Two items dominated the Kuwaiti blogosphere this week. The first is tropical cyclone Gonu [1], which hit nearby Oman leaving around 50 people dead in its trail and bringing the oil and gas industry to a standstill. The second
Gonu Hits Oman
Zdistric [2] gives us general information about Gonu.
This is what's taking place of the Indian Ocean and the route its taking its going to hit Oman hard on Thursday, then it will head into the Gulf crossing into Iran. The winds are in excess of 260 KPH (160 MPH) and it is the most powerful hurricane to hit this region since 1945.
Q at Kuwaitisim [3] talks about its path.
Everyone has heard about the cyclone by now that is just reaching Oman and is expected to move north towards the Eastern provinces of Saudi and then maybe Kuwait. (Al Jazeera says its heading north towards Iran avoiding the Gulf, but nowhere else does it say that yet). Gonu is now a category 5 hurricane, which the strongest kind of storm.
Hugs from Kuwait [4] complains about the coverage.
Now you would think that CNN and BBC would be covering this right? Well, they are not. I have been checking the news stations since last night and nothing. It really makes me angry. They will show footage about their own Hurricanes in the USA non-stop for months on end (Hurricane Katrina is STILL in the news!) but when a freakin’ cyclone which is more deadly than a Hurricane rolls into our neck of the woods, it is a total white wash.
Fury Over Newspaper Article
CyberRowdy [5] alerts us to an article [6] which appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper – explaining that the writer may have gone “a bit too much.”
Reading this article, anyone will get the impression that Kuwait is such a bad place to live and work. Some of the facts given in the article are true to an extent, but others are exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Some of the points made me laugh….
After people e-mailed the newspaper, the article was removed from the site and its author responded to people's accusations, which prompted another blogger to respond.
K The Kuwaiti [7] responded to a replay by the author of that article after it was pulled from the newspaper's site.
The Kuwait Times has decided to pull the article from their website, perhaps the editor decided to actually read it this time around. Mona Al-Fuzai has written a reply in the Kuwait Times to the criticism online. I felt the need to respond to certain parts of her reply, as there are various things I disagree with (in addition to the various inconsistencies).
Other Items of Interest in Kuwait
Exzombie [8] brings to our attention an upcoming event from the Japanese Embassy in kuwait.
Embassy of Japan in the State of Kuwait will hold the First Japanese Speech Contest in Kuwait in coordinattion with Center for Community Service and Continuing Education, Kuwait University.
Kuwait students who study Japanese language in the centre (will) deliver their speeches in Japanese.
We hope that you come to cheer them up if you have a time
Maze at Maze of Thoughts [9] comes to the rescue and clears some misconceptions about what is happening with bank loans in Kuwait.
As many of you know that I work in a bank. These days the only question I hear from clients “Are they going to drop the interest on the loans?” ” I heard that insurance on the loans is being refunded to clients as per central bank decision”…I'm actually fed up with these questions because what happens is they sit in diwaniyas and hear or misunderstand what's written in newspapers or what friends tell them.
Forzaq8 comments on a Times article about what an average Kuwaiti family eats in a week. [10]
This is totally random information. Most of the people reading blogs in Kuwait have heard about (the) Times Photo essay “What the World Eats.” One of the pictures was for a Kuwaiti family.