Category: News

Another day another record. This time it’s for the most expensive camel in the world.

A camel named Bedour entered the Guinness Book of Records when it was purchased for 2 million dinars cash after the seller refused to take a cheque or ATM card during the Safat Camel Auction in Sulaibiya, reports Al-Shahid daily.

According to the seller, the camel is expensive because it’s unique and exceptionally beautiful, which makes it different from other camels and on par with camels the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his companions rode. He affirmed that this revelation is verifiable and has already been established. Therefore, the camel is worth the amount he collected from the purchase, the seller noted.

He reiterated that the value of the camel has nothing to do with quality of its meat, hyrax, milk or urine but its offspring and byproducts. He said the buyer will recoup the KD 2,000,000 with huge profit, stressing that mere onlookers were surprised that the camel had been sold for 2 million, which is almost enough to buy a private jet and way beyond the prices of latest automobiles.

He claimed the camel originates from camels the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his companions owned. He also said the buyer could insure the camel just like human beings, cars and houses, even though he refused to mention profit he made through the deal. [Source]

KD2,000,000 cash!

Thanks Tuan

Spoiler: Kuwait came 120th out of 220 countries surveyed. That’s not that great specially when Dubai came in 74. No surprise at the top of the list with European and Canadian cities dominating it all. Vienna came in first. [Link]

The 2011 Corruption Perception Index is out and although Kuwait does poorly compared to our GCC neighbors, overall we’re not that bad when compared to the rest of the world. Kuwait ranked 54 out of 182 countries in the 2011 Corruption Perception Index with New Zealand being the least corrupt coming in 1st place while Somalia is the most corrupt landing at the bottom of the list at 182. Here is our ranking compared to our neighbors (the higher the less corrupt):

1- Qatar
2- United Arab Emirates
3- Bahrain
4- Oman
5- Kuwait
6- Saudi Arabia

You can check out the full results [Here]

Last night at the prestigious ICSC Awards that was held at Burj Khalifa in Dubai, our local creation B+F Open Flame Kitchen won the Gold Award for “Best New Retail Concept”. I wouldn’t say I’m too surprised about this since OFK is really that good. [Link]

Looks like we’ve got an advantage over Dubai when it comes to our sewage structure? According to an article on BoingBoing, most of the skyscrapers in Dubai aren’t connected to the sewage network and trucks actually need to come and empty the sewage from the buildings manually. [Link]

Score
Kuwait 3* – Dubai 3,204

*We got the first point when Dubai blocked flickr and the second point when malls in Dubai started telling people what to wear

Teenager dies in Salmiya mall gang fight
A 19-year-old Iranian died of chest wounds and two other youths, including an Egyptian expatriate were severely injured in a bloody fight among some 80 individuals at a famous shopping complex in Salmiya area.

The youths are said to have used batons, knives and other sharp objects to attack each other and the injured people were left behind, bleeding profusely, while other members of the feuding party managed to escape at the sight of police. Even so, about 20 of them were taken into custody when paramedics referred the three injured people to the Mubarak Hospital for medical care. Later on, the Iranian died of internal bleeding. A case has since been registered for investigation.

Meanwhile, another group of youths engaged in a quarrel at the same commercial complex over a girl, resulting in severe injuries to a citizen of Kazakhstan and a Jordanian. The injured people were taken to the Mubarak Hospital by paramedics arriving at the scene with security operatives. A case was registered.

In yet another incident, two Kuwaiti juveniles suffered injuries in different places of their bodies, as they fought with six other juveniles at a public garden in Rumaithiya. Paramedics sent the injured citizens to the Mubarak Hospital, while securitymen referred the other juveniles to Juvenile Prosecution for investigation. [Source]

Rowdy youths harass, strip 3 girls naked in Hawalli mall
The Nugra police have arrested two youths, both believed to be criminals, for eve-teasing and tearing the clothes of three Arab girls because they did not give in to their mischief, at a shopping mall, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

According to eyewitness reports the youths were constantly harassing the victims and the latter criticized them in front of the people. The youths got annoyed and allegedly tore off the clothes of the girls, following which they screamed for help when they were left with only undergarments on. Someone called the police and the suspects have been taken into custody. [Source]

If these two horrifying incidents aren’t enough to have malls rethink their security then I’m not sure what is.

According to Arabian Business, Kuwait is raising the bar and aims to generate 10 percent of its electricity from sustainable sources by 2020. All I have to say is it’s about time. With our sunny cloudless skies all year round, solar energy is the way to go. Next stop should be replacing all the heavily polluting buses with electric running ones and it should be pretty easy to do. [Link]

The Kuwait Airport security is getting a shipment of T3 electric stand-up vehicles. I’m not sure why since the airport is pretty tiny but the Ministry of Interior seems to think it will make them modern. Maybe they can use them to chase smokers? [Link]

A friend of mine sent the email below which was sent to him by his couriers account manager:

The Kuwait customs have gone on an indefinite strike. The strike will affect clearance at the airport and land customs, as well as the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. There will be no road movements into or out of Kuwait until the strike is over.

Clearance of inbound material (including Documents) at both the airport and land customs will be suspended throughout the strike.

Export from Kuwait will also be affected, and only Conveyable Non documents and Documents that can be transferred via passenger channels at the airport will be able to move.

Regular pickup’s will be carried out, until further notice.

There is a possibility that the strike could last more than one day, however we do not have confirmation of this as yet and will communicate as soon as we do.

I’ve got six packages currently held in customs and I guess I shouldn’t be expecting them to be cleared anytime soon. This sucks.

Update: Spotted the below on Buz Fairy taken outside the customs department. Can someone please tell me what “Customs we apologize to serve you strike a comprehensive” means?

I woke up this morning to find out that Tikka and the Fashionway complex opposite Fanar in Salmiya had caught fire this morning. I don’t have any information yet on what caused the fire but it looks like the fire engulfed the whole top floor and probably causing damage to the shops below as well. The video above is of Tikka on fire and below are some shots taken after the fire was put out. [YouTube]

Thanks Rami and Karim

Update: Below are some shots of the fire taken by Hudson

Update2: Below is a 27 minute video of the fire, better quality than the one above.

Thanks Khaloody

Arabian Business has a list of GCC’s top employers and the only local company to make the cut and come in at #2 is Alshaya. Siemens Kuwait also makes a cameo appearance due to their state-of-the-art office, which according to the article is fully equipped with a gym, pool and shops. Sounds like my kind of office. Here is the link tot he full list on Arabian Business [Link]

I just read about this in Arab Times and I’m kinda concerned since all I drink is mineral water and I drink a lot of it, around 6 liters a day.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 5: The US Embassy in Kuwait has warned its citizens against drinking a certain kind of mineral water, reports Al-Shahed daily. The report could not be independently confirmed.

The embassy in a statement said this water contains contaminants and materials unfit for human consumption and harmful to public health.

The statement said random samples of mineral water, the type sold in the local market, were sent to a special lab in the United States and the results were not convincing.

Sources say the statement added it is surprising the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Kuwait Municipality laboratories have failed to warn citizens and residents against drinking this water.

Here is the link to the article [Link]

According to an article on KuwaitNews.com, the municipality is going to be closing down some streets in the city and opening them up to pedestrians. The municipality is hoping to make the city a nicer place by doing so. They will be closing down Abdullah Al-Salem Street which is the one next to Liberation Tower as well as Palestine Street which is near Safat Square and the old souk. Both streets will be opened up to pedestrians from the first of November.

Although I find it a bit strange they’re closing down those two streets specifically, I do hope this experiment becomes a success since I want them to do the same to Salem Mubarek Street. Now that’s a street that would make more sense open only to pedestrians. Here is the link to the article [Link]

Thanks Ads2Blog

Update: Looks like it’s not the main Abdullah Al-Salem Street but the smaller branch of it on the opposite side of Safat Square (pictured above). It seems they’re closing the streets in and around the old souk which makes a lot more sense. I’ve highlighted in red on the map below what I understood are the streets they’re closing.

Thanks Barrak

Alshaya recently stopped cash and credit card refunds in all their stores for returned items. According to the article on Arabian Business, this decision by Alshaya has caused an uproar of a sort with shoppers in the UAE but surprisingly I haven’t heard much about this in Kuwait. I don’t think I’ve ever returned anything back to a store so this won’t have much effect on me but I’m sure it’s going to piss quite a few people off. [Link]

Thanks Fred

A reader emailed to tell me there is a window cleaning crew trapped on top of a cleaning lift which stopped working because of a mechanical breakdown. The workers have been up there since noon and they still haven’t been able to get the truck to bring them down. The building is the Global Tower which is located in Sharq opposite United Towers. You can see some pictures below.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Thanks Fahed

Note: I’m guessing the workers were rescued right after the pictures were taken