Hyundai Mipo Dockyard said Wednesday it had received an order worth $250 million to build four chemical tankers for Kuwait even as the world's shipbuilding industry suffers from a downturn.

Under the contract signed Tuesday in Kuwait, Hyundai Mipo -- a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries -- will deliver the four tankers to the state-run Kuwait Oil Tanker Company by August 2014.

Kuwait's public attorney has asked a special judicial tribunal to probe allegations the former premier transferred public funds into his overseas accounts, press reports said on Wednesday.

The action by Dherar al-Asousi came after he received a complaint from a Kuwaiti lawyer who claimed he had evidence to substantiate the allegations, the al-Watan newspaper reported.

Former World Cup semi-finalists South Korea take on Kuwait on Wednesday in a crucial home clash, seeking to avoid becoming the highest-profile casualty of Asian qualifying for Brazil 2014.

The Koreans are level on 10 points at the top of Group B with Lebanon, who defeated South Korea 2-1 in November in a shock reversal that prompted the sacking of coach Cho Kwang-Rae.

A Kuwaiti Shiite lawmaker on Thursday proposed an anti-hatred bill that calls for stiff jail terms for those who incite religious, social, racial and gender hatred.

The proposal is aimed at preventing increasing levels of hate speech in the traditional and electronic media in the oil-rich but ethnically and religiously divided Gulf state, MP Faisal al-Duwaisan said in the written bill.

OPEC member Kuwait was forecast Sunday to post its largest revenues and budget surplus ever this current fiscal year on the back of high oil prices and production, a local economic report said.

Revenues of the oil-rich Gulf state in the 2011/2012 fiscal year, which ends March 31, are expected to top $100 billion for the first time, ending between $101 billion and $104 billion, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said.

A court has sentenced a Kuwaiti couple to death for beating and then murdering their Filipina domestic helper, newspapers in the Gulf state reported on Monday.

The criminal court found the disabled husband and his wife guilty of "premeditated murder" after throwing the maid from their car and driving over her, al-Rai and al-Anbaa dailies reported, citing the verdict.

The Kuwaiti emir Wednesday inaugurated the new opposition-dominated parliament by calling on MPs and the government to cooperate, end disputes and fend off internal and external dangers.

"Our country is facing a host of internal challenges and external dangers that are hampering progress... and stalling development," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah told the new parliament elected on February 2 in snap polls.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah named a new cabinet on Tuesday with 10 new faces, including the oil and defense ministers, and no women, despite objections from the opposition.

Hani Hussein, a former chief executive officer of the national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp, was appointed oil minister, replacing Mohammed al-Baseeri.

A Kuwait-based leasing firm has ordered 35 more Airbus A320neo planes for $3.4 billion based on catalogue prices, the European aircraft maker said on Tuesday.

The purchase will be in addition to 50 A320neo aircraft ordered by the Aviation Lease and Finance Company (ALAFCO) at the Dubai Airshow last year, Airbus said in a statement.

The Gulf state of Kuwait on Monday banned "all forms of smoking" in most public places, including cafes, restaurants, hotels and malls.

Commerce and industry minister Amani Buresli ordered cafes, hotels and restaurants to allocate well-isolated places for smokers.