Search: “ace”

AVICII, the extremely popular Swedish DJ posted the following cryptic message on his Facebook page which kinda sounds like he is coming to Kuwait:

Hey KUWAIT! What do YOU think about the new album songs? I would love to hear YOUR thoughts specifically!

Hope to see you soon!

Interesting to say the least. [Link]

Update: Below is a screenshot of the message I am seeing. Some Facebook users are saying they’re seeing a different country other than Kuwait mentioned. I logged in with a New York based VPN and it still showed me Kuwait so my guess is it’s probably showing the location based on where you’ve told Facebook you live and not IP related. In any case looks like it’s a false alarm.

The Wall Street Journal has a feature on 9 Artsy Vines and one of the featured Vine users is locally based artist Pinot. Vine is similar to Instagram except it’s with video that’s limited to just 6 seconds. Out of all the Vine users in the world it’s pretty cool that Pinot made it to their top 9 list.

You can check out the WSJ article [Here]
You can also check out Pinot’s Vine videos [Here]

I previously wrote about Pinot a few years back when he came first place on the IKEA Hackers competition.

Booking is now open for Kuwait Little Theatre’s upcoming show Grease. The show takes place end of May but tickets usually run out really quickly so if you’re interested you need to book now.

KLT regulars including Gregory Dunlop (Danny), Jemma Standen (Marty), Karen Siemers (Rizzo) and KLT returnee Tamara Quaddoumi (Sandy) are involved in this fantastically fun production.

Choreographed by Emma Gray (of Hairspray fame), musically directed by Mike Ricketts (of Hairpray and ALW fame) and directed by Kirsty AlBahlooli (director of 2010′s Mamma Mia and 2011′s Hairspray) Grease is a show not to be missed!

Dates: May 21 to 24 & 28 to 31
Price: KD5

To book tickets click [Here]

As a final leg of the Kuwait tour, me and my friend who’s visiting Kuwait decided to pass by the shooting range. I hadn’t been to the shooting range since they first opened around 9 years ago and all I remembered about the place was that it was pricey which is why I never went back again.

There are two different types of weapons you can fire, rifles and handguns. In each category you have different weapons to choose from and each with a different price. This is the list:

Handguns:
9mm – 20 rounds for KD6
38mm – 20 rounds for KD6 (revolver)
40mm – 20 rounds for KD6
45mm – 20 rounds for KD7

Rifles:
.22 Long Rifle – 10 rounds for KD5
9mm Assault Rifle – 20 rounds for KD6
.223 Assault Rifle – 10 rounds for KD7
7.62 Hunting Rifle – 10 rounds for KD8

We started with the handguns first and then moved to the rifles after that. If you’ve never fired a gun before it’s not an issue since there will be an expert with you the whole time who will briefly teach you about the weapon as well as how to load the bullets and aim properly. 20 rounds won’t really last long but they will last you longer than you’d expect them to since you will be taking your time and aiming properly before every shot. The magazine holds 8 bullets (I think) so you will also have to reload it half way through.

The rifle was pretty fun to fire as well and maybe even more fun than the handguns. They’re easier to aim with because they come with scopes but they’re tricky since any slight movement while pulling the trigger and you’re off target. The 10 rifle bullets lasted me longer than the 20 handgun bullets because you really take your time aiming accurately. If you’ve always wanted to be a sniper this is your chance.

The shooting range complex is located off the 6th Ring Road right behind the Hunting and Equestrian Club. Here is the location on [Google Maps]. Make sure you have some sort of ID with you since you won’t be able to fire a gun without one. There is also an ATM machine at the location and they accept credit cards and Knet.

[YouTube]

Yesterday I passed by the Fish Market as part of the tour I’ve been giving a friend who’s visiting. We went to the Souq Sharq Fish Market which I had been to countless of times before except yesterday when we got there it turned out there were various fish auctions taking place which I hadn’t experienced before.

The market was super loud and pretty interesting to watch. It was pretty interactive in a way as well since we would be standing there like typical tourists taking photos and then someone comes with one fish and drops it onto the floor right next to us and starts an auction. Out of no where he’d suddenly have like 5 or 6 people standing around that one little fish bidding on it.

If you do take a visitor there you need to keep in mind you will end up leaving smelling like fish. Also the auctions were taking place around 4 in the afternoon and not before dawn like I would have expected them to.

The Kuwait Writing Club in collaboration with the Cultural Club at GUST will be hosting a literary night next Thursday. Members of the Riyadh Writing Club, Shurooq Amin, Sons of Yusuf and Nada Faris will also be attending as guest performers.

Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Time: 6PM to 8PM
Location: Gulf University for Science and Technology, Hall W6-200

For more information visit the event Facebook page [Here]

I missed it the first time when they held it back in February.

Location: Marina Crescent
Date: April 25 to April 28 2013
Time: 9AM to 1PM and 4PM to 9PM
Cost: KD20

You need to book from now if you’re interested by calling 94004335
For more information visit their Facebook page [Here]

via wainmaaro7

The car is out of the box and ready to be showcased starting from tomorrow at the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum of Kuwait. The car is #1 of 7 and is currently in Kuwait as a show of support to the Arabian automotive achievements. As I mentioned last night, this car is extremely rare so this might be your only chance of ever seeing one.

For more information visit the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum of Kuwait Facebook page [Here]

Thanks Zak

Arabia’s first super car the Lykan is going to be on display at the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum of Kuwait. The car will be on display for only 7 days starting from April 9th to April 16th. It’s a super rare car so this might be the only chance you’ll ever have at seeing one. For more information visit the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum of Kuwait Facebook page [Here]

There are two things I did in Prague that I would highly recommend to everyone going there.

Hit the slopes

If you have the time and you’re there in winter then I’d highly recommend you hit the slopes. The cheapest option I found was around 75 Euros per person including travel to the resort from the city and including rental gear and slope passes. But, the resort was tiny and mostly made up of fake snow. I ended up going to Špindlerův Mlýn which cost considerably more but that’s due to the the location being around 2 hours away from the city. The resort was huge and there was lots of soft powder snow since it was snowing when I was there. I went midweek so the slopes were mostly empty which meant I never had to wait in line for the ski lifts or bother navigating hoards of skiers on the way down. The slopes are not all connected together but there was a free shuttle bus service to navigate from one slope to another. The whole experience cost me around KD90 but that included snowboard gear rental, a half day pass to the slopes and a personal driver for half a day as well.

While there I would highly recommend you rent a snowmobile as well. They rent for a minimum of 1 hour and you go off alone with just a black and white map that makes absolutely no sense. I think it was around KD20 for the hour, I don’t remember but I took the snowmobile and headed all the way up to a peak. It was snowing and foggy along the way and I froze my ass off but the trip was really beautiful and scenic.

Visit the psychiatric hospital

Ok I know this sounds weird and it is but it’s really worth the experience. I went and had lunch at the Psychiatrická léčebna Bohnice cafeteria. I had read on a forum online that the staff that work there are recovering patients and that the visitors are families visiting their loved ones at the hospital. Anyway the hospital grounds is huge, like a massive university campus. The buildings all looked like they had been built in the early 1900’s with beautiful but crumbling architecture and looks of interesting looking floor tiles. The cafeteria had a style that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shinning but don’t expect the food to be anything exquisit. Actually don’t expect to really eat there, maybe just a slice of cake and a RC Cola since the menu really didn’t have much food just microwaved sausages and croissant.

Still it was a different experience and one that doesn’t cost much to try. The trip from the city to the hospital by cab was KD7 and I think I paid like 800 fils for my lunch and desert.

There has been a lot of debate about the pros and cons of capital punishment in the past few days which is why I wanted to take the time to explain capital punishment in the Kuwaiti law.

What is the procedure before getting capital punishment?

So an accused gets three trials, when he gets a guilty verdict in a trial he HAS to appeal. If he doesn’t appeal then the public prosecution will appeal the case. Before being sentenced with capital punishment an accused has to be proven guilty three times in three different trials made up of different judges. After three different guilty verdicts, the accused get sentenced to capital punishment. But, even then, capital punishment would not be executed unless the highest authority signs off on the sentence.

Who is exempted from capital punishment?


What are the crimes that you would get capital punishment for?

The below apply to everyone, Kuwaiti or non Kuwaiti, visa or no visa, pretty or ugly… as long as you committed the crime in Kuwait.

– Murder, deliberate + premeditated by il will (Article 150 with a def in Article 151)

– Any person that kidnaps another person using force or threat or with the intent to kill, hurt or rape (Article 180)

– Sexual intercourse with a female without her consent and the accused was related to the girl, or was her teacher, her caretaker or her servant. (Article 186)

– Sexual intercourse with a female with her consent but the female is not mentally stable and the accused knew this or if the girl was under 15 years of age. In both cases the accused was related to the girl, or was her teacher, her caretaker or her servant. (Article 187)

– Capital punishment found in other Kuwaiti laws
 like national security crimes (treason for example)

– For growing, selling, buying or importing or exporting drugs the accused might get capital punishment. But, if you add any of the following points as well then the accused will get capital punishment:


1) The drug is cocaine, heroine, Acetyldihydrocodeine and Codeine

2) You’re a public employee
3) Used a minor to help with the drug crime

4) Its the accused 2nd time convicted of either growing, selling, buying or importing or exporting drugs

The above is based on the Kuwaiti law and not my opinion. If there is anything that isn’t clear leave a comment below and I will try to clarify it.

Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

[YouTube]

Kuwaiti rapper BigMo who’s currently residing in Portland just released a new music video called “Clarification”. The new video was released to promote his upcoming album ‘Both Sides of the Sand’. Check it out above and if you like his music you can follow BigMo on [Facebook] or [Twitter]

Hi everyone, my name is Fajer and I’m a legal counsel at a local law firm. One of Mark’s forum users had a law related question and he thought it might be a good idea to get me involved on the blog with law related posts starting with the questions his forum user had. I’ll post the users problem first followed by my response below it.

THE PROBLEM
My brother was accused of shoplifting a packet of AAA batteries at a supermarket. He was leaving the supermarket when the detector at the exit started buzzing and they found the battery pack on him. It was by accident and he tried to explain that to them but he was arrested, booked and slapped with a robbery case as well as a travel ban.

My questions are the following:
1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?

THE RESPONSE
The answer to your situation is not very straight forward but I will try to go through your questions and explain everything to you.

1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
There is no specific law in Kuwait towards shoplifting but the act of shoplifting falls under the crime of robbery. The official English translation of the Kuwaiti criminal law describes robbery in Article 217 as “A person is guilty of robbery, if he embezzles movable property, owned by a third party, with the intent to acquire it” … ahhh lawyers and their confusing legal sentences… so wait lets break things down.

In every law, for any country, all crimes consist of two parts:

Point here is that you have to have intent to steal to be charged with robbery. If your brother forgot to pay for the batteries by accident, the verdict should be innocent but to get to that verdict you need to prove “Mens Rea”.

2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
According to the new criminal procedures law (and without getting into detail), the police officers have the right to hold someone up to 48hrs (it used to be longer) if they are accused of a crime. This would not be in prison but in a police station with the aim of starting an initial investigation before going to court. Their initial investigation might be to ask a few questions, find evidence and to figure out what laws apply.

3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
Article 143 states that it is a crime to not report a robbery so the Supermarket was abiding by the law when they reported the crime to the police. Now some supermarkets might be more forgiving and let it slide, but, “letting it slide” is a crime on their part and so I could understand why some supermarkets wouldn’t want to let it slide.

An interesting fact, if you’re inside a supermarket and you pick up a chocolate bar, eat it and then leave the supermarket without paying for it, then you have not “taken the property from the possession of a third party” (as the law article goes on to define embazzlment) therefore you have not moved the object from the ownership of the supermarket and so is not defined as robbery. This definition caused a lot of problems in Kuwait because people were using services and not paying for them or eating at restaurants and not paying for the meal so another law was passed where it said that this action was not a crime… but you had to pay a fine of KD75 plus the cost of the service or food you ate. So most likely that’s the penalty you heard about.

4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?
No it is not possible to settle robbery cases in Kuwait. Some crimes in Kuwait like robbery are considered to be against the community and not just the supermarket and so one individual does not have the right to settle it. The criminal court needs to look into the case.

So I know you didn’t ask me this, but…

5) What is the punishment for robbery in Kuwait?
Article 219 of the criminal states the punishment as being up to 2 years of jail time or/and a fee of up to 2000 Rupees (yes the law is that old that the fees are still in Indian Rupees).

So this means that a judge can ask the accused to go to jail for 2 weeks or 2 months or 6 months and 3 days just as long as it is not more than 2 years. Or he can make you pay 100 rupees or 1500 rupees. He could also decide no punishment or both a jail time and fine. The judges have a lot of power here.

But the maximum isn’t always 2 years because Article 221 was added and changed it to 3 years for certain situations:

Hope the above helps you out. One more thing I forgot to mention, the cost of the item doesn’t matter so a packet of AAA batteries or a gold necklace are treated the same.

Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

I had no idea who Dru Hill were until a few moments ago (thank you Wikipedia). Drul Hill are an R&B group and they’re going to be performing in Kuwait this summer. The event is a dinner at The Crowne Plaza Hotel that starts at 7PM and ends at 1AM with Dru Hill starting performance at 8PM.

Tickets start from KD30 for the regular seats all the way up to KD65 for VIP seating. If you’re interested or looking for more information click [Here]

Thanks Burhan

Below is a kinda long but interesting write up by a friend of mine currently working in the medical field. It’s related to the “Kuwait to segregate medical care” post from last week:

—————————

Its not a sprint, its a marathon

We need help. Everyone can agree that healthcare in Kuwait should be paramount. We need to have a healthcare system we can be proud of and confident in. I need to feel proud of where I work and the job I do. The recent lobby towards segregated healthcare for none emergent cases is just one more example of a quick fix for many failed and saddening endeavours that we as a profession are at least partly responsible for.

From the outset I doubt that anyone working currently in Kuwaiti healthcare is evil or bad or totally and completely corrupt. In fact, I think many of us started our careers inspired and full of promise but were met by challenges that we cannot possibly overcome. At a healthcare system level, we need to refine our goals and find our way towards something more efficient and dare I say it welcoming to people.

How many people reading this have a family doctor?

I doubt many of you do. This may be because you are perfectly healthy but it’s probably because you show up at the emergency room if you need anything because you have no confidence in your local poly clinic or mustawsif. The fact of the matter is that I wouldn’t either.

We need to re-create the family doctors as the go to guy or girl for all things non emergency and as the primary referring physician (small bruises, vaccines, high blood pressure, diabetes control, breast and colon cancer screening). This will mean two big changes. The first is that one doctor or centre will have all your medical history and that from now on you won’t show up to the emergency room unless it is an actual emergency, otherwise the emergency department will refuse to see you (this is the norm in the US, Canada and the UK NHS, it is becoming the norm in many south east asian countries gradually as well). More importantly we need to equip our poly clinics and family doctors with information and facilities such as x-ray facilities, ultrasound and turn a rundown office into an actual treatment facility. We also need to mandate a minimum amount of courses to be taken by these doctors so that they remain up to date in their fields (this should be true for all doctors in general come to think of it)

Provided you’ve got a referral or are trying to see a specialist, how many of you see them on time?

The way things are now, if you live in Mishref, you go to specialists in Mubarak, if you live near Adan then you are sent there. This means that the areas with the highest population end up with the longest waiting times. We need a structured dynamic referral system. I’m sure that there is some sort of solution I’m just not sure what it is. Perhaps if there was a regular update of which areas had the shortest waiting time were made available to family practitioners on a daily basis (via email). It may mean that patients will get their appointments earlier.

The problem is that I doubt that a person living in Jahra would be happy coming to Amiri for his echocardiogram even if it meant he or she would get it quicker. Having referrals to different hospital for different things would mean that you need to have all the patients data accessible across different hospitals in a sort of a cloud. Lets face it people, I’m more likely to see a giant flying saucer deliver free red velvet cupcakes at 360 than I am to see the ministry of health manage a cloud based patient filing system.

Having exhausted all efforts to get an early appointment you decided to go private, how many of you see a physician in his private practice after trying to get an early appointment in his government funded one?

Many of us have a conflict of interest when we are employed in private and public healthcare. I know colleagues who completely neglect their public healthcare patients and I know others who have no interest in private healthcare. Regardless, clear guidelines have to be set so that a physician working in the private healthcare field does not neglect his or her public healthcare practice. A bill requiring all doctors working in private healthcare to have 50% of their practice as public or pro bono might be the best solution but it’ll also mean that you would be the most hated minister of health in the history of Kuwait. (Maybe if we start with 30%, doctors are less likely to revolt)