Forbes magazine recently released its list of the 100 Most Powerful Women, headed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Two Arab women made the list, with one being Saudi's Lubna Olayan at #97, and the other from Jordan at #80.On the homefront, Forbes released a parallel list of Middle Eastern Women to Watch that featured former Kuwait University President Dr. Faiza Al-Khorafi, Head of Corporate Banking at NBK Shaikha Al-Bahar, and Founder, Vice Chair and Managing Director of Global Investment House Maha Al-Ghunaim.
Local media have recently picked up on the results of Phase I of Harvard's study on the public health impact of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Basically, results showed that individuals who stayed in Kuwait during the ordeal are much more likely to suffer in terms of health. For more detailed results in English, CLICK HERE. For a brief summary in Arabic (PDF), CLICK HERE. The poor local media are focusing on whether the study intruded on privacy rights of patients, instead of examining the results, and elaborating on them. How typical!Note: The study was conducted after the Kuwaiti government solicited the services of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) three years ago.Note II: My brother was chosen as a sample in the study, and we were visited at home by representatives of HSPH (a man and a woman who were both Egyptian) who asked him to sign participation documents. However, they never showed up again! Maybe they realized that Kuwait was not the perfect place for research incorporating house-visits!And please, keep the conspiracy theories at bay! This is not yet another Western conspiracy against Islam. It is merly a study that Kuwait will shove in the face of the UN to get compensation for environmental and health damages that resulted from the invasion of 1990.
Torched oil wells in Kuwait
In other news, the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released today showed Kuwait improving one position to 55th overall! This puts us ahead of the likes of China, Australia, Oman, Latvia, Wales, Algeria, and Scotland! Kuwait's next World Cup Qualifying opponent Uzbekistan also jumped one position to 53rd overall. Brazil retained its top spot.
FIFA: Kuwait improved from June 5th to July 5th despite June 8th quadruple by South Korea!
Finally, Kuwait Football Assoiation hired Romanian Mihai Stoichita to coach its national football (soccer) team. The one year deal is believed to be worth between $300, 000 and $460, 000. Stoichita's first task is to earn one point from the away match at Uzbekistan to qualify for a two-legged play-off against Bahrain in the World Cup Qualifiers. The winner of that play-off shall then play another two-legged play-off against the 4th ranked team from the CONCACAF region (currently Guatemala with 5 matches to go), and the winner qualifies to the World Cup Finals in 2006. Stoichita's faces a tough uphill climb as Uzbekistan has not lost at home in World Cup Qualifying matches since February of 2004. Kuwait ranks 56th in the current FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, while Uzbekistan ranks 54th.
