, a ministerial source told the media.

This comes as the Kuwaiti government has proposed new amendments to the country's public debt law, including capping borrowing to maximum 60 per cent of gross domestic product, the head of a parliamentary finance committee told Reuters.

25 Feb 2021; MEMO: Kuwaiti aid organisations sent aid supplies to families in the northern Syria from Turkey's southeastern city of Sanliurfa, Anadolu Agency reports.

Thanks to a peaceful and secure environment in Tal Abyad and Rasulayn districts after Turkey's Operation Peace Spring, the Kuwait-based ATA and Rahma non-governmental organizations sent 28 truckloads of aid containing food, clothing and sheltering supplies.

27 Jan 2021; MEMO: Kuwait's Health Ministry yesterday rejected the conditions proposed by the American company, Moderna, under which it would supply the Gulf state with the coronavirus vaccine.

Official sources told Al-Qabas that the conditions had included the company's failure to supply "specific quantities of the vaccine, as well as the lack of the ministry's right to return 30 per cent of the doses in case they were not used."