Category: News

Found some pictures on ads2blog of a fire at the new Salmiya Citybus depot. According to the person who took the pictures “It started off with 1 bus and then the rest; I guess 3 buses went up in Flames� Flames were at a height of approximately 3 floors�”. Check ads2blog for more picture. [Link]

A Qatari Sheikh sent his Lamborghini by plane all the way to London for an oil change and back. It sounds fishy because if there isn’t a Lambo dealer in Qatar why didn’t he just send the car to Dubai or Kuwait? [Link]

Thanks Rashid

A 22 year old male died when he lost control of his Mercedes SLR and crashed in Qatar. Jalopnik has photos of whats left of the car which isn’t much. [Link]

The shawerma place called Weekend that is located in front of AUK in Salmiya got demolished. Supposedly the owner of the building demolished it so that he could drive off the owners of the shop. You can read more about it on the Al Rai Alaam newspaper but its in Arabic. I wasn’t a fan of Weekend, I prefered Malek Al 3aseer which was right next to it but it still sucks. They are doing the same with the shops in old Salmiya. For example Family Bookshop is still open but you can barely get to it. The entrances are blocked by rocks and sand because the owner of the building is trying to drive them out. [Link]

Thanks LunarDream

On my way to work today there was a demonstration in front of the House of Parliament. I didn’t have my camera with me so I couldn’t take pictures but the demonstrators where of both sexes and I would say young and aged around 18-28. They were all wearing white t-shirts and a lot of them were holding white umbrellas. Unlike most of the demonstrations I see every so often on my way to work, this one was getting a lot of coverage by journalists. Some of the signs they were holding were in Arabic while others in English (for international media?) and I think they were talking about their voices being heard and their constitution rights… My memory is really bad so I couldn’t memorize any of the banners. Anyone know what its all about and why the white umbrellas?

Two days ago the most beautiful goat in the world contest was held in Saudi Arabia. The goat pictured above won first place in what has to be the strangest beauty contest I’ve ever heard of. If you follow the link you can see more pictures from this event, doesn’t anyone else think these are some of the weirdest looking goats? [Link]

I just heard that the former Crown Prince and Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah has passed away. I am trying to find some news about this online but as of this post no online news site has posted about it.

Update: The news has started appearing online. [Link]

I just wanted to congratulate Mahmood and Bahrain for ranking #8 on the sinful capitals of the world list. There was a lot of strong competition this year but they managed to do pretty well, even better than Dubai which didn’t even make the top 10 list surprisingly. The criteria to enter the sin cities list is pretty simple: The country needs to offer a strong presence of gambling, sex, drinking, drugs, and/or partying. For the full top 10 list click [Here]

I’ve heard of huge pileups like this before but I don’t think its ever happened in the Gulf before. Yesterday a major accident happened on the Dubai – Abu Dhabi highway. Weather conditions were foggy and slippery and people were still speeding so when the first accident occurred a chain reaction followed resulting in the huge 60 car pileup. They originally said it was a 200 car pileup but I guess that was just an original estimate. You can check out pictures and details on the accident [Here]

Thanks sinnerorsaint

I just found out everyone is getting a salary increase, Kuwaitis will get KD120 while everyone else gets KD50. I guess now we can all afford to drink KDD milk again.

Update: everyone else = expats

update2: Here is more info from KUNA

The cabinet approved Thursday a monthly bonus of KD 120 for Kuwaitis employed in the public and private sectors, retirees and those receiving social assistance as of March 1, and KD 50 for expatriates working in the public sector, said Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali.

Speaking to reporters following the extraordinary cabinet meeting, he said a monthly bonus of KD 120 will be paid as of March 1, 2008 for Kuwaitis employed in both the public and private sectors. He explained that retired citizens would also be receiving this bonus, as well as all those receiving social assistance from the state. Moreover, Al-Shimali said expatriates employed in the public sector would also be getting KD 50 on a monthly basis.

Anyone heard anything about this. Someone just called and said that there was a large explosion in Kuwait according to Al-Rai TV.

Update: False alarm. According to the latest breaking news report on Al Rai TV, it was just a military plane that broke the sound barrier while traveling really low. Picture below shows the breaking news report.

This sounds pretty cool, looks like Cartoon Network is opening a theme park in Kuwait.

Cartoon Network Enterprises has entered into an agreement with Future Kid & Real Estate Co. to develop a fully branded Cartoon Network theme park in Kuwait City. The 3,500 square meter venue is scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

“This is a timely and exciting deal which puts Turner at the heart of a thriving entertainment industry in the Middle East,” says Jeff Kupsky, president of Turner Broadcasting System Europe, owner of

Cartoon Network. “The Kuwait City indoor theme park will enable visitors to sample the Cartoon Network experience on a grand scale, and truly interact with our characters and brands.”

[Source]

Thanks MFS!

I just found out from CNN that Roy Scheider has passed away. He wasn’t one of my favorite actors but I never minded him and he actually was the lead star on many of my favorite movies and tv shows including Jaws, 2010: The Year We Make Contact and SeaQuest DSV. Sucks. [Link]

Streaming live news from the USA and around the world. Pretty nifty. [Link]

I just found out about this incident (yes 20 years late) but I still found it very disturbing. In 1988 an American warship stationed in the Gulf shot down an Iranian airliner carrying 290 civilians killing everyone on board. The Americans thought it was an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. Whats even more fucked up is the Americans never admitted wrongdoing, accepted responsibility, nor apologized for the incident! I am not a big fan of Iran but this is sickening. [Link]