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Expat wanderer

Kuwait Metro? Yes! It’s Possible!

I love my family. There is Earthling, and his darling wife, who keep me up to date on trends and the newest coolest things in GoogleEarth, there is Sporty Diamond and her family who are my go-to people for the newest in child raising and urban trends, Law and Order Man and EnviroGirl, who keep us up to date on media – books, music and television they think we need to know about, as well as keeping the smallest possible footprint as we exercise our stewardship of the planet Earth, and then adorable Little Diamond, who speaks fluent Arabic in about 20 dialects, who lives comfortably in Damascus, or Beirut, or Rabat, and who sends me these articles, this one from the Oxford Business Group, that tell me more about the countries I live in.

Thank you, little Diamond, especially since public transportation is one of my pet projects. 🙂

Kuwait: Working on the Railway

8 October 2009

Kuwait was one of the first countries in the region to float the idea of a metropolitan rapid transit network, and attention is once again returning to public transport projects in the country.

While there has long been talk of developing a rapid transit system in Kuwait, the proposal has been taken further by the private Kuwait Overland Transport Union through a detailed feasibility study completed last year that included setting out routes and estimating the cost of the project.

The plan called for a four-line metro grid to be built, with some two-thirds of the network to be elevated and the remainder below ground. According to government projections, when the 165-km network is fully operational, it will carry 69m passengers a year.

However, the scheme was soon sidetracked, even though there had been an announcement that tenders would be called for the project before the end of 2008. In January, the government said it would conduct a comprehensive study of Kuwait’s land transport needs, with the metro project to be incorporated into a wider national transport strategy.

Enthusiasm for the rail network may have got a timely boost from the opening of the initial stage of Dubai’s metro network on September 9, the much-touted answer to the emirate’s traffic congestion and pollution problems.

In its first two weeks of operations, more than 1m passengers rode the Dubai metro. Although it will be some time before a full assessment of the Dubai metro can be made,. the launch and apparent popularity of the line could encourage Kuwait to push ahead with its own project.

Supporters of the Kuwaiti scheme say the transit system will reduce pollution and traffic congestion in Kuwait City, encourage more decentralised residential development, and promote economic growth in outlying areas that will be opened up by quick rail access.

Though all this will likely be true, as is the case with most such major public transport schemes, there are almost as many cons as there are pros. In particular, the cost of constructing and operating the metro could weigh against the project.

While the development should ease Kuwait’s traffic congestion and could prove popular with commuters, it is unlikely to turn a profit. In its current form, the metro grid is expected to cost around $7bn. While this may change following the broad review of the country’s transport needs and the type of rail system needed – underground, raised or ground level – the outlay will be high.

Added to this is the fact that there is little chance this initial outlay will be recovered though earnings once the network is up and running. Even with the projected 69m passengers a year, in order to make a return on investments and then turn a profit, ticket prices will have to be high, defeating the objective of a low-cost transport system.

Most of the proposals put forward for the metro scheme involve a mix of public and private capital to fund the project. One version of the partnership arrangement put forward by the Ministry of Communications would see the state providing 24% of the project funding, contractors putting in 26% and the remaining 50% coming via an initial public offering (IPO).

Another suggested funding breakdown has the state contributing 50% of the capital required and the other half coming from the private sector, with several companies to be set up to undertake different parts of the projects, each being subject to an IPO.

Though these formulas would restrict the state’s exposure to the project and serve to encourage greater private participation in the economy, the question remains as to whether either the lead contractor or other investors would commit to a scheme that is a potential loss-maker.

However, at least some of the running costs of the metro could be offset by the lower use of subsidised petrol by commuters. With Kuwait having some of the cheapest fuel in the world, there is less inducement for locals to find an alternative to the automobile to get around. Raising the price of petrol at the pump could induce some motorists to abandon their cars and adopt the metro as their transport of choice, with the higher cost of fuel and more revenue from ticket sales combining to reduce any potential losses.

While the slow pace of the metro project may be frustrating for some, there could be advantages to adopting a methodical approach. By not being the first train out of the station, Kuwait’s planners will be able to learn from the experiences of Dubai and other cities, taking the best and avoiding the worst in the planning and construction process and also developing a sound funding model acceptable to all.

By all accounts, it is not a case of if but when for Kuwait’s urban rail transit network. The extended planning and development process may well result in a project that can combine versatility and popularity with profitability, a rare combination in public transport.

October 9, 2009 Posted by | Bureaucracy, Community, ExPat Life, Interconnected, Kuwait, Living Conditions, News, Technical Issue, Travel, Work Related Issues | | 9 Comments

First Day of School

School is just starting up today in Qatar. Many parents are sending their children only reluctantly; they are afraid of the H1N1 flu. School was already delayed long past its normal opening by Ramadan and the Eid al Adha, but now there are no more excuses.

AdventureMan has called twice, stuck in traffic. What is normally a 45 minute commute to work has gone well over an hour, stuck in the gridlock of bumper to bumper traffic, parents taking children to schools. Although some of the schools have buses, many parents still have to take their children to school, or they have their drivers take the kids to school, or they pay a taxi to take them every day.

This town needs a monorail, a good, well maintained public transportation system that can whiz us all over town and is air-conditioned. It is going to have to be fast and attractive to entice people out of their cars.

Update from today’s Peninsula:

Call for delaying school reopening
Web posted at: 10/4/2009 0:52:57
Source ::: The Peninsula

DOHA: A vast majority (78 percent) of respondents to a survey conducted by Al Sharq on the schools reopening today say they favour the move to be further put off for a week. Only 20 percent of the interviewees said they saw no need for any further delay in re-opening the schools, while two percent said they were undecided.

The daily referred the findings to educationists and some of them also agreed the schools should have been given more time to prepare themselves to deal effectively with a possible spread of swine flu.

A delay in school reopening by another week would have given some time to parents too, many of whom have returned from long overseas vacations. Said Dr Khalid Al Hindawi, an educationist: “I was in favour of delaying the school reopening by another week as that would have given the schools more time to take effective measures to prevent a possible spread of the H1N1 virus”.

But Amina Al Jaber, a Qatar University professor, said she did not agree with this view since any further delay in reopening the schools would curtail the academic year and hamper studies.

The schools had already taken effective measures to deal with the situation, so there was no need for keeping them closed to students. Khalifa Al Kuwari said he preferred a further delay as school buildings needed some modifications, especially the doors of the classrooms are too narrow so they should have been widened.

There really is little protection against any flu. The flu shots may help some, Tamiflu may help with the symptoms, but viruses mutate. Anyone who has ever worked in a school knows that colds and flu are just a part of life, and it may be a good thing to help us all gain immunity against more bugs.

What I really don’t understand is the low value placed on education by so many parents in this area. For example, many parents place little value on getting kids into their classes on time. Teachers complain that the kids don’t do their homework, and get little personal attention and encouragement from their parents to complete it, and then the parents come in and yell at the teachers for not teaching when the child gets a low grade because the homework has not been completed.

Children are kept out of school for any excuse, like “I needed her at home to watch the smaller children” or “he didn’t want to come to school.” Few children get enough sleep at night, and are consequently drowsy in the classroom. Last and not least, few of the children are instructed on classroom behavior, and when the teacher tries to instruct – and enforce – mutual respect and polite conduct, once again an angry parent shows up on the doorstep asking how he/she dare to discipline this child?

The teachers here are truly heroes.

October 4, 2009 Posted by | Community, Doha, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Living Conditions, Work Related Issues | 4 Comments

Massouma: Kuwait Women Key in Liberation

GREAT article from today’s Arab Times

Kuwaiti women played key role in liberating nation: Maasouma

GENEVA, Sept 29, (KUNA): Member of National Assembly of Kuwait Dr. Masouma AI-Mubarak said that during Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the Liberation War in 1991 the Kuwaiti women played a major role in liberating their country. Addressing the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Geneva, she stressed that the Kuwaiti women put up a remarkable resistance against occupation and struggled in every front for the safety of their country.

“It is a fact that no society can prosper when women do not contribute to its progress. It is a fact also, that we hold only a very small percentage of public offices, very few women are involved in politics and even fewer run for elected offices,” Dr. Al-Mubarak said. In her speech, “The Role of Women: Expectations and Challenges,”

Al-Mubarak said that the Kuwait Constitution does not discriminate between women and men with respect to their citizenship rights, but social customs. “Women make up more than 50 percent of the Kuwaiti population. They compose 24.5 percent of the country’s total workforce, and more than 40 percent of the Kuwaiti workforce, and about 70 percent of students at university level. More than 85 percent of the honor graduates are women,” she said. And added that Kuwaiti women hold prominent positions. However, Dr. Al-Mubarak said that one of the first obstacles faced as the first female MP was in running for in-house elections. “Another experience was in the election of the Parliamentarian committee for Women’s Affairs; all four female MPs won, in addition to three male MPs,” she said.

She explained that historically, this committee was not on the radar screen of Parliament “it only succeeeded in becoming so after the granting of women’s political rights in May 2005 where female voters became an attractive asset to those running for elections.

“One of our first decisions upon being elected into the committee was to suggest an amendment to the bylaws of the Parliament to include this committee among the roster of permanent parliamentarian committees thus cementing its importance to the nation,” said Al-Mubarak. Al-Mubarak explained that the committee is currently studying two proposals for social and civil women’s rights, and several proposals to amend discriminatory articles in several laws as: the Public Housing Law, the Civil Service Law, the Passport Law, the Labor Law, the Social Security Law, and the Immigration Law which affects the stability of families comprised of Kuwaiti wives married to non-Kuwaiti husbands.

She added that the committee also succeeded in putting women’s issues on the priority list of the Parliament which is comprised of 23 priorities for the upcoming session starting on October 27, 2009.

“The Five-Year Development Plan of Kuwait has allocated an entire program to support and develop the role of women in society and to incorporate them in the workforce, by training 19,416 women during the current Plan,” said Dr. Al-Mubarak. She stressed that until women are fully represented in local, national and international decision making bodies, their issues will not be priorities and the necessary resources will not be allocated.

September 30, 2009 Posted by | Character, Community, Cultural, Family Issues, Kuwait, Leadership, News, Political Issues, Social Issues, Women's Issues, Work Related Issues | 1 Comment

Commercial Real Estate Next Implosion

10 Cities Facing The Next Real Estate Bust
Rick Newman, U.S. News & World Report
From AOL News: Real Estate

The worst of the housing bust might finally be over, but another real estate tsunami is about to swamp many American cities. This time, it will be office buildings and retail space going vacant and facing foreclosure.

Like housing, commercial real estate goes through booms and busts, and the coming wipeout is likely to be a doozy. Commercial developers went on their own spending spree earlier this decade, racing to cash in on the hot economy with new office towers, hotel complexes, and retail projects. Banks supplied hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, often assuming that rents paid by tenants would keep going up. “The assumption was that the good times would go on forever,” says Victor Calanog, director of research for REIS, a real-estate-research firm.

If that mistaken assumption sounds familiar, so will the ramifications. Instead of going up, commercial rents have begun to plunge as companies downsize, warehouses empty, merchants go out of business, and huge retailers like Starbucks and Macy’s close underperforming stores and demand rent reductions. Office and retail vacancy rates are near record levels and going higher, and developers are about to face crunch time as billions in loans come due for repayment or refinancing over the next three years. Like homeowners who are “under water” on their mortgages, many of those developers owe more than their buildings are now worth.

The commercial crunch won’t hit consumers as directly as the housing bust, but they’ll still feel it. A resurgence in construction spending is often the springboard out of a recession, but in dozens of overbuilt areas, it won’t be. Many shopping centers could close completely. Urban development projects have been put on hold or canceled, giving blight a reprieve instead of chasing it out of town. As many as 3,000 banks may face significant losses on commercial real estate loans, according to economist Gary Shilling, which could crimp other lending and even threaten the banks’ solvency as losses start to pile up.

To determine which cities are most vulnerable, U.S. News analyzed data from REIS covering retail and office vacancy rates in the 79 biggest metro areas. At our request, REIS combined its retail and office data into a single commercial vacancy rate for each city, for several time periods. The research firm also provided its 2010 projections for each city.

To gauge the impact on each city over the coming year, we measured the difference between the commercial vacancy rate in 2008 and the projected rate in 2010. So the cities that landed on our list won’t necessarily have the highest vacancy rates next year, but they’ll experience the biggest increase over a two-year period. In most of these cities, commercial real estate woes are likely to hamper a recovery. In a few, they’ll compound a set of problems that’s already profound. Here’s where the next real estate bust is likely to hit hardest:

In Las Vegas (above), the real estate market could go from bad to worse, while Charleston (below) has been relatively stable until recently.

Las Vegas (projected commercial vacancy rate, 2010: 18.1 percent, up 6.8 percentage points from 2008). What happens in Vegas depends on the rest of the American economy, and until Americans start to feel wealthy again, travel (and gambling) budgets will remain crimped. Southern Nevada already suffers from one of the worst housing busts in the nation and a 12.3 percent unemployment rate. Vegas had a hot hand earlier this decade, which led to lots of commercial construction. But nearly one fifth of Sin City’s commercial space will stay vacant until tourists, conventioneers, and their cash start to return.

Baltimore (15.8 percent, up 6.5 points). Several large universities and proximity to recession-resistant Washington, D.C., have propped up Baltimore’s economy, but the city is still exposed to many economic strains. With the nation’s retail sector in a tailspin, shipments in and out of the Port of Baltimore have tanked, leaving acres of vacant warehouses. Other development programs have stalled as businesses have cut back on spending. Mayor Sheila Dixon has also been indicted for suspicious dealings with area developers, casting a pall over Baltimore’s business climate.

Detroit (24.8 percent, up 6.3 points). What else could go wrong in Motor City? Two of the area’s biggest employers, General Motors and Chrysler, declared bankruptcy this year, and the whole auto industry is undergoing severe cutbacks amid the biggest sales plunge in decades. So many companies have left Detroit that there’s barely a rush hour in this once bustling metropolis. If there’s any good news, it’s that prime office space is cheap: Rents have fallen eight years in a row and are likely to drop an additional 13 percent through 2010, according to REIS.

San Bernardino/Riverside, Calif. (15.9 percent, up 6.3 points). The availability of land once made Southern California’s “inland empire” a housing hotbed, with hundreds of mortgage brokers and a booming retail sector. No more. A vicious housing bust could ultimately drive home prices down 65 percent from peak values, and the unemployment rate could hit 16 percent next year. That’s knocked many of the mortgage brokers out of business and devastated the area’s ubiquitous strip malls. Even government jobs have been disappearing, thanks to California’s budget crisis.

Hartford, Conn. (20.2 percent, up 6 points). A recent survey identified Hartford as one of the first cities to bounce back from the recession, but local economists are doubtful. Many of the city’s insurance firms have slashed jobs in response to the financial meltdown. Aircraft-engine maker Pratt & Whitney may close two local plants, and the Obama administration’s push to end production of the F-22 fighter jet would hurt defense contractors in the area. With little new construction over the past year, most of the increase in vacancies is coming from businesses scaling back or shuttering their operations completely.

Dayton, Ohio (22.8 percent, up 5.9 points). After 125 years in Dayton, NCR is closing up its headquarters and moving to Georgia, taking 1,300 jobs with it and leaving more than a million square feet of office space behind. The collapse of the auto industry has also hurt the area, with several local parts suppliers dependent upon the Detroit automakers. In a survey of the 100 biggest cities, the Brookings Institution ranks Dayton near the bottom in terms of lost jobs and economic output.

New York (12 percent, up 5.9 points). Those lavish Wall Street bonuses you’ve been hearing about are going to a lot fewer bankers. The financial industry, Manhattan’s mainstay, has contracted by about 7 percent over the past year. Other industries have lost even more jobs, causing a sharp reversal in what used to be one of the world’s hottest real estate markets. Office rents skyrocketed in 2006 and 2007, when Wall Street was at its peak, but REIS expects them to fall 28 percent between 2008 and 2010. REIS’s vacancy data for New York include only office space, so the combined vacancy rate including retail space is probably higher than 12 percent.

Charleston, S.C. (16.6 percent, up 5.8 points). The antebellum charm has worn thin as this low-country mecca hopes for tourists to return and trade at its port to pick up. Several ambitious downtown hotel and redevelopment projects have stalled while developers wait for the economy to revive. Elsewhere in the state, manufacturing, retail, and construction companies have shed thousands of jobs, many of them gone for good. When not addressing his extramarital affair, Gov. Mark Sanford attempts to woo new businesses to the state.

Tacoma, Wash. (13.6 percent, up 5.8 points). Shipments are down at the city’s port, one of the nation’s biggest, which has left warehouses vacant and hammered the many area businesses that depend on trade. And many of the region’s most prominent companies, including Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, and Washington Mutual — taken over last year by JPMorgan Chase — have been laying off workers, helping push Tacoma’s unemployment rate higher than the state average.

New Haven, Conn. (17.2 percent, up 5.8 points). Education and healthcare have helped stabilize New Haven’s economy, but even Yale University has scaled back development plans and laid off workers, after its famed endowment dropped by $6 billion because of market losses. And a long-term shift away from manufacturing toward financial services and other white-collar industries has left the city exposed to the financial meltdown. That means New Haven’s recovery will probably lag the nation’s.

August 29, 2009 Posted by | Financial Issues, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Marketing, Technical Issue, Work Related Issues | 7 Comments

Translations of US Home Ads

In a housing market many feel is near the bottom, there are some good deals available. Before you go looking, you may want to take a look at this tongue-in-cheek translation of what the agents are REALLY saying in their online ads:

Homebuyer’s translator
From AOL News: Real Estate

You can read the entire article from which this is excerpted by clicking on the blue type above.

Boyd, a past president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, or NAEBA, was so amused by these codified euphemisms that he compiled a translation guide with the help of NAEBA members nationwide.

For example, he cites the commonly used term “cozy” and says the connotation to savvy Realtors is that there isn’t much space in the house.

“It triggers the Henny Youngman in us: ‘This house is so small that you have to go outside to change your mind,'” Boyd says.

Boyd says that although some of these phrases can be taken to extremes, a little hyperbole is not necessarily a bad thing for buyers.

“I would rather take the time to show a buyer an extra five houses that they don’t want because it’s too cozy or smells bad or whatever so that the buyer has a better reference on what they are getting and the compromises to make on the house they do choose,” he says.

The industry acronyms he’s more worried about these days are “BATVAI” and “IDRBNG,” which stand for “buyer’s agent to verify all information” and “information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.”

“We’re seeing more and more of those listings now,” says Boyd. “The idea is that the listing office doesn’t want to take responsibility for actually measuring the property or adequately describing it.

“Sometimes, they don’t even visit the property. They just put down the information from the assessor’s records and put it on the market and say it’s the buyer’s agent’s problem to verify it.”

They include:

* Grandma’s house: Realtors interpret this to mean a) the house hasn’t been updated since Grandma moved in or b) it still smells like Grandma.

* Great potential: The operative word here is “potential.” The “potential” in one case pointed to the fact that there was a large crack through the center of the foundation caused by an earthquake.

* Light and bright: Bring your sunglasses because everything in this baby will be white: walls, cabinets, tile. Where have you seen this before? Oh yeah, the hospital.

* Meticulously maintained: It could mean the owners never bothered to update the property. Maintenance is admirable for plumbing and HVAC, not so much for cabinets, carpets and windows.

* Mile to the beach as the seagull flies: And you’ll wish you had wings. Those straight-line calculations can mean some pesky traffic lies between you and the lifeguard shack.

* Needs TLC: You may freely substitute “OMG” for “TLC” here. Boyd says the phrase “TLC” often means the house has been abused and requires more than mere redecorating. “The average homebuyer who sees HGTV a couple times before they go looking is not sensitive to that,” he says.

* Newer furnace and AC: “Newer” has a certain “truthiness” to it. In one case, both units were 25 years old. When the listing agent was asked why she made such an audacious claim, she replied, “Because each one of them had received a new part within the last year.”

* Retro decor: It’s ’60s flashback time. Can you dig the original paisley vinyl floors and avocado appliances, man? Groovy!

* This house just had a total facelift: Loosely translated, it means the seller painted everything. But paint, like a facelift, can only hide so much.

* This house will go fast: Might have been believable in the first 30 days on the market, but not anymore. One home with this description had been on the market 247 days.

* Turnkey: Meaning they don’t want to have to haul away all that orange-and-brown-plaid-polyester-covered furniture.

* Very bright, sunny home: Often true because there’s not a tree in sight.

* Water view: Of course, you’ll need to stand on the upper deck railing and crane your neck. With binoculars. On an extremely clear day.

August 24, 2009 Posted by | Cultural, Customer Service, Financial Issues, Marketing, Shopping, Work Related Issues | 3 Comments

Not Good News: More Foreclosures in USA

U.S. home foreclosures set another record in July

Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:11am Reuters

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By Lynn Adler

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. home loans failed at a record pace in July despite ongoing federal and state programs to avoid foreclosures, which have severely strained housing and the economy.

Foreclosure activity jumped 7 percent in July from June and 32 percent from a year earlier as one in every 355 households with a loan got a foreclosure filing, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

Filings — including notices of default, auction and bank repossession — have escalated with unemployment.

“July marks the third time in the last five months where we’ve seen a new record set for foreclosure activity,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive, said in a statement.

“Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we’re seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions.”

More than 360,000 households with loans drew a foreclosure filing in July, a record dating back to January 2005, when RealtyTrac started tracking monthly activity.

Notices of default, auction or repossession have reached nearly 2.3 million in the first seven months of the year — with more than half a million bank repossessions, the Irvine, California-based company said.

Making timely payments keeps getting more harder for borrowers who have lost their jobs or seen their wages cut.

The unemployment rate is 9.4 percent and President Barack Obama has said he expects it will hit 10 percent.

Obama’s housing rescue is gaining traction in altering terms of loans for struggling borrowers, but slowly.

Earlier this month the U.S. Treasury Department detailed the progress of the top servicers in modifying loans and prodded them to step up efforts to stem foreclosures.

SUN BELT STILL SUFFERING

States where sales and prices surged most in the five-year housing boom early this decade remain hardest hit.

California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada accounted for almost 57 percent of total U.S. foreclosure activity in July.

Illinois had the fifth-highest total filings, spiking nearly 35 percent from June, in an example of how moratoriums often delay rather than cure an inevitable loan failure.

Default notices spiked by 86 percent in July, from artificially low levels the prior two months. A state law enacted on April 5 gave delinquent borrowers up to 90 extra days before foreclosure started, RealtyTrac said.

Michigan’s foreclosure activity fell 39 percent in July from June, mostly due to a 66 percent drop in scheduled auctions. A state law that took effect July 6 freezes foreclosure proceedings an extra 90 days for homeowners who commit to work on a loan modification plan.

Other states with the highest foreclosure filing totals last month included Texas, Georgia, Ohio and New Jersey.

Nevada had the highest state foreclosure rate for the 31st straight month, with one in every 56 properties getting a filing, or more than six times the national average.

Initial notices of default fell 18 percent in the month, with a new Nevada law taking effect on July 1 requiring lenders to offer mediation to homeowners facing foreclosure. Scheduled auctions and bank repossessions each jumped more than 20 percent, however, boosting overall foreclosure activity in the state by 4 percent from June.

California, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon were the other states with the highest foreclosure rates.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Things are turning around in the USA, but these foreclosures were already in the pipeline, and more are coming due principally to people borrowing more money than they could really afford, and people who have lost jobs and can no longer pay their mortgage.

Now I am going to sound like your MOTHER: Do not take an adjustable rate mortgage. Fix your credit, get a good score, and take the very best 15 or 30 year FIXED mortgage you can get, and before you buy, make sure that you figure taxes and insurance as well as the monthly mortgage and interest when figuring your monthly payment. Make sure you can still eat, and have a little left over for emergency car repairs. It is so much better to live in a house that you can afford than to lose everything you have invested in a house you can’t afford.

If you get into trouble, talk to your lender right away. Lenders do not want to foreclose; it is in their interest as well as your own to find a way to allow you to reduce payments for a while to keep the relationship on track. There is some flexibility. Negotiate.

August 13, 2009 Posted by | Family Issues, Generational, Interconnected, Living Conditions, News, Shopping, Social Issues, Statistics, Values, Work Related Issues | 9 Comments

Kuwait Thwarts Al Qaeda Plot

KUWAIT CITY (Associated Press) – Kuwaiti authorities announced Tuesday they have arrested
an al‐Qaida‐linked group that was planning to attack a key U.S. military base in the small oilrich
state. The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement that State Security detained a
“terrorist network” of six Kuwaitis who gave “detailed confessions” about plans to bomb
Camp Arifjan, the main U.S. base in the country, as well as the headquarters of the country’s
security agency, in addition to other facilities it did not name.

The statement did not provide any details. However, Kuwait’s Alrai daily quoted anonymous
security sources on Tuesday that the group had confessed to buying a truck which it
intended to load with fertilizer, chemicals and gas cylinders and ram into the camp. It was
unlikely the attack on the vast American logistics and supply facility in the desert south of
Kuwait City would have been successful due to high security.

August 12, 2009 Posted by | Crime, Experiment, Kuwait, Law and Order, Leadership, Living Conditions, Safety, Work Related Issues | 2 Comments

Saudi Women Work as Maids

Women upset as Saudis start work as maids
Web posted at: 8/4/2009 2:30:13
Source ::: The Peninsula

DOHA: Qatari women have reacted with disappointment at media reports saying that the first batch of 30 Saudi housemaids has begun work, entering an occupation which has been the domain of mostly Asian women in the oil-rich Gulf state.

According to newspaper reports, all the 30 Saudi women who have been roped in as domestic help, are aged between 20 and 45 years and none of them has a primary school certificate.

They earn salaries up to 1,500 riyals which is roughly equivalent to $400 per month, slightly more than what their Asian counterparts get. At least one newspaper quoted an official from a manpower agency saying that the 30 women have been selected after a series of interviews and intense training. And another 100 women have applied and are awaiting interviews, said another Saudi newspaper.

The manpower agency official said the demand in Saudi Arabia for local women to work as maids is going up sharply because of widespread fear in local communities that foreign women practice magic.

The Saudi Labor Ministry moved two years ago to allow local women to work as housemaids and they were to be officially known as ‘Saudi home arrangers’.

Reacting to the reports, Moza Al Malki, a prominent Qatari psychologist, told this newspaper yesterday: “It breaks my heart to know that Saudi women are venturing out to get involved in such a pursuit.”

“Imagine that this is happening at a time the GCC countries are witnessing immense economic prosperity and among these countries Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves.”

In principle, it is okay if a woman has to do a job as long as it is decent work and not in violation of Islamic tenets, she said.

“But in the end it is the job of a maid… The women will be exposed to all kinds of humiliation.” Al Malki said she hoped that the trend would be restricted to Saudi Arabia and not spill over to other GCC countries. Another Qatari woman who did not want to be identified said the development should be treated as an exception and she did not expect the trend to spill over to other GCC states.

August 4, 2009 Posted by | Financial Issues, Living Conditions, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Women's Issues, Work Related Issues | 10 Comments

Kuwait Dailies Publish ‘Imaginary Information?’

This tiny little “Kuwait Crime News” article intrigues me. Recent visitors from Kuwait told me NO WAY the religious Kuwait businessman Hazem Al-Braikan would have committed suicide, that it would mean no chance of paradise, eternal life in hell. They say he was murdered. That’s what I hear from most of my Kuwait friends. So this continuing investigation intrigues me.

From today’s Kuwait Arab Times

US summons Kuwait scribes in stock trading inquiries – report

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 1: The US authorities investigating the case of suspicious stock trading at the US stock market have reportedly summoned a number of journalists working for local dailies in Kuwait for alleged malicious reporting, reports Al-Shahid daily quoting knowledgeable security sources. However, this report could not be independently confirmed.

The dailies had reportedly published what the Al-Shahid said ‘imaginary’ information that a consortium in the United Arab Emirates and a party in Kuwait were competing to purchase a US company, sending the share prices higher by five percent.

It has also been reported some of the journalists who were involved in the scam reportedly left for their home countries and others failed because a travel ban has been issued against them by the US authorities in connection with the interrogations surrounding the death of a Kuwaiti businessman Hazem Al-Braikan.

August 3, 2009 Posted by | Bureaucracy, Character, Community, Crime, Cultural, Financial Issues, Kuwait, Law and Order, Work Related Issues | 7 Comments

Angel Wings

Every now and then, a blessing happens that is just so magnanimous, so unexpected, that I am just overwhelmed with awe at it all.

angel10

One of my sweet friends flew into Doha to help me unpack boxes. I was stuck; the room I was unpacking required lots of decisions, and I just couldn’t see my way to making them. I was just overwhelmed.

My angel friend showed up on my doorstep and whirled through the boxes, unpacking, shooing me out of the room, getting everything put away while I worked elsewhere. The room is now in order, and, as she says, I can re-order it to my liking a little piece at a time, but meanwhile, I can work in there without having a panic attack from all the boxes not unpacked.

When she had finished unpacking and putting away, she put her hand on her hips and said “That’s all??? No more boxes???” I was tempted to let her loose on AdventureMan’s room, but I resisted the temptation. LLLOOOLLL, I was so stuck, and she really rescued me.

July 9, 2009 Posted by | Community, Doha, ExPat Life, Friends & Friendship, Living Conditions, Moving, Qatar, Relationships, Spiritual, Work Related Issues | 8 Comments

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