A fire started around 4:30PM in one of the buildings in Dajeej that contains furniture shops. Due to the size of the fire the firefighters weren’t able to tame it. He shot a video which you can see above and also pictures which you can see below. [YouTube]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: Here is another good video [YouTube]

Some good news, back in 2006 I posted about how Kuwait had the most corrupt diplomats in New York averaging 246.2 parking tickets per diplomat. Well the new 2009 results are out and Kuwait is no longer first, instead they’re second! The Egyptian diplomats now lead the way with the most unpaid parking tickets while Kuwait is following closely behind owing nearly $1.3 million in unpaid fines. Here is the link to the article. [Link]

On a similar note Marzouq posted about the Kuwaiti embassy thats based in the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. Looks like the best place to be if you want to be a Kuwaiti diplomat. [Link]

Note: Stop emailing me hate mail. I wasn’t the person who wrote the article or call the diplomats corrupt. Since those of you who emailed me are too lazy to click the link here is a quotation from the link that explains how not paying your tickets means you are corrupt:

“In a great paper for the National Bureau for Economic Research, two researchers have found that the number of parking tickets that legally-immune foreign diplomats accumulate in NYC and refuse to pay is a great measure of how corrupt their home countries are.”

Direct all hate mail to the New York Daily News, the National Bureau for Economic Research or your diplomats.

At least he isn’t collecting burgers:

A citizen of Kuwait has applied to Guinness World Records for his collection of over 5,000 perfume bottles to be recognized as a world record, the Kuna news agency reported on Monday.

An astronomer by profession, Adel Al-Sadoun started collecting perfume bottles some 15 years ago, as he was charmed by the unique design created by perfume companies for their fragrances.

After gaining national fame for his unusual hobby, his collection was expanded by bottles given to him by friends and well-wishers. Some of the items are around 100 years old. [Source]

Thanks Jacob

Early last month I posted about a bear that was for sale here in Kuwait. People started calling Animal Friends who launched an extensive investigation aimed at locating the bear and helping the government to seize the animal.

The investigation discovered the bear living in a small cage in Kebd, exposed to the sun, chained by the neck, living on a diet of rice, and only offered water twice per day. After reviewing the evidence presented by K’S PATH, the MOI Police force, along with representatives from the Kuwait Environment Protection Agency and the Kuwait Zoo began the process of confiscating the bear and several other illegal animals being housed at the same location. The bear is now being housed in the Kuwait Zoo, and K’S PATH is attempting to find a suitable sanctuary in the natural range of the Eurasian Brown Bear. [Source]

I think that’s really great news and the group effort that went into this rescue was amazing. Thanks a lot to the MOI Police force, Kuwait Environment Protection Agency, Kuwait Zoo and of course Animal Friends. Animal Friends are a non-profit organization that run on donations so please help them out by clicking [Here]

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.