At least 100 American citizens have been trapped for months on two U.S. bases inside Kuwait after local police unjustly issued warrants for their arrest, a U.S. defense contractor told FoxNews.com.

Most of the Americans were working as Arabic translators for Global Linguist Solutions, which ended a lucrative deal with its sponsoring Kuwaiti subcontractor, Al Shora International General Trading & Contracting and signed on with another company. Sources told FoxNews.com Al Shora’s managing director is the sister-in-law of the Kuwaiti prime minister.

When the contract ended Feb. 17, Al Shora refused to transfer the employees’ visas to the new Kuwaiti subcontractor and falsely accused the Americans of being “runaways and absconders,” according to Charles Tolleson, president of Global Linguist Solutions. His company has barred workers from leaving the bases since May 31 to protect them from arrest and imprisonment.

“My biggest concern is the safety and security of my employees in Kuwait,” he said.

One of the employees, who contacted FoxNews.com Tuesday morning from Camp Buehring, said, “If we leave the base, we could be arrested by the Kuwaiti authorities, jailed or deported.”

“We cannot see the doctor even for an emergency,” said the woman, who asked that her name not be used. “Everybody here is under stress because a lot of us here need to go home. Our families are worried about us. We need to see our kids… We don’t see any hope. We’re dealing with a corrupt company in Kuwait that has fabricated charges against us.”

She said the Al Shora’s managing director “cancelled all of our visas here, so we became illegal.”

Camp Buehring is in the Kuwaiti desert, about 25 miles south of the Iraqi border. Other employees of Global Linguistics are similarly stuck at Camp Arifjan, another U.S. Army base inside Kuwait.

Al Shora is demanding $22 million from Global Linguistics in order to transfer the employees’ visas to the new company, Kuwaiti Resources House, sources said. Under Kuwaiti law, foreigners cannot work in the country unless they are under the sponsorship of a private Kuwaiti company.

After his company re-bid its contract several months ago and opted to chose the new Kuwaiti company, “Al Shora basically embarked on a campaign to destroy my company,” Tolleson said.

“There’s no contract dispute. I don’t even have a contract with them anymore,” he said of Al Shora. “If a sponsor is no longer a sponsor, they are required to simply transfer [the visas] to the new sponsor. This happens all the time. They won’t do that, and that violates the terms of their former contract.”

A representative from the Kuwaiti prime minister’s office said he was not aware of the situation.

“This is the first time I heard about this,” the representative, who declined to give his name, told FoxNews.com. “This kind of behavior has never happened.”

He had no comment when asked if the Al Shora’s managing director was related to Kuwaiti Prime Minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

Tolleson said that when he approached the U.S. military about the situation, “I was told this is my problem.”

The office for the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait referred all inquiries on the matter to the U.S. State Department.

“The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is aware of the commercial dispute involving a Department of Defense contractor and a local Kuwaiti company,” Beth Gosselin, as a State Department spokeswoman, told FoxNews.com. “That dispute has had an impact on a number of private U.S. citizens working in Kuwait.

“The protection of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities,” Gosselin added. “The U.S. Embassy is working with the private U.S. citizens and is providing them with appropriate consular assistance. The Embassy continues to monitor the situation closely and is encouraging an immediate resolution to this difficult issue.”

Via Foxnews. com

Kuwait hanged two Egyptian men on Tuesday, one for murder and the other for abduction and rape, state news agency KUNA reported, in the second set of executions in the Gulf Arab state this year.

Ahmad al-Beili was sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of two people and Hajjaj al-Saeedi was found guilty of raping five children, KUNA said, adding that 29 people remain on Kuwait’s death row.

In April, Kuwait hanged three men who had been convicted of murder in the first executions since 2007.

Human Rights Watch, which campaigns against the death penalty, had urged Kuwait on Monday to halt the executions.

“This new round of executions indicates that Kuwait is moving in exactly the wrong direction regarding the death penalty,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at the rights group, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall, editing by Gareth Jones)

“First of its kind in KUWAIT”

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So come on ladies mark ur calenders for this exclusive KIWI EVENT ON 21ST & 22ND Jun 2013!!

Via Arabiangazzete . com
by John Brian.

Phase I of the country’s first renewable energy project is already underway and it will be in the form of a 70 MW ‘hybrid power plant’ with PV-solar, thermal solar, and small wind power, set to come online by Q3 of 2016, in Shagaya, Kuwait – near its border with Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

• Phase I – 70 MW.
• Phase II – 930 MW.
• Phase III – 1000 MW.

Once the renewable energy plant is fully operational in 2030, the 2000 MW 3-part project will save Kuwait 12.5 million barrels of oil (BOe) per year — and power 100,000 Kuwaiti homes.

Saving 12.5 million barrels (BOe) per year will allow Kuwait to export that same amount of oil at the going rate. (12.5 million barrels of crude oil, is about equal to one fully loaded supertanker)

Oil prices have been hovering around the USD 80. – 100. mark recently, but this will certainly rise and some energy experts see oil rising as high as USD 250. per barrel, mid-century.

For demonstration purposes only, if that one supertanker load of ‘saved oil’ is priced near today’s USD 90. per barrel ($90. x 12.5 million barrels per year) it means Kuwait will rake in an extra USD 1.12 billion, per year, every year, due to this renewable energy project.

If the oil price shoots up as expected, the government will see even greater benefits. By the time oil hits USD 180. per barrel, this 3-Phase project will be complete — allowing the Kuwaiti government to take in USD 2.25 billion, per year, every year, due to this renewable energy project.

Separate from all of the foregoing, is the additional income that could be garnered from those ‘saved’ 12.5 million barrels per year — IF Kuwait added some value to that crude oil by refining it into valuable products before exporting it, such as gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, plastics and synthetic rubber — instead of merely exporting it as raw crude oil.

At that point, the relatively small amount of 12.5 million barrels per year could become worth much more than crude oil sold for USD 1 or 2 billion per year. Instead, when sold as fuels or plastics, it becomes many billions of dollars contributing directly to the national GDP of Kuwait.

To extrapolate this further, Kuwait’s national power grid uses 14,000 MW at peak load. Out of their yearly production, Kuwait uses 126 million BOe (barrels-of-oil-equivalent) per year, to power their domestic electricity grid.

Based on USD 90. per barrel, with 126 million barrels (BOe) saved:

If Kuwait switched completely to renewable energy, and instead, exported all the crude oil and gas it burns to produce domestic electricity, national GDP could increase by USD 11.3 billion.

Based on USD 180. per barrel, with 126 million barrels (BOe) saved:

If Kuwait switched completely to renewable energy, and instead, exported all the crude oil and gas it burns to produce domestic electricity, national GDP could increase by USD 22.6 billion.

Based on value-added products made from crude oil, with 126 million barrels (BOe) saved:

If Kuwait switched completely to renewable energy, and instead, refined all the oil and gas it burns to produce domestic electricity, national GDP could increase by USD 56.7 billion, or more.

Only now, with the recent combination of high crude oil prices and the dramatic fall in the cost of renewable energy has it made economic sense for OPEC nations to consider the switch to renewable energy.

Simply put, OPEC nations can make more money by exporting their oil – instead of burning it to produce electricity for domestic consumption.

Adding value to the ‘saved’ crude prior to export, means that OPEC nations have the opportunity to make their money many times over, when compared to simply exporting raw crude product.

Embracing this new vision can work miracles for GCC economies, which are blessed with plentiful sunshine and wind resources, and already have the technology to refine their crude oil, thereby adding value to the raw resource while creating thousands of jobs for the region’s chronically under-employed youth.

Cleaner air for GCC citizens, billions more dollars via value-added exports and a lower unemployment rate among region’s youth. Now that’s something to celebrate!

Luxury Made Affordable.     

Kuwait Automotive Imports Co WLL

Unveiled Geely Emgrand X7 SUV

Kuwait Automotive Imports Co. WLL (Al Shaya & Al Sagar), the authorised distributor for Geely, unveiled the new Geely SUV Emgrand X7, the latest and long awaited addition to the Geely range of cars in Kuwait.  One year after the successful launch of Geely brand in Kuwait, Geely cars can be seen conquering Kuwait roads.  Four Geely models —EC7, EC8, LC Panda and GX2, — have been doing very well since their launch in June last year.  

Mr Ashish Tandon, General Manager of KAICO shared, “This is the first time Geely Emgrand has brought an SUV to Kuwait, so there is much excitement among the admirers of this leading global Chinese brand. We are confident the Geely Emgrand X7 will have a significant impact on the growing SUV market in Kuwait. Geely Emgrand X7 is complete value for money.”

The model carries a world-class automatic transmission DSI 6AT and 2.4L CVVT engine and has become the flagship model of the Emgrand X7 series. The GEELY EMGRAND X7 appears in a dynamic fashion with spacious interior and multi-functional configuration.

Super engine combination

The 6AT in the GEELY EMGRAND X7 is produced by DSI (Drivetrain Systems International), the world’s second largest automatic transmission company with leading-edge manufacturing technology. To provide maximum control accuracy and gearshift comfort, DSI uses independent clutch control, closed-loop control rule of shift pressure and engine torque control to configure planetary gear transmission system, multi-plate wet clutch and brake belt.  DSI 6AT in the GEELY EMGRAND X7 does better in shift performance, starting acceleration performance, steering and ride comfort, engine combination and fuel economy. It can lower the rider’s sense of setback when getting a gearshift and only takes 0.3 second for gearshift response. The 6AT has a torque of 400Nm on maximum resolution, so the engine performance can be lifted 10 percent.

The 2.4L engine carried by the model is cast through aluminum process and uses Continue Variable Valve Timing (CVVT) technology, so it not only is lighter but also delivers excellent engine performance. It has a maximum power of 119kW/5700rpm and maximum torque of 220 Nm /4000-4200rpm.

Excellent safety performance

Rexzcy Williams – Geely Brand Manager mentioned that Geely cars are renowned for their up-to-date technology, great performance and superb quality and were developed in accordance with European standards. “Geely has made fruitful effort in safety technology in recent years”, he added.  Today the company has organized a safety R&D team of over 500 engineers, who contribute to its safety technology development. Having se t up a world-class safety center, the automaker has achieved the capacity for testing all the car models under both China’s and EU’s evaluation system, built a comprehensive R&D flow for safety systems so as to evaluate safety performance, cost and quality control, and established the Geely Total Safety Management (GTSM) system to ensure overall safety performance.

The Geely Emgrand X7 was rated 5+ stars with 50.3 scores on C-NCAP safety test, the best result ever earned by a Chinese homegrown brand in the history of C-NCAP. The GEELY EMGRAND X7, Geely’s first SUV, has achieved top safety performance and outdone many models from joint ventures.

Based on the safety system of Geely Total Safety Management (GTSM), the GEELY EMGRAND X7 is designed in accordance with the 5-star standards of E-NCAP and 5+ standards of C-NCAP. The model has “6+1″ air bags configuration. “6″ are conventional six air bags in frontal and side parts, and “1″ is the KABs (knee airbags) which are rarely seen in models of the same class. The energy-absorbing engine bonnet and crumpling-type head lamp mounting frame provide pedestrian protection.

Cutting-edge smart settings

The Geely Emgrand X7 is equipped with excellent smart devices. Vehicle Bluetooth System, rear camera, audio system and other high-tech devices give customers opportunities to enjoy the fruits of the progress in science and technology. There is plenty of legroom and headroom inside the GEELY EMGRAND X7, and the riders can enjoy perfect visual field. Rear seats on slide adjusters can meet different sitting postures. With great safety performance, engine combination and smart settings as well as economic and comfortable features, the GEELY EMGRAND X7 will be a popular model and is expected to exceed 10,000 units per month in Chinese market in sales performance for this year.

From the design concept to the manufacturing, all Geely Emgrand cars including the Emgrand X7 have been developed in accordance with European standards. Known for their up-to-date technology, great performance and superb quality, Geely Emgrand cars always provide enhanced driving pleasure and utmost safety. The Geely Emgrand X7 can be test driven at the Geely Showroom in Al Rai. For test drive and more info Mr. Ibrahim Salah can be contacted at Mob 97929006.

by Naharnet

The Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced on Sunday four suspects to death for killing a Lebanese doctor with a cleaver in December last year.

Samir Yousef Jaber, 26, a Lebanese dentist born of a Kuwaiti mother, was repeatedly stabbed with the cleaver following a disagreement with the four young men at Avenues Mall.

Reports have said that the stabbing occurred when the men followed Jaber into the mall after engaging in a dispute with him over a parking space.

The victim was taken to hospital after the attack, but he succumbed to his wounds.

Kuwait had denied visas to some of the players who wanted to participate in $10,000 Burgan Bank Challenger in March and to all five Pakistani players last November who were planning to appear in $10,000 IKEA International Squash 2012.

The players who got visas this time are Farhan Zaman, Danish Atlas Khan, Farhan Mehboob, Syed Ali Bukhari, Khwaja Adil Maqbool, Saqib Yousef, Tayyab Aslam, and Ammad Fareed.