VIVA, Kuwait based telecom service provider, has launched a new special offer for its prepaid subscribers to mark the Indian Independence Day on August 15.

The service provider said that the prepaid mobile users on its network will be charged only 50 fils per minute after the first three minutes of the call made to their friends and families in India. The special offer will be valid for three days beginning Wednesday. The service providers said that the special offer is aimed at catering to the needs of the Indian expat community in the gulf country.

The Kuwaiti Islamic investment firm, owned by Aston Martin, may prepare itself for the state legal protection aid as it is struggling with its debt to pay off its creditors bills.

The firm owns half of British luxury car maker Aston Martin in its bounty.

According to the officials, the firm is considering the options of aid from the Gulf state's financial stability law. The firm has further lost the attempt to win over its minority of investors for its restructuring plan. Now the firm plans to utilize, which might entail the majority investors to support it with its restructuring plans.

Bharti Airtel Ltd has planned for a medium-term U. S. dollar debt to raise funds for its proposed acquisition of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co.'s telecom assets in Africa.

The company was earlier believed to be planning for a dollar bridge loan. The company has arranged about $9 billion from various domestic and foreign banks.

Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile phone operator by subscribers in the country and plans to expand its low cost model to Africa as the competition and a price war leaves lower margin in the domestic market.

Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel has launched a bid to buy the assets of Kuwaiti telecom Zain's cellular in Africa. The deal is to be around $10.7 billion and it offers a great opportunity to the telecom operator to enter the African continent.

The agreement for exclusive negotiations with Zain is to continue until 25 March for the deal. The deal does not include Zain's operations in other countries on the continent, Morocco and Sudan, according to Bharti. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and clearances.

Prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, arrived in Kuwait on Sunday and was given a red carpet welcome.

She departed from Dhaka, by a special aircraft, sent by Kuwaiti Amir Sabah Al Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and was seen off by Cabinet members, Chiefs of the Armed Forces and other top officials at Zia International Airport.

The Prime Minister is being accompanied by her Foreign Minister, Dipu Moni, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, State Minister for Environment, Hasan Mahmud, Ambassador at large M Ziauddin, her Principal Secretary, Abdul Karim and Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad.

Kuwait's central bank reduced its key discount rate by 50 basis points to 2.5%, thus reducing its borrowing costs, so as to boost up its growth in the non oil sector, while the inflation is keeping low.

Since October 2008 the central bank has reduced its key rate by 200 basis points where as the last reduction was done in May 2009.

A Kuwait-based Non-Resident Indian was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly befriending a top bank official through internet chats, then raping her with false promises of marriage.

Police said the accused, Arif Hussain Sajjad (30), who worked as an information technology engineer in Kuwait, came to India in June to visit his family. During his stay in Rajasthan, Sajjad chatted online with various women under the name, John. One of his victims was the 33-year old banker.

Kuwait, Dec. 14 : National Aviation Services (NAS), a leading provider of quality airport ground handling services in developing countries, today officially announced that it has been awarded handling contracts at airports in Ahmedebad, Pune and Goa.

NAS India will provide passenger services and ramp handling to airlines operating at these three airports which boast some of the highest passenger volumes and aircraft movements among non-metropolitan cities in India.

Paris  - France and Kuwait want to work more closely together in military matters and will sign a cooperation agreement to that end later Wednesday in Paris, the French Defence Ministry said.

The agreement will reinforce cooperation in the exchange of information and the training and equipping of the two armed forces, the ministry said in a press statement.

The signing will take place during talks between French Defence Minister Herve Morin and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Jabir Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah.(dpa)

Washington  - The United States has transferred two detainees who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to the governments of Belgium and Kuwait, the US Justice Department said Friday.

They were turned over to the two countries as part of President Barack Obama's plans to close the controversial facility by January. There are now about 220 detainees remaining there.

Kuwait City, Sep 30  Kuwait will deport 17,000 foreigners, including Indians and Pakistanis, illegally staying in the country, the Online news agency reported Wednesday.

Over 1,000 Pakistanis, 3,500 Indians and 4,000 Bangladeshis are staying illegally in the country, according to the interior ministry. In addition, people from North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Lebanon, Afghanistan, among others, are also staying illegally.

In 2006, the government deported 16,000 illegal immigrants from the country, the report said.(IANS)

Kuwait City - A 23-year-old Kuwaiti woman has confessed to setting a deadly blaze at her ex-husband's wedding celebration, Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper reported Monday.

The woman told police poured gasoline around a tent reserved for women celebrating her ex-husband's marriage in the town of Jahra and set it ablaze, killing more than
40 people and injuring 80 others on Saturday, al-Qabas reported.

Kuwait City  - The toll rose to at least 44 women and children killed and dozens more injured in a fire that broke out Saturday night in a women's tent at a wedding in Kuwait, al-Arabiya news channel reported on Sunday.

At least some were believed to have been killed in a stampede that followed the fire at the wedding in the Ayoun area of Jahra, west of Kuwait City. At least 75 people were injured, al-Arabiya quoted Kuwaiti health minister Hilal al-Sayer as saying.

Kuwait City  - At least 41 women and children were killed and dozens more injured in a fire that broke out Saturday night in a tent at a wedding in Kuwait, local media reports said.

Many more were believed to have been killed in a stampede that followed the fire at the wedding in the Ayoun area of Jahra, west of Kuwait City, the Kuwait Times reported. The al-Jazeera news channel reported that at least 70 people were injured.

The cause of the fire was yet to be determined and an investigation had begun, officials said.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Monday he wants to build on already "very strong" relations with Kuwait, during a meeting with the Gulf emirate's monarch.

Obama praised Kuwait for hosting US forces involved in operations in Iraq and said the country would play an important role as he winds down the war and begins withdrawing troops.

"Kuwait has been an outstanding host for the United States Armed Forces during its operations in Iraq," Obama said while meeting with Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah at the White House.

Kuwait's Al Mazaya Holding has announced that its net profit for the second three month period of 2009 decline 62% to $17.17 million (Dh63.06m) from $45.95 million a year earlier.

First half profit fell 59% to $35.06 million compared to $86.68 millon. Second-quarter earnings per share also came down to 3.82% from 10.33 cents during the same period a year earlier.

The sources said that the company is doing its best to maintain profits for the first half, reaping operational profits of Dh629.8 million.

Kuwait City  - Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Khalid al-Sabah Wednesday survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote, Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported.

Thirty lawmakers voted against the measure to declare parliament's lack of confidence in him. Only 16 voted in favour, and two abstained, the news agency said.

Kuwait City - Looking at a world where hate-filled preachers could convince angry young Arabs to blow themselves up in Baghdad, New York or London, Naif al-Mutawa wondered if there was a way to present a more constructive alternative.

That was six years ago. Nowadays, some say, he has succeeded, with his comic book series, The 99, which provides Islamic children with positive Islamic role models espousing tolerance while living in

their faith.

Kuwait City  - "To cover or not to cover?" - that is the question now gripping Islamist politicians in Kuwait.

It is a debate that has become increasingly heated in this Arab Gulf state since the parliamentary elections on May 16, which saw the country's first ever female deputies elected. However, it is not a question that the women themselves want to get sidetracked by.

Two of the four women elected choose not to wear the traditional Islamic female headscarf.

Kuwait-based Gulf Investment House has announced that it has recorded a loss of KD 2 million in the first quarter of this year.

The sources said that bank's assets in the end of March amounted to KD 121 million, while the value of the foreign debts was twice as much.

The sources further added that the company has described the loss as 'a positive development,' compared to the losses posted in the fourth quarter of last fiscal, which amounted to 16.24 fils per share.