In the News Now

Checking out http://www.arabtimesonline.com/ is always good for a chuckle.

Ever wonder why http://www.arabtimes.com/ is blocked in Kuwait? There is a method aroung these tedious filters, and it is simply known as 3rd party browsers, where you basically surf the web through another website, which has a bounced IP address making you appear to be surfing from another country.

Long story short, http://www.arabtimes.com/ is a blog of arabic controversial news.

Getting back on track, what do we have this week in Kuwait?

Ghosts. For those who grew up in Kuwait, the most famous haunted house was the blue-&-white villa that stood on the fourth ring road, where the huge new hotel/ mall is now being built and near completion. I guess this means, if ghost stories are true, that the building will also be haunted.
This story however, seems to have a few holes in it:

KUWAIT CITY, July 4: Kuwaiti Mansour Al-Ajmi who claims his house in a suburb of Fahd Al-Ahmad is haunted has appealed to HH the Prime Minister and the State Minister for Housing Affairs to allot him and his family a house in another area, reports Al-Dar daily.



Al-Ajmi claims his family can hear the weeping of children and either at 5:00 am or 5:00 pm some part of the house catches fire.


He went on to say with the help of his children he prepares buckets of water to put out the fire although he does not know which part of the house will go up in flames. Al-Ajmi added he was advised to play verses from the Holy Quran but the cassette player caught fire when the verses were being played.


He added when firemen were called to put out the fire, they too heard cries of children and they thought there were more children in addition to his five children.


Firemen and personnel from the Criminal Evidences Department have failed to identify the cause of the fire.


Al-Ajmi says he now lives in a rented house in Oqaila and pays KD 800 a month.

If it weren't for the first and last paragraphs, I might believe this story. First, the man is asking for a new house in a new area, and then states his rent. You can easily get a decent place for half the amount he is spending. Somehing fishy is going on.

Story number 2, apparently, wastah (arabic word for nepotism or favoritism) is a 2-way street, as a police office found out:

KUWAIT CITY, July 5: In a strange incident an unidentified Syrian man who was in custody of the State Security police is said to have filed a complaint against a policeman one month after his release, reports Al-Shahed daily.



It looks like the Syrian is influential enough to carry out his threat of getting the policeman terminated from his job.


According to police sources the concerned policeman had earlier filed a complaint against the Syrian for humiliating him and speaking ill of HH the Amir when the policeman issued him a traffic citation.


The Syrian was referred to the State Security and so many people reportedly intervened to force the policeman to drop the complaint.


The policeman was shocked when an unidentified police station summoned him for interrogation based on a complaint filed by the Syrian.

Miscarriage of Justice, or Rightful Revenge? You be the Judge. What is it with media in Kuwait always stating the person's nationality? It only serves to further the stereotyping of crimes by nationalities. You protect the person's name, but tarnish the reputation of their entire populace, smart move.
 
Story number 3: Smugglers smuggling... Uniforms?
Customs officers at Doha Port foiled a Kuwaiti woman and Iranian sailor’s attempt to smuggle military uniforms, reports Al-Anba daily.



An informed security source said supervisor of the port grew suspicious when he saw the woman handing over a bag to Iranian captain of a dhow berthed in the port.


The supervisor searched the bag and found 11 military uniforms used by the Kuwaiti army, 3 pairs of boots, 3 belts and 9 berets.


The woman and the Iranian have been referred to the State Security Department and during interrogations, the woman admitted that she have sent such clothes to Iran more than once.


Probably the saddest and most disgusting piece of news one can read in the newspaper is the abduction of women and their subsequent sale into prostitution rings. Is it really that easy? You simply spy a woman, a maid in most common cases, conspire to abduct her, and easily find someone willing to pay the going rate to have her imprisoned in a brothel somewhere?
Some people do not fully comprehend the issue, they believe these women, out of desperation or seeking to escape their "moazebs" (Kuwaiti term for employer, which literally translates to "tormentor" in Arabic) opt for this life. They do not know that these women are pinched off the streets as easily as one hails a taxi, and are whisked to a life of crime and vice.
 
2 Bangladeshis arrested for abducting, raping woman in bus


KUWAIT CITY, May 8: Police arrested two Bangladeshi men in their 30s for kidnapping and raping an Asian woman, reports Al-Anba daily.


A police source said the two kidnappers were traveling in a mini bus and were stopped at a police check point in Hawalli. While checking the identification documents of the Bangladeshis, police heard groans from inside the vehicle and on checking, found the woman tied with a rope and her mouth gagged with a plaster.


The woman said she was kidnapped while she was walking along a road in Salmiya and that one of the Bangladeshis raped her in the bus.


During interrogation, the kidnappers said they planned to sell the victim to a pimp.

Last but not least, looks can be deceiving, never fall for a pitch, even if it is from a handicapped person.
 
Handicapped man cheats bedoun of KD 3,000 in fake ‘house rent’ deal
Police are looking for a handicapped Kuwaiti man for cheating a bedoun to the tune of KD 3,000, reports Arrouiah daily.



According to a complaint filed with the police, the bedoun said he read an advertisement in a newspaper ‘A house for rent’ in Sa’ad Al-Abdullah City. He added he felt the rent was cheap and contacted the owner.


The owner took him to the house which was still being furnished. However, he convinced the bedoun that it will be ready in a month and said he should pay six months rent in advance.


The bedoun agreed. The man paid the rent in advance and when he went to the house after a month he discovered he had been cheated because it turned out the house belongs to someone else.

See? In this story, it is painting bedouns to be "slow". This article is old, but it does serve as a caution, seeing as how the house was advertised for rent in a newspaper.
 
Better safe than sorry!