Kuwait Politics Database

Nebras E-zine interviewed Dr. Michael Herb from Georgia State University and highlighted his Kuwait Politics Database. It is a very interesting political breakdown of the Kuwaiti elections, and the politicians involved. Data is broken down by districts, sessions, candidates, and more. Further, you will find background information about politicians including members of parliament, ministers, and members of the ruling family. A very useful database indeed!

Random News Update

• LeadDog recently released new geospatial technology featuring the streets of Kuwait City.
• ESPN2 will air a documentary called "Operation Hardwood" chronicling Michigan State's basketball coach Tom Izzo to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. It is scheduled for Saturday, November 19, at 4 pm US Eastern Standard Time.
• Rigzone is looking for a pipeline design engineer for "long term residential conracts based in Kuwait."
• In its September/October 2005 issue, Foreign Affairs published an article titled "Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?" featuring survey data on several countries including Kuwait. The survey data was obtained from the 2003 Pew Global Attitudes Project.

Bird Flu Detected in Kuwait

The BBC confirmed today that two cases of avian (bird) flu were detected in Kuwait. These are the first detections in the region. The infected birds were culled last week.

Religious Freedoms Report & Kuwait

Al-Watan newspaper published an article about the International Religious Freedom Report 2005, released on the 8th of November. After a quick search, the English version of the report was found. The section related to Kuwait can be found here.
Highlights of the section related to Kuwait include:

• There was some improvement in the status of respect for religious freedom during the reporting period.
• Religious Demographics note: It is unknown what the process was in calculating this.
• A private company, the Book House Company Ltd., is permitted to import a significant number of Bibles and other Christian religious materials, including videotapes and compact discs, for use solely by the congregations of the country's recognized churches.
• Women continue to experience legal and social discrimination.
• During the reporting period, there were no reports of the Government prohibiting state employees from displaying or practicing any elements of their faith. However, in late 2003, the headmistress of a public high school in Farwaniya district reportedly dismissed several female students for failure to wear the Islamic hijab (headscarf). The school readmitted the students and the headmistress was criticized widely in the local media.
• The Ministry of Interior, General Customs Department, arrested and deported 32 individuals in 2004 for allegedly practicing sorcery and confiscated alleged sorcery-related materials during the reporting period.
• While some discrimination based on religion reportedly occurs on a personal level, most observers agree that it is not widespread.
• The liberation of Iraq's Shi'a majority has increased the assertiveness of Shi'a in the country, who achieved some important gains against institutionalized discrimination during the reporting period. Some hardline Sunni Islamist extremists became more outwardly hostile toward Shi'a religious practices and distributed virulently anti-Shi'a leaflets outside Sunni mosques during the reporting period. To prevent an escalation in sectarian tensions and demonstrate the Government's commitment to religious freedom, the Prime Minister met separately with the various religious and political groups during the year to promote religious tolerance and combat extremism.

Arizona Trial Update

The attorney for one of the females involved in the fatal hit-and-run accident in Arizona claimed discrimination against his client because of her Arab descent. That claim came after the county attorney requested that her passport be held by the court.
Three Initial Pretrial Conferences are scheduled for 11/10 and 11/14.