Category: News

A few days ago someone in the forum mentioned that he passed by the animal section of the Friday market and found it closed. I figured that’s great news, they finally did something about the animal cruelty that was taking place there.

Turns out I was very wrong. Today I found out that what really happened was the municipality shutdown all the shops by force and not because of animal cruelty but because of rent issues. Not only that but since the shops were closed down 2 weeks ago they haven’t been allowed to reopen and all the animals were left inside to die!

…the business owners are helpless as the animals howl and cry for food, with every passing day the stench of death growing ever stronger…

…All the animals are inside the stalls, and most of them have died due to lack of water, food and air. These animals have been in cages within the stalls for 15 days and they have not seen any light, nor eaten anything…

Instead of making things better, they killed all the animals. Fantastic. Here is the link to the article on Al Watan Daily. [Link]

Update: A friend of mine passed by the Friday market with his wife today after reading the post to see what they could do. They spoke to a few owners and it turns out the Al Watan Daily’s story is not true. Here is the correct information:

– The municipality did shutdown the shops

– The shop owners ARE allowed to open the shop to clean, feed and air their animals

– Some shop owners were neglecting their animals and it’s NOT the municipality that’s stopping them. Some owners are just insensitive and are just leaving their animals to die

Basically unlike what Al Watan Daily reported, the municipality isn’t stopping any shop owner from taking care of the animals. I don’t know why a leading English newspaper would print misinformation like that. In any case animals are still being left to die by some shop owners who should be fined or prosecuted. For more details you can visit my friends blog where they have more information and pictures [Link]

I just heard fire engines pass by awhile ago and I am guessing they were heading to Marina Waves. I have no idea yet what caught fire or what started it but judging by the pictures it looks like the skateboard park.

Thanks Khalid!

Update: It was the skate park that caught fire and according to the owner it was arson.

I was being sarcastic earlier today with my worlds largest hummus post in which I also jokingly stated that the next record would be the world’s largest tabbouleh. Well a couple of hours ago they actually went ahead and broke the record for the world’s largest tabbouleh weighing a massive 3.5 ton and kicking Israel’s ass once again who only managed to put together a 2.6 ton tabbouleh. Is the largest shawerma next? We can only hope. [Link]

If breaking the record with the world’s largest kebbe dish wasn’t enough Lebanon has just broken the record for the largest hummus. Take that Israel! Coming soon, world’s largest tabbouleh… [Link]

Note: I am being sarcastic

Update: No fucking way!! I just read this in the news..

Only one day after breaking a Guiness book record with a huge Hummus plate that weighed more than two tons, Lebanon broke today a third Guinness record for food this year, this time with a 3557 Kgs plate of Tabbouleh.

That’s freaky how my sarcastic comment turned into a reality.

Also another news source stated the following:

The newly acquired title surpasses Israel’s 2.6 ton by 3557 kilograms.

So take that Israelx2!

I found this funny although if it happened to my dog I would also be pissed and sue:

In what must rank as one of the most bizarre lawsuits ever filed against an oil and gas company, it has been reported that Saudi Aramco are being sued for US$267,000 for allegedly causing the death of a female camel that had taken part in a beauty pageant in the KSA.

The attractive three year-old black camel died in tragic circumstances after she fell into a hole in the desert that the Saudi hydrocarbons giant had dug and filled with crude oil.

Her heartbroken owner, Abdullah Al-Saiari, had entered the animal into the Camel Beauty Contest, a hotly contested event that attracts camel breeders from all over the KSA to show off their most eye-catching beasts.

The case is currently being brought before the court in Saudi Arabia.

[Source]

via Desert Girl

I first saw this video on q8blackmarket a few days ago but just got around to viewing it after seeing it on Frankoms blog. For those of you who don’t speak Arabic what happens in the video is that a woman goes to see a doctor at a local hospital, she enters the room but then leaves shortly after very upset. She heads to the security department and files a complaint (they never tell us what the complaint was) but it seems it wasn’t a big deal because security never left their desk. She got more upset and called a guy who comes to the hospital and attacks the doctor and then escapes. All of this is caught on security cameras and what is very troubling is the fact that security didn’t stop the attacker. Watch the video. [YouTube]

According to a news article dated June of this year, the Arby’s and Wendy’s franchises for the Middle East and North Africa were taken by a Saudi conglomerate. This sadly means the first branches which are scheduled to open early 2010 won’t be in Kuwait but will be in Saudi.

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) today announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia-based Al Jammaz Group to build 135 dual-branded Wendy’s® and Arby’s® restaurants in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade.

Here is the link to the article. [Link]

Thanks ElHaddad

I can see this huge fire from my window in Kuwait City. A friend of mine that works in one of the buildings on the Gulf Road near the Scientific Center told me its a restaurant after Green Island. That could be Burj Hammam which already caught fire before. If you have any details, videos or pictures [Contact Me]

update: so far I’ve heard it’s either the Lebanese, the Saudi or the UAE embassy, a power generator or a gas station.

update2: Seems most probably is was a power generator that caught on fire. Below is a video that was shot by one of my readers.

[YouTube]

Sydney got hit by a dust storm and it’s all over the news so I checked out the pictures and it just looks like one of the regular storms that hits Kuwait. Not a big deal but I guess they just never got one before. [Pictures]

Just the other night I was watching the movie 11:14 and thinking how I’ve started to like Patrick Swayze more as he’s gotten older. Very sad. [Link]

This is a pretty messed up incident. A British soldier in civilian clothing got ambushed by five guys in Kuwait City and then held captive. Luckily he managed to escape by jumping out of a first story balcony. [Article]

Update: According to Al-Rai newspaper the British government is denying this incident took place. Here is the article (it’s in Arabic). [Article]

Ra’ed Qutena the photojournalist took pictures showing the aftermath of the wedding fire and uploaded them onto flickr. Looks like nothing was left standing. [Link]

Thanks Nibaq

This is a huge tragedy and a very sad event. [YouTube]
The video above is in Arabic but there is an English version from BBC [Here]

[YouTube]

Thats pretty messed up. Back in 2005 I shot pictures of the cops shoot out with some terrorists in Salmiya and you can see those [Here]

Thanks Kent

According to a reader Saied, the whale shark thats been stranded at Marina Crescent for a week now was saved. They were able to place the whale shark onto a marine parachute bed like device and then pull the whale shark out to sea where it was then set free. Around 15 divers took park in this rescue which lasted around 9 hours. Saied will be sending me pictures and once I get them will post them here.

Update: Got the pictures, check them out below. Thanks Saied!