Category: News

The Reuters news video above is of an event that took place a few days ago here in Kuwait. Three world records were broken: worlds largest bucket of fried chicken, worlds largest box of donuts in and longest line of burgers in the world. [YouTube]

Don’t look at me, I had nothing to do with this!

About 18 people on U.S. military bases in Kuwait have tested positive for swine flu, a U.S. Central Command spokeswoman said Friday.

They are the first cases reported in Kuwait. It remains unclear whether the virus has spread to the civilian population.

Here is a link to the full article. [Link]

Thanks Latifa!

A body of a student was found in the parking lot of the Australian College of Kuwait. No cause of death has been disclosed but the following email was sent out to ACK students:

Dear All,

I am sad to inform you that a student was found deceased in his car on campus. It is extremely unfortunate and disheartening to see this incident happen to this young student with a bright future. Appropriate measures were taken including reporting to the police.

Investigators from the Department of Criminal Investigation and the Ambulance Department were notified immediately. The police at this stage could not confirm the nature of death; however, in due course they will inform the college on the details of the investigation.The police were extremely cooperative in attending to this emergency on the campus and worked in conjunction with the ambulance and other members of the college including our security. We extend our deepest condolences and prayers to the grieving family.

Vishy Karri

Global Finance magazine just released a list of the world’s 50 safest bank and the only bank from the region that made the cut was NBK which came in at #44. The German bank KfW topped the list at spot #1 while HSBC came in at #19. For the full list here is a [PDF]

Thanks Abdullah!

She’s mine… she’s mine; Fisticuffs in row over ‘veiled’ wives

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 25: Jahra securitymen on Wednesday apprehended a Kuwaiti and an unidentified man for engaging in a fistfight at a shopping complex in the area. According to security sources, the Kuwaiti and his wife — a veiled woman — went inside the shopping complex on Wednesday. They were later separated as they went from one shop to the other then the Kuwaiti noticed another veiled woman, who was standing near an unidentified man. Thinking she is his wife, the Kuwaiti called the woman, but the man standing beside her suddenly went berserk, claiming the woman is his wife.

A heated argument between the two men escalated in a fistfight and they used some items in the commercial complex to hit each other. The security officers in the complex and some passersby interfered and tried to calm both men. After receiving information about the incident, Jahra securitymen rushed to the complex and referred the men to North Jahra Police Station for interrogation.

By Mezyed Al-Saeedi
Special to the Arab Times

Thanks Nibaq!

[YouTube]

This fire happened on Wednesday and resulted in two dead woman and 64 injured. What I found shocking is this:

Relatives of the women initially blocked firefighters from entering the wedding hall, an action that some suggest may have contributed to the disaster. According to an eyewitness, when firemen first arrived at the scene, they were prevented from entering the hall by some men (apparently relatives of some of the women inside) on the grounds that it was an all-women place. “You can’t get in,” they shouted.

According to eyewitnesses, the hall was filled with smoke at first, which frightened the guests. They panicked and a stampede broke out when flames began to engulf the area.

Witnesses added that what aggravated the situation was the fact that many women who were trying to flee the scene, stopped to put on their veils and head covers. They also said that the hall accommodated 220 women and children. [Kuwait Times]

Thanks Kuwait Black Market!

Deera Chat found an article online which talks about how Kuwait last month purchased nearly 6 million anti-nuclear radiation drugs. The question here is WHY? What exactly are they expecting to happen in the near future??? Here is the link to the news article. [Link] Here is a link to NukePills.com, the website which sells these pills. [Link]

What do these Potassium Iodide pills do? According to NukePills.com:

Potassium Iodide (KI) is used by health officials worldwide to prevent thyroid cancer in people who are exposed to radioactive iodides caused by nuclear reactor accidents and nuclear bombs. It protects against radioactive iodine by preventing its absorption by the thyroid gland located in the neck…

We don’t have any nuclear reactors in the region (I don’t think we do) so that only leaves a nuclear bomb, who would want to nuke us?

Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq and during a news conference some guy threw a pair of shoes at Bush! Check out the video its extremely funny. [Video]

Update: Here is the video on YouTube. [Link]

By the way, notice the late reaction/arrival of the secret service guy. Someone is going to be looking for a job tomorrow!

Update2: Found a better picture of the secret service dude

This is pretty freaky news…

KUWAIT, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s government will prepare an urgent bill to guarantee deposits at local banks after the central bank said on Sunday it was forced to step in to support Gulf Bank after it suffered losses.

The central bank said on the bourse website it had halted trading in the lender and would appoint a supervisor for several bank activities after some clients had refused to cover their losses from derivatives trading, leaving the bank to foot the costs.

[Link]

Update: Here are more articles [Link] [Link] [Link]

NBK customers don’t have to worry according to this article [Link]

FIFA has suspended Kuwait from all international matches and activities because of the government interference in the affairs of the football federation.

Contrary to the road map established by FIFA and the AFC, the Kuwaiti Public Authority for Youth and Sport has continued to interfere. Elections were held on 9 October in direct violation of the FIFA Executive Committee’s May 2007 decision to the contrary. As a consequence, the committee recommend to the FIFA Executive Committee that the Kuwait Football Association be suspended. [Link]

Kuwait’s federation were to have held their general assembly in September but delayed it for Ramadan but after no meeting took place Blatter said the Kuwaitis had been “definitively suspended” from international matches. [Link]

Thanks 7ussien

Arab Times printed an article in today’s paper on Latina Mina’s drunk deejaying the other night and the whole article was just all quotes from the post on my blog and all its commentators. Its cool that blogs are actually being taken seriously but they should have actually mentioned 2:48AM instead of calling it just “a blog”. I guess they should have also written an article instead of just taking quotes from everyone and sticking them together. Here is the link to the article on Arab Times and if it doesn’t open up for some reason I’ve saved a pdf version which you can download below. Maybe I should just call them “a newspaper” from now on.

Link to article
PDF version

Update: Latina Mina has fled the country. Here is the latest article on this from “a newspaper”. [PDF version]

Update2: According to someone working at 99.7, any employee at the station who asks for a recording of the session will get fired on the spot. The ministry really does not want the recording to make its way online.

This sounds like something from “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” which by the way was extremely funny. [Link]

Kuwait’s Prime Minister talks to CNN’s Susan Lisovicz about the global impact of the U.S. rescue plan.

Here is the link to the video on CNN.com [Video Link]

I just found out about this and think its amazing news for Villa Moda and all the other local start ups. It just goes to show that great local ideas are great ideas anywhere in the world.

Majed al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti lifestyle retailer known in the fashion world as the “Sheik of Chic,” has teamed up with the government of Dubai to create a global brand development strategy for his Villa Moda enterprise.

The Dubai International Finance Center, or DIFC, was to announce Monday that it had taken a majority investment in the multibrand high fashion retailer, where Sabah will remain as chairman and creative director. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed.

I think Dubai is a perfect partner for Villa Moda but its depressing because Villa Moda is a Kuwaiti based idea and operation and it would have meant more to have Kuwait finance Villa Moda. But I guess its not only about the money, Dubai have a vision, Kuwait’s vision is… Dubai? [Link]

Thanks Mish!

[YouTube]

The video says this fire happened three days ago (16/9/08) but I haven’t heard anything about it. Here is another video showing the plane more clearly.

[YouTube]