Kuwait Youth Arrested for hitting 305 km/hr
Today’s Arab Times:
As many as 117 people were caught over speeding in just three hours on the King Fahd Motorway.
Traffic men fixed a radar on the motorway near Al Nuwaiseeb area from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and issued citations to 117 violators.
A Kuwait youth has been detained for driving at a speed of 305 km/hr in his Porsche car. He was referred to the Traffic Court and his car has been impounded.
Traffic men have started a campaign against reckless drivers and riders performing stunts on their motorbikes.
My comment: Have you been following EniGma’s blog, where she proposes what she will do as the new Minister – a different Minister each day? I think someone was listening to her when she wrote her post on Ministry of Interior For a Day.
I am also hearing strains of the old Beachboys song about “fun fun fun now that daddy took the T-bird away” only substituting Porsche for T-bird. I think a huge fine would be appropriate, 30 hours of supervised remedial driving lessons and three months working with accident victims in one of the local hospitals. That’s the rehabilitation/punishment I would give.
Manshar Mall: Rotana Hotel Open
One day it was not open – and then it was! I haven’t seen any announcements for the Rotana, but it is indeed open for business. There are signs all over Fehaheel indicating the Rotana Hotel’s whereabouts, but those have been up for months.
And – the Villa Moda signs are back up, indicating they will be opening soon. Interesting. Wonder when “soon” will be?
Last but not least – Al Kout and Al Manshar appear to be related, at least architecturally. Why have they not connected the two with a walking bridge from the top floor? Crossing that road is deadly! And parking in the Al Manshar Mall parking lot is severely limited.
And why so much security? There are security guards everywhere, and they are very very firm (my big smile did not sway them) about NOT taking photos.
The very cool thing about Al Manshar Mall is that there are a lot of small shops; it has a very souk-y feel about it, and they aren’t the shops you find in all the usual (ho hum) malls.
And there is a small but very very busy Chili’s.
Raise Your Voices
My blogging friend Hilaliya raised HIS voice in an article entitled Kuwait ‘Ministry Of Communications’ Attempts To Extort Internet Users and found an elaborated article on the Ministry of Communication ban. You can read his rant, and go to the Arab Times article by clicking here.
Internet Phones Blocked in Kuwait
Watching the news lately, I became more and more uneasy as Indian telephone service providers – evidently clandestine – were raided with frequency and shut down. All these men want is a few minutes chatting with their families, without paying an arm and a leg.
We’re all in the same boat.
In a tiny little article in the Kuwait Times yesterday, they announced that ALL internet calling services would be blocked. Those that are not already blocked soon will be.
I had heard rumblings from friends, phones not working, etc. We all subscribe to Vonage, or Skype, or one of the myriad internet phone services; it’s part of what makes living and working in Kuwait DO-ABLE.
This last year, with my father dying, the phone was my lifeline. Because it has the same area code as my family, my Mom felt free to call me anytime and give me an update on how Dad was doing. When I know we are going back for a visit, I can get on that phone and make dental appointments, schedule a doctor’s appointment, harangue my bank when they have made a mistake.
I don’t even have a private land line into our dwelling. There is a phone, but it goes through the desk where the guard doesn’t really understand English that well. All my calls come through my cell phone . . . OR the internet phone. The price of the service was well worth it in terms of my peace of mind, and my mother’s, and my sisters. Our son feels free to call us when he chooses – it is a Godsend.
The land lines here are notorious. I am outraged. The international call rates are extortionate, and the call quality is horrorific.
When we lived Qatar and the internet phone services were blocked, the major international companies in town all went to their ambassadors and had them formally protest to the government. The ambassadors made the case. And the ban was reversed.
Please. If you are Kuwaiti, use your wasta. If you are a guest-worker here in this country, protest to your Ambassador, and ask her or him to get involved, to take this to the highest levels. This ban on internet phone services hurts the morale of ALL people here in Kuwait who have family in other parts of the world. It makes Kuwait look greedy and mean-spirited, and we all know that is not the true nature of Kuwaitis.
Bringing in the Harvest, Kuwaiti Style
Fresh seafood is one of the great blessings of living in Kuwait. Visiting Fehaheel with a friend one morning, I was delighted to see a boat docked, and fish being loaded into trucks.
You have this old old style boat, and everything they are doing is state-of-the-art in terms of hygiene. The fish are all iced as soon as they are caught, and transported with more ice. Some of the fish is delivered straight to the fish market in Fehaheel, where auctions are held almost daily.
I am only missing Kuwaiti shrimp, which is now out-of-season, to protect the shrimp production for future needs. I am willing to sacrifice for the long-term greater good, and besides, I can still find fresh-frozen Kuwaiti shrimp in my local co-op.
Yesterday I had a new treat – hammour kufte. Have you tried it? I saw it at the Sultan Center, and decided to try it. I sauteed it gently, not sure how it would respond, until it was cooked almost through, then flipped it and cooked the other side. Total WOW. I am a believer! If you haven’t tried it, you are in for a treat. How can anything taste that good AND be good for you?
(Segue) Have you visited the Al Kout Mall in Fehaheel recently? I often take visitors there – it is SO different from Marina Mall and Sharq Mall. There aren’t the bands of teenage marauders there, children are kept under control by their caring parents, and the cafes and restaurants along the fountains are busy day and night, mostly with families and quiet people, not the people who are more concerned with being seen. The stores often have things that are already shopped out at the other malls. There is a serenity in the architecture, and the way it incorporates the waterfront location, and a feeling of everything coming together as it ought.
Sometimes I am the only Westerner I see, outside the Sultan Center.
I took a friend there who had lived in Kuwait a long time ago. She was astounded when I took her there. “This is FEHAHEEL?” she exclaimed. She was in wonder and in shock. She remembered Fehaheel as being at the end of the earth, and a dangerous place to be.
It can still be a dangerous place to be, on a Thursday or Friday night, in competition for a parking place. It will get worse, once the Rotana Hotel opens in the Manshar complex. And the signs for the Villa Moda at the Al Manshar Mall are now disappeared – is Villa Moda NOT coming to the Manshar Mall?
Party Busted
Wouldn’t you love to know the rest of this story? I sure would! From today’s Kuwait Times:
Detectives arrested a group of over 40 Kuwaiti and Western students of private school who were enjoying themselves at a private party in a very luxurious apartment in Salmiya, said security sources. Officials added that some neighbors heard them arguing in the building’s parking area about who would be allowed in and who would not be; for not contributing in the party’s expenses. An hour later, the apartment was busted and the strangely dressed young people (in devilish costumes) were arrested along with the building’s security officer who rented them the apartment.
My comment: Sounds to me like these kids have too much money, and too little sense, a la Risky Business. These are school kids??? And what were the costumes?
Jet Escort
Less than a minute ago, outside my window, a plane departed Kuwait with a THREE jet escort. Who could that be?
On a Lighter Note: Exhibitionist Held
God bless the reporters of crime news in the Kuwait Times, in the midst of all that horror, they occasionally find an article that is almost purely hilarious:
Exhibitionist Held
Farwaniya police arrested an Arab expatriate after he put on an artificial male organ on his own to seduce female passers-by. The organ, which was too huge to be true, drew shocked gasps, not only from females but also from all around. The expat however shrank when he saw the police and was subdued after a hot chase.
My comment: *Dying laughing.* From beginning to end. The title. *Gasping for breath* he “shrank” *howling* and was subdued after a “hot” chase. Kill me now! This reporter is too funny!
Isn’t Sodomy Considered Perversion?
Two articles from the Kuwait Times crime pages, but a daily occurrence:
February 27, 2007
Kuwaiti boy Sodomized
A Kuwaiti living in the Jaber Al-Ali area recently filed a complaint that a man offered his younger brother a lift while he was walking in the Mubarak Al-Kabeer area. He said the man then drove into the desert where he sodomized the boy after threatening him with a knife and also shot nude pictures of him.
February 28, 2007
Bedoons, Kuwaitis scuffle over attempted ‘sodomy’
Kuwait: Two bedoons travelling in a car in Riqqa spotten an eleven-year-old Kuwaiti boy standing in front of his house, and decided to kidnap and sodomize him. One of them alighted and tried to force the boy to get inside the car, but the boy started screaming; alerting other boys in the neighborhood who wrestled with the bedoons and managed to pin them down until the police arrived. However, the boy’s father when informed on the situation along with his relatives rushed to the police station where they encountered the bedoons’ relatives. Both groups were then involved in a scuffle. The boy’s father then stabbed one of the bedoons several times. The victim had to be admitted to the intensive care unit at Adan hospital. Police arrested the boy’s father and referred him to the relevant authorities.
My comment and question: In our holy book, Jesus says that the very worst punishment in the afterlife is for anyone who harms one of the little ones, one of the “innocents,” who damages that innocence in any way. I am betting the Qu’ran says something similar. (I welcome your feedback on this, because I would like to know the sura’a.)
And aren’t Bedoon’s MORE religiously conservative than other Kuwaitis? How does this track?
In western culture, men who ‘bugger’ other men are considered less than manly. Is this not also true in Islam?
Is sodomy not considered a perversion in Islam?
What is the penalty for sodomy in Kuwait, and how is the penalty enforced?
Indian Maid “Falls” from House Roof
This is from yesterday’s Kuwait Times (27 February 2007) and by the way, the Kuwait Times has a new, more attractive and easier to use web-page.
Hanan Al Saadoun, the reporter for this column, does a great job with crime reporting. Even when forced to be oblique, he gets the gist across.
Kuwait: Sabah Hospital investigators recently referred to the police the medical report of a woman who was admitted to the hospital with several injuries on her chin, jaw, lower lip, broken teeth and pelvic bone fractures. The lady was in a coma and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. They said after a while, the brother of her sponsor (who had reportedly been out of the country) brought in her passport, and informed the hospital that she was an Indian maid and had fallen from the roof of her sponsor’s house. Further investigations have been stalled until after her recovery from the coma.
My comment: Injuries on her chin, jaw, lower lip, broken teeth . . . . and a “fall” from the roof? Too outrageous for words.
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