Category: News

Naif al-Mutawa the creator of The 99 is currently featured on the front page of CNN US edition. Not only that but President Obama “singled him out for special praise for promoting international understanding”. Now that’s pretty cool. Check out the article [Here]

Update: Here is the video in which Obama talks about him

[YouTube]

This is an interesting article that was released today in the Times Online. Basically Kuwait is seeking $1.2 billion in compensation from Iraq because during the Gulf War Saddam stole 10 planes and millions of dollars worth of parts. Iraq kept telling Kuwait they didn’t have any money but then went and ordered $6 billion worth of planes from Boeing. [Link]

Thanks Dymatize

Update: Below is a picture a reader recently took while in Iraq. Thats the current state of the Iraqi Airways.

Thanks Keith

Last night I posted about the second fire at the Animal Friends shelter and I now just gotthis email which they sent out on their mailing list that contains more information on the fire and on how you can help:

There has been a second much more devastating fire at Animal Friends. This fire was in the main building and 39 animals perished. Several more are struggling to hold on.

Two fire investigations have shown that the fires were caused by a surge of electricity from the main lines. After the first fire, an inspection of the shelter elecrical system was conducted and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers were puchased and donated enmasse. Despite these precautions, a massive surge occured to the now weakened main electrical lines. All staff were sleeping nearby when the fire started. The fire was not discovered until aerosol cans near the source of the fire began to explode. At this point, the fire was fully involved and too dangerous for anyone but the fire department to fight. Our shelter staff acted herroically to save as many animals as possible, and the fire rescue team also showed great courage as they entered the building to release the dogs from their firey prisons while the fire was still burning. Despite these acts of bravery, at least ten animals died in the fire and many were so badly injured that the arriving shelter staff had to work frantically and desperately to triage them and provide euthanasia where necessary. Thus far, the fire has cost the lives of 8 dogs and 31 cats.

One whole section of the shelter is completely destroyed the entire building will require extensive repairs from smoke and fire damage. Animal Friends and the animals we care for have never needed your help more. Animal Friends simply will not survive without help from all of you. Below is a list of things we need in order of priority.

1. CASH! The rebuilding is going to cost KD50,000. Please donate what you can, hold small fundraisers and get as many people involved as possible. Checks should be made payable to: Ayeshah Waleed Al-Humaidhi and below is our bank information for a direct transfer. If you need further information please call 97377867 or e-mail [email protected].

Bank Name: Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East (BKME)
Branch: South Surra
Name: Ayeshah Waleed Al-Humaidhi
Address Line 1: P.O.Box 71, Safat 13001
Address Line 2: Kuwait
Account: 42043311
SWIFT: BKMEKWKW

2. Foster Homes. We have no shelter and currently have the animals housed at the Royal Animal Hospital and in outdoor enclosures at the shelter. These are obviously temporary fixes. The construction is going to take about 3 months and we are appealing to all of you to house an animal until it can be adopted or returned to the rebuilt shelter. If you are able to foster an animal please call 66187301 or e-mail [email protected].

3. Volunteers. We need help with clean-up and helping care for the animals. We need to salvage anything and everything we can from the building before the demolition starts. This weekend, Friday-Saturday (26-27) are going to be huge clean-up days. Your help would be hugely appreciated. The map will be uploaded to the website shortly.

4. In Kind Donations. We will be putting together an extensive list of items we need in the next few days and will send it out to the list as well as post to our website.

Thank you in advance for your help and support and we hope to rise out of the ashes bigger and better.

Turns out the cops busted the largest marijuana farm in Kuwait which funnily some guy was just growing casually in his front yard. If anyone knows the exact address please post it below! [Link]

via iLSuL6ana and Ansam

The headline is taken from an Arab Times article. I had previously read that one person had died because of the celebrations but it seems the actual number is eleven. That’s really terrible… [Link]

Thanks Loza

Yesterday a skyscraper in Kuwait City caught on fire at around 3PM. Judging by the video it seems the short building to the right of the skyscraper caught fire first and that contributed to the skyscraper catching fire. [YouTube]

Thanks mabkw!

Update: Below is a picture taken from q8blackmarket.com showing the small building on fire.

I found the winning photo for the World Press Photo of the Year disappointing, but the one above, which came first under the General News category was my favorite of the bunch. Check out all the winners [Here]

I just found out CNN has some 360° Videos. Basically you view a video and during the video you can turn around 360° and look up and down. If you want to try it out here is one shot in Haiti after the earthquake. It feels like you’re walking around over there. [Video]

Supposedly 3 passengers on a flight from Mumbai to Kuwait didn’t have any seats to sit in and were made to stand for the whole flight. Kuwait Airways is denying this incident took place. Now I am not sure how reliable this news is since according to the news agency that reported this, Kuwait is located in Africa? Very weird. [Link]

On January 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. Join recovery efforts mobilizing around the world to assist earthquake victims. Your donation will help disaster victims rebuild their lives and their communities.

Google has setup a page making it extremely easy to donate for this relief. Here is the [Link]

Amazon also has a page where you can donate using your Amazon account. Here is the [Link]

Photo by Munoz/Reuters

I totally forgot to post about this. Most of you have probably heard about the ladies only pink taxis driven by women that will soon be roaming the streets of Kuwait. I thought that was a cool idea until a friend pointed out something pretty funny but sadly will come true. Since the taxis are bright pink and for ladies only, it should make life a lot easier for the guys who cruise on the Gulf Road. It’s like waving a red cape in front of a bull.

Thanks G45 M45K!

Picture from Kuwait Times

The 2010 Quality of Life Index is out and Kuwait ranked 106 which is up nearly 30 spots since 2006. Jordan is the only Arab country ahead coming in at 104 while UAE is 141 and Lebanon 113. The highest ranking goes to France followed by Australia and then Switzerland. Here is the link to the full list. [Link]

Thanks Farid!

I was just checking out the Arab Times website and noticed they had a pretty cool and practical to use online edition of the actual printed newspaper. I don’t mind reading the news online but I always feel I am missing out on articles or ads that are in the print version of the newspaper but not online. Some newspapers have PDF files you can download but that isn’t very practical to view and the file sizes can be pretty big.

What Arab Times has is a pretty nice tool that will allow you to view the printed newspaper in full screen on your computer and flip through it like a regular paper. When you find an article you want to read you click on it and zooms in. To try it out just go to their website and click on the PDF link on the main page. [Link]

I just heard about this on the radio and just found an article about it online. A shopping mall in China built a parking lot just for women. Some of the features include parking spots that are 1 meter wider than usual, more lights so they can see better, bright purple and pink colored walls and more. According to the shopping mall, the parking lot caters to women’s “strong sense of colour and different sense of distance”. [Link]

Difference sense of distance… I like that.

According to a survey held by HSBC, Bahrain turned out to be the friendliest country in the world. Couldn’t find Kuwait on the list not even after I downloaded the full report from the HSBC website. That’s probably because there is no HSBC in Kuwait. Here is the top 10 friendliest countries:

1. Bahrain
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. Thailand
5. Malaysia
6. South Africa
7. Hong Kong
8. Singapore
9. Spain
10. United States

Here is a link to the Forbes article [Link]