Category: News

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]

A reader left the news article below as a comment but didn’t mention the source:

Municipal authority calls for halt of bulldozing unlicensed planted plots

The Municipal Council recommended on Monday halt of bulldozing plots of lands that have been cultivated without obtaining advance permit from the relevant authorities.
The council, at a regular session headed by the Chairman Zaid Al-Azmi, with unanimous blessing, recommended the halt of the removal of plants and trees at such plots till introduction of amendments into the regulations regarding plantations off private houses.

The council approved the cabinet decision to change the name of the border region from Um-Qaser to Al-Buhaith, and referred a request by the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to name the north of Boubyan island as “the reserve of Mubarak Al-Kabeer” — in reference to the late Amir, to a panel tasked with choosing names for public sites and regions.

The members of the council pondered various other procedural and bureaucratic matters related to maintenance of roads and water sewage systems.

If this is true then it’s great news.

Picture by Ramez

Whenever I get back to Lebanon one of the things that pisses me off is the amount of racism that still exists there. I was just checking CNN and noticed an article called Maid Suicides and it turned out to be an article about the recent spate of maid suicides in Lebanon. This is extremely depressing and honestly I am not sure what can be done to educate the employers of those maids. Anybody have any ideas? How do you educate a whole country? [CNN Link]

Someones found a way to turn vodka into pills. That should be fun for airport customs officials:

‘Solid’ vodka would become popular for two reasons only – it would be easier to carry it and because it cannot be broken. In fact, ‘dry’ vodka can be wrapped in paper and carried around in your pocket or bag. Besides that, vodka in the form of pills can help consumers determine their preferred ‘dose’ of intoxication.

Here is the link to the article [Link

Al Watan Daily published a new article where they basically say I was wrong and they were right with regards to the Friday Market fiasco. Here is a recap of what has been happening the past couple of days:

On Monday, Al Watan Daily published an article where they stated that the municipality wasn’t allowing the shop owners at the Friday Market access to their animals. The article stated that the shop owners haven’t opened their stores in 15 days and all the animals were dying from hunger and lack of air. Here is a link to that article [Link]

But, according to three different sources, I stated Al Watan Daily were wrong. Here are my sources from the least credible to the most:

Source 1 – Anna (anonymous reader):

I just called a store owner there who I’ve dealt with extensively with my salt water fish tank. The good news is that all stall owners sneak in at night to feed the animals. The bad news is that the animals are there in total darkness, and sanitary conditions are even worse than usual (if you can imagine that).

Source 2 – Mrs F (a very good friend)

My husband spoke to a few shop owners and they mentioned that they were actually allowed to open their shops in order to clean and feed their animals.

Source 3 – Ayesha (founder of Animals Friends and K’s Path)

We have investigated the situation and most of the information around is incorrect. The shop keepers are able to enter their stores and care for the animals. We have a volunteer that knows many of the shopkeepers very well and he has visited them multiple times and spoken to them throughout the last two weeks of closure and they are still able to enter their shops. In fact you can even buy things from them they just can’t officially open their doors for business. On the weekends and evening you will see them outside on the road selling so clearly they can get in. Also the area has been closed for two weeks, if it was true that these animals have not been fed then they would all be dead at this point but you can hear them in the shops.

I will leave it to you to decide who’s right and who’s wrong. Here is the link to their “Citizen Journalism” article [Here]

I got the below email from an editor at Al Watan Daily regarding the animals at the Friday Market post:

Hi Mark,
I’m the local editor of Al Watan Daily, and I would like to start off by saying that when I read your post last night, I was livid. No newspaper wants to print misinformation, that is not our goal, least of all mine. Our lead had actually originated from an Arab Times report that came two weeks ago, and we performed a follow up. In today’s Arab Times on page 3, you can see they were confused over the matter as well, because they had not reported that the animals were trapped. [Link] However, they do corroborate our story.

From Arab Times update: “Meanwhile Abu Sulaiman Al-Hadad, one of the shopkeepers, claimed that he, along with other proprietors, have not accessed their shops since these were shut down on Oct 15. “My animals have been imprisoned for more than two weeks and have all died from starvation,” he complained. Asked if he had entered his shop at all during this period he said it’s “impossible”. “If any of us is caught entering a shop we’d be obliged to pay a fine of KD 500, along with other legal action,” Al-Hadad said.”

Now, I did not sleep last night, I really didn’t, over your post, and the image it portrays, as well as some of the comments that followed. I planned to come in this morning and set the record straight, by either finding confirmation that our reporter had done their job correctly, or that she had failed in my trust in her. In the case of the latter, I had already informed my General Manager that I would print a retraction.

However, in the case that you were wrong in your citizen journalism, which is the case in my opinion, I feel that you should print an update, and perhaps even slant it towards recognizing that we were not printing misinformation and that perhaps you and the commenters on the post were quick to jump the gun at our expense.

Khaled Al-Ramly
Local Editor
Al Watan Daily

A blog reader also posted the following comment awhile ago:

I went there few hours ago, and the situation is:
All the shops are closed
4 or 5 from the ex employee are sitting there
I asked them about how do they feed the animals inside, and they answered with:
NO WE CANT, The shops are closed by the municipality and there is a sticker attached on each shop’s door and they cant open the door and they cant remove those stickers.
All the dogs inside are whining and barking from being without a food, water, air and also without light.

Its just a big MESS

-Ramez

I’ve contacted K’s Path regarding this issue and I am still waiting for a response. K’s Path are a Kuwaiti non-profit working to improve the lives of animals by protecting and preserving them and the places they live.

Update: I just found this article from todays Arab Times where Ayesha who is responsible for Animal Friend’s and K’s Path said the following:

Ayesha Al-Humaidhi, from Animal Friends League of Kuwait, assured that shopkeepers do have access to the shops and tend to their animals. “They do enter their shops and do conduct their business, but they can’t run their business openly until they settle the rent dispute with the Municipality,” she said. [Source]

Updates2: Ayesha emailed me back stating:

We have investigated the situation and most of the information around is incorrect. The shop keepers are able to enter their stores and care for the animals. We have a volunteer that knows many of the shopkeepers very well and he has visited them multiple times and spoken to them throughout the last two weeks of closure and they are still able to enter their shops. In fact you can even buy things from them they just can’t officially open their doors for business. On the weekends and evening you will see them outside on the road selling so clearly they can get in. Also the area has been closed for two weeks, if it was true that these animals have not been fed then they would all be dead at this point but you can hear them in the shops. Basically the welfare at the Friday Market has always been bad but it is not a whole lot worse at the moment.

We are hoping this rental disagreement with the Baladiya will be resolved soon. We are waiting to see.