KUWAIT, May 30 (Reuters) – Mariam Erzouqi grips her
German-made air rifle with carefully-manicured hands, steadies
her footing, eyes the target and slowly pulls the trigger until
a soft crack echoes through Kuwait’s cavernous shooting range.

The 24-year-old, who is set to become the second Kuwaiti
woman to compete at an Olympic Games, has an affinity for her
rifle and will take dead aim at a medal in the 10 and 50 metres
air rifle in London.

KUWAIT, May 29 (Reuters) – Kuwait is punching below its
weight in business due to its weak regulatory framework and
needs to improve its insolvency laws so that distressed
companies can restructure properly, a World Bank official said
on Tuesday.

Major oil producer Kuwait is one of the most financially
stable economies in the world thanks to high demand for its
natural resources, World Bank Senior Counsel Riz Mokal said.

KUWAIT (Reuters) – A 26-year-old Kuwaiti pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges he insulted the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media, the first day of a high-profile and divisive court case in the Gulf state.

Charges were brought by a civil plaintiff, who called for Shi’ite Muslim Hamad al-Naqi to be put to death, saying he must be made an example of to others. The case has stoked tensions between Kuwait’s Sunnis and minority Shi’ites.

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait’s ruler has blocked a proposal by 31 of the 50 elected members of parliament to amend the constitution to make all legislation in the Gulf Arab state comply with Islamic law, an MP said on Thursday.

The approval of Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Saba, is needed for any constitutional change.

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Poor urban infrastructure and high youth unemployment helped fuel the Arab Spring and governments across the region must tackle both if they are to prevent further unrest, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.

The urban population of Arab cities is expected to more than double to 438.6 million by 2050, increasing demand for housing, social services and infrastructure, the U.N. Human Settlements Programme (U.N. Habitat) said.

KUWAIT, May 3 (Reuters) – In a region dominated by sovereign
and government-related bond issues, Kuwait has bucked the trend
over recent months with a series of successful corporate sales
that hint at greater capital-raising potential in the Gulf
state.

The global financial crisis hit Kuwaiti investment companies
hard, pushing some into debt restructuring talks and making
banks cautious about lending. Meanwhile, the euro zone debt
crisis is causing European banks to pull in their horns.

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait is about to take a firmer line on regulation of social media, uneasy about people who it says use Twitter and Facebook to stoke sectarian tensions and wary of spillover from turmoil in nearby Gulf states and Syria.

Although Kuwait has largely been spared the sectarian violence that flares in other countries in the region, the Sunni government is constantly aware of the potential for Sunni-Shi’ite tensions to boil over.