October 2006
Monthly Archive
Tue 31 Oct 2006
Mon 30 Oct 2006
الجو اليوم ممتاز و هو الجو المفضل عندي
مال قهوة و مطر خفييييف
و شكرا
Sun 29 Oct 2006
بمناسبة افتتاح كريسبي كريم و الضجة الإعلامية الضخمة اللي صارت … عجبتني الصفحة الأولى من جريدة القبس
صدفة؟
Sat 28 Oct 2006
I recieved this link by email twice so far, so I’m sure many of you already have seen this too…but if not, its worth a look -
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Ticketing corruption
Fri, 07/07/2006 - 4:57pm.
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 acummulate in NYC and refuse to pay is a great measure of how corrupt their home countries are.
| Corruption rank | Country | Violations per diplomat |
| 1 | Kuwait | 246.2 |
| 2 | Egypt | 139.6 |
| 3 | Chad | 124.3 |
| 4 | Sudan | 119.1 |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 117.5 |
| 6 | Mozambique | 110.7 |
| 7 | Albania | 84.5 |
| 8 | Angola | 81.7 |
| 9 | Senegal | 79.2 |
| 10 | Pakistan | 69.4 |
The paper ranks country corruption according to the number of parking violations per country diplomat, and finds that the results match up remarkably well with findings from rough survey-based estimates on the topic. Who are the worst violators? Kuwait blew away the competition with a whopping average of 246 unpaid parking tickets per diplomat over a 5 year period. Diplomats from countries famed for their good political behavior like Canada, Sweden, and Norway didn’t have any unpaid tickets. And countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America - regions widely accused of corruption - all had countries at both the top and bottom of the ranking. Some of the surprises? Colombian and Ugandan diplomats paid up almost all their tickets, while the Italians are overdue on about 15 unpaid tickets per diplomat.
The study also finds that officials from countries that have unfavorable views of the US tend to commit more violations. Apparently, when placed in a “zero legal enforcement” scenario, foreign diplomats in New York start behaving like they would at home:
Diplomatic immunity means there was essentially zero legal enforcement of diplomatic parking violations, allowing us to examine the role of cultural norms alone. This generates a revealed preference measure of corruption based on real-world behavior for government officials all acting in the same setting. We find tremendous persistence in corruption norms: diplomats from high corruption countries (based on existing survey-based indices) have significantly more parking violations.
UN diplomats as a whole owe New York City over $18 million in unpaid parking fines - and they’re complaining about the city’s efforts to crackdown on these violations. Said Brazil’s Jose Selicio a few years ago:
Diplomatic immunity, Mr. Chairman, is like virginity. Either you have it or you have not. I have not seen a half-virgin.
Was he worried about paying up or preserving internationalism? Likely the former. Brazil ranks 29th in the world corruption ranking, with about 30 unpaid tickets per diplomat.
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Look at the difference between Kuwait and 2nd place Egypt, almost DOUBLE the violations!
At least we’re consistent, in Kuwait and out of Kuwait! :/
Tue 24 Oct 2006
Happy belated Eid everyone!
Kil 3am o intaw ib khair inshalla 
Excuse the delay but I am currently traveling and trying to avoid internet for relaxation purposes….will be back by the end of the week inshalla!
Just popped in to say Happy Eid o thanks for all the excellent comments and feedback on the my previous YouTube post!
Thu 19 Oct 2006
After my first attempt at creating a video for YouTube last month, I spent a bit more time on a this second one.
This is my second try at a video, pretty much the same idea, but this time its Firqat Um Figure Stick and not Bin Figure Stick!
Wed 18 Oct 2006
Good proof that people will buy anything if it is presented in the right way -
lol!
Any suggestions for Kuwaiti products?
Tue 17 Oct 2006
From AlQabas -
الطلبة ما يداومون … شنو الحل؟
نلغي الامتحانات ولا يزعلون حبايبنا … لا و نسوي واجباتهم بعد
رقم التلفون موجود للي يبي يحاسب … أكيد ما في حيا من هالاشياء -
قال من امرك قال من نهاني
Mon 16 Oct 2006
قمة العفسة! شيصيرون حق بعض؟
This from the BBC -
Woman gives birth to grandchild
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Countries have different attitudes to surrogacy |
A Japanese woman in her 50s gave birth to her own grandchild last year, using an egg from her daughter and sperm from her son-in-law, a doctor has revealed. It was the first time a woman has acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter in Japan, local media reported.
The case is set to stir debate in Japan where surrogate births are opposed by the government and a key medical group.
Japan’s justice ministry also views the woman who gives birth as a child’s mother - not the biological mother.
This legal position has led a Japanese celebrity couple to go to the courts to try to win the right to register twins born to a surrogate mother as their own children. Their case is continuing.
Adopted
Yahiro Netsu, the head of the Suwa maternity clinic in Nagano, told a news conference that the woman gave birth last year, Reuters reported.
She had agreed to in vitro fertilisation and to act as a surrogate mother because her daughter had had her uterus removed due to cancer and was therefore unable to bear children.
Both the mother and child were reported to be in good health.
Dr Netsu said the woman had first registered the baby as her own and then the child was adopted by her daughter and son-in-law.
The doctor, who has helped other couples to have children through surrogate mothers, called on the government and the medical authorities to review their stance against surrogacy.
Surrogate births involve removing an egg to be fertilised and then implanting it in another woman who carries the baby to birth.
Sat 14 Oct 2006
These are the results of the poll yesterday …
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36%
The results are very interesting in my opinion! I would love to know why people picked whatever company they did.
NBK 36%, MTC 32%, PWC 13% …. Wataniya last place with 2%!
What does this say about these companies??
Personally, I voted for MTC, and Im surprised NBK was in first place. It is a great company no doubt, but in terms of international presence, there is no comparison between NBK and MTC. MTC has millions of more customers all over the world, especially after their purchase of Celtel in Africa, where a huge market comes with the acquisition, Nigeria alone has a population more than all other countries they operate in!
I think they have made a wonderful name for themselves and for Kuwait, taking the company from a small local mobile company to a worldwide telecom giant in the making!
NBK has been wonderful for many years and continues its excellence in grabbing many honors in the banking field in the region. They have established a standard that is very high and difficult to imitate and have made a name for themselves in the 50 years they have been in business. My only reason to prefer MTC in this poll is that NBK is still very very small compared to all major players in the banking business worldwide, while MTC is moving up quickly and aggressively!
Speaking of aggressive, no company has been as aggressive in the growth and acquisitions in recent years as PWC has! They got alot of money from their US Army contracts, and have used this money in trying to grow and diversify, which shows great long term vision, planning for when these US contracts are over, which does not seem to be anytime soon, especially that PWC has been helping US defense logistics worldwide, and not only locally. The company has grown in a very short time to become a leading logistics company! It was actually the 7th largest logistics company in the world recently! So alot of respect goes to them and Im glad people appreciate that.
I think NBK getting more votes than MTC is down to their image. They promote themselves as a leader in the region, while MTC assumes that people know that since they have licenses outside Kuwait, which could be true, but alot more work should be done to reinforce the message that MTC is going global and is something that Kuwaitis should be proud of!
Wataniya on the other hand lie in last place, deservedly so. Wataniya is a very good company with very bad communication! They do not have a specific message or even an identity that they try to reinforce. Every year you see a while new look or identity for the company, even throughout the year, you see so many ads for the company, but most have nothing to do wth each other!! Also, the company is most definitely missing out on the whole Kuwaiti company aspect of their work.
Other than the messages that these companies try to send to people about themselves, I think the effort that MTC and NBK have done in recent years in their charity and community work helps their image alot as a good neighbor type of company, something to be proud of! The hospitals that the two companies built is just an example of what a company should do to be part of society!
One thing is for sure from this poll, these numbers are not random and there is a reason why the results came as they did!
