Category: News

According to the Environmental Performance Index done by Yale University, Kuwait was one of the weakest performers and came in 126 out of 132 countries. What’s confusing is that Lebanon came in 94th place but the pollution there is so bad that we recently had an incident where one river turned red while another turned white!

So other than the recent tire issue, the desert pollution and the Mishrif sewage problem, what else is really so bad that we rank this low? I’m not surprised we rank low just surprised it’s at the very bottom of the list. [Link]

Thanks Erik

Diplomatic protection officers came across the Arabic man as they patrolled outside Mr Blair’s £4.3 million townhouse in Connaught Square, Belgravia, central London in the early hours.

When they asked the man, who appeared to be drunk, to stop urinating he allegedly refused to cooperate and a scuffle broke out.

Officers eventually discharged the 50,000 volt taser in order to place the suspect, who spoke little English, under arrest.

However the man collapsed and had to be taken to hospital, where it emerged he was a Kuwaiti government official, Ayedh Alrashidi.

Such a strange incident. [Link]

Thanks Uzair

There’s a very disturbing picture on Page 8 of today’s issue of Arab Times. I’ve taken a screenshot from their online edition and pix-elated the disturbing part which is the victim of the car accident lying dead next to the car.

I thought publishing the photo was really inappropriate but the more I thought about the subject the more confused about it I became. Should newspapers publish graphic images? Inappropriate or not, I think they should be allowed to publish whatever they please.

Update: Photo removed by request from the family of the victim

I say lets go for solar and nuclear energy and turn Kuwait into an electric hub that would supply the region with electricity for a fee.

I just found out that Samir Saeed passed away from the injuries he sustained after being hit by a car while jogging. This is extremely sad news and I really don’t know what to say.

Not sure whats with the sudden surge of all these dramatic new law proposals but this is one that’s sure to freak out a lot of people:

Kuwait is considering a proposal to crush cars of drivers caught speeding before selling the vehicles as scrap metal, according to reports in the Gulf state

In a bid to combat speeding, drivers caught travelling over 180 km/hr will have their vehicles confiscated, crushed and sold as scrap, Kuwaiti press reported.

My car can’t even get to 180 so I’m safe in that aspect but it still does seem a bit extreme. [Link]

Thanks Ahmed

This is very sad news. I just read that legendary footballer Sameer Saeed is in a coma after being hit by a car while jogging. I used to really love watching Kuwait play football in the late 80s and early 90s and as a goalkeeper myself I used to really look up to Sameer Saeed. Even today he’s still one of my favorite goalkeepers of all time and I really hope he’s going to be ok. [Link]

Photo from q8i stuff

According to the first World Happiness Report launched at the United Nations, Kuwait came 31st in the world but behind UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They used a number of measurements to come up with this figure and I downloaded the full report to find out more details but honestly it’s 158 pages long and it wasn’t written by Stephen King so I skipped it.

Now the reason I’m posting this is I found it a bit surprising that Saudi Arabia scored better than both Kuwait and Qatar. I would have imagined UAE first followed by Qatar, Kuwait and then Saudi but that isn’t the case. You can read the Arabian Business article on this [Here] or you can download the full report from [Here]

Picture taken by Patrick

There’s a news story on Sheik Jassim Al Wathiqi in British “The Sun” tabloid. It seems they found it interesting and newsworthy that Jassim’s son likes to fall asleep when his dad takes him out in the 458 Spider. You can read the article [Here]

You can also watch the video below of Sheik Jassim driving around Kuwait in the Spider. It’s such a beautiful car.

[YouTube]

Thanks InfiniteDriver

I just found out Alshaya are bringing Muji to Kuwait! Their first store is set to open this year at The Avenues. How cool is that? [Source]

What else do we need in Kuwait? Here’s what I think Alshaya should get next:

– Selfridges
– Pret A Manger
– In N Out
– Barnes & Noble

Thanks Joseph

According to Kuwait’s KUNA news agency, five Kuwaiti racers were attacked by a group of Emiratis armed with knives during a break in the fourth round race of the UAE Jet Ski Championship on Saturday.

That’s too much drama for a jet ski race. Fully story [Here]

A man was arrested in front of a bank in Salmiya recently where he faked disability to help him in begging. The man was apprehended by police who monitored his activity for days during which they discovered his apparent disability was fake. Investigations revealed that the man came to Kuwait from his home country Egypt on a visitor’s visa to practice begging. It was also revealed that he managed to collect KD 1,356 within only two days of begging. He remains in custody pending legal procedures. [Source]

1,356 in two days is actually pretty awesome.

At least it’s helping local producers.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Dairy Company (KD Cow) announced on Monday, that it increased its production capacity to meet shortage of dairy products in markets.

The company’s Director-General Saleh Al-Attiqi told KUNA that in order to maintain food security, under the current customs strike that paralyzed the market, the company doubled its production.
[Source]

Hawally Municipality Manager Fahad Al-Fahad urged citizens and expatriates to maintain cleanliness at public facilities along the seafront by refraining from littering and leaving barbeque remains, ash and charcoal.

Speaking during a three-day campaign, his teams along with the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC), Al-Zayyani Company, Bayan and Mishref Co-opeartive Societies launched a campaign to prevent the practice of holding barbeque events in these areas. Al-Fahad stressed that such violations can be observed during weekends.

He stressed the need to create more active awareness campaigns and strict law enforcement. He also noted that special signs would be placed in such areas to enlighten visitors with by-laws and the penalties. Abdul Aziz Al-Yahia, Cleaning Department Manager said that his inspectors issued 125 citations over the weekend, explaining that fines ranging between KD 100 and 300 would be levied. [Kuwait Times]

My biggest issue with seaside BBQ-ers other than the trash they leave behind is the BBQ smoke. On Saturdays when I ride my bicycle to the gym I have a hard time breathing because of all the smoke. By the time I get to the gym the trainers think I was pigging out on kebabs and kill me with exercises. Not very fun.

Yesterday the first steps to creating a Kuwait Preparatory Youth Council which will be made up of young Kuwaiti youth and be part of the local government was announced. In preparation for the creation of this council, NGO’s from around Kuwait were asked to put forward a list of names of their best people who could help out on this project. In total 40 people were chosen from a variety of background and ages and they have now been given the task to find out what the Kuwaiti youth need and expect from their country. They will be spending the next few months meeting people and surveying them and based on the answers they get they will have to come up with ideas and projects.

In November a conference is going to be held where these ideas and projects are going to be shared with the Emir who will then give a go ahead on them. Following the conference a Kuwaiti Permanent Youth Council will be created to monitor and make sure the projects are being worked on and executed properly. If for some reason an approved project is not being executed, the permanent Youth Council will have direct contact with the Emir to inform him of the problems so that he could intervene and get things moving again.

I don’t think there has ever been a Kuwait Youth project so I’m actually pretty excited to see what comes out of this. The youth generally have a lot more energy and ideas than the adults which is why I’m interested to see what they will be proposing. You can read about this more in English [Here] and in Arabic [Here]