The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) hosts world-wide football statistics including top goalscorers, club world rankings, top honors, best referees, etc. They are backed by FIFA.
Taking a look at Kuwait, it was surprising that there was a decent presence in the statistics. Following is a summary:
- As of July 2006, Kuwait's local football league is ranked 26 in terms of strength! Kuwait's league is 3rd from the Arabs after the Egyptian league, ranked 20, and the Algerian league, ranked 23.
- In 2002, Saad Kameel was ranked the 9th best referee in the world. Collina was first.
- In 1998, THE Jasem Al-Howaidi, of course, was the world's top-scorer in International games and continental championships with 20 goals, followed by Batistuta with 14 goals.
- In 2000, Bashar Abdullah was 5th in the world's top scorer list with 17 goals. Rivaldo was first with 21 goals.
- Faisal Al-Dakheel ranked #14 on Asia's player of the century list. Bum-Kun Cha of Korea was first. As for Asia's goalkeeper of the century list, Khaled Al-Fadhli ranked #8. Moh'd Al-Deyae of Saudi was first.
- In the current club world rankings, covering the period 1st of November, 2005 to 30th October, 2006, Al-Qadsiya was ranked #173 while Al-Arabi ranked #323. Total number of teams included exceeded 350 teams from around the world. Sevilla is currently the top team, followed by Barcelona and Liverpool.
- In 2006's world top goalscorer (current), Bader Al-Mutawa of Alqadsiya is ranked #38 with 7 goals. Crouch is top with 15 goals. These are only goals scored in full "A" Internationals and continental championships, like the Asian Cup etc.
The latest Human Development Report was launched by the UNDP in Cape Town, South Africa today. The report, based on 2004 statistics, is an important one tracking issues for all countries that provide relevant statistics. It has been issued annually since 1990. So what happened to the Human Development Index (HDI) for Kuwait? We will review all important information in the report that is relevant to Kuwait.
- The report shows that Kuwait's HDI is 0.871, putting it in the high human development category. The HDI rank of Kuwait is 33 out of 177, and the first in terms of Arab countries.
- The new HDI for Kuwait is an improvement from last year's report, when the HDI for Kuwait was 0.844, ranking it 44th.
- The Gender Development Index (GDI) is 0.864 for Kuwait, ranking it 31 out of 177.
- HDI trend for Kuwait
- 1975= 0.763
- 1980= 0.777
- 1985= 0.780
- 1990= N/A
- 1995= 0.813
- 2000= 0.837
- 2003= 0.844
- 2004=0.871
- Kuwait is one of three Arab countries that receive more than 75 percent of its water from external sources. The other two are Bahrain and Egypt.
- Further, Kuwait ranks first in terms of withdrawing water faster than it is replenished.
YES! According to Adrian White, Analytic Social Psychologist at the University of Leicester, Kuwait ranks 38 out of 178 countries. The study incorporates a number of factors to derive an index number for each country included.
Al-Rai Al-Aam published an article about new research reflecting corruption. Two American researchers conducted a study to analyze how closely unpaid parking tickets by diplomats at the United Nations reflected corruption in the country which is represnted by these diplomats. Some findings of the study (.pdf version) include:- Kuwait came in first in terms of average unpaid annual New York City parking violations per diplomat from 1997 to 2002. Each Kuwaiti diplomat was responsible for 246.2 violations per year, with the mission hosting 9 Kuwaiti diplomats in 1998. Egypt, 24 diplomats in its mission in 1998, came in second (139.6 violations per diplomat per year), followed by Chad, who hosted 2 diplomats in 1998(124.3 violations per diplomat per year).
- The list includes 146 countries, with the last 22 countries recording zero violations including Turkey, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
- It seems the researchers forgot to include the American diplomats. It would be interesting to see where the USA ranks on this list.
In an update of the Arizona case of two Kuwaiti women involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident, Maricopa County Superior Court sentenced one of the women to 18 months of supervised probation. The sentence, reached on 29th June, 2006, will be reconsidered if the defendant leaves the US by August 4th. The woman has already agreed to leave the country voluntarily, rather than go through deportation proceedings. The 20-year-old woman said she felt great, and was planning to move to England to continue her education. As for the other woman, she is still facing trial in absentia after she fled the US earlier.
After the conclusion of the Kuwaiti parliamentary elections for 2006, Kuwait2005 would like to take a second to comment on the 10th electoral circuit and Jabriya.
| Candidate | Jabriya | Adiliyah | Surra |
| Basil Al-Rashid | 1257 | 1625 | 1862 |
| Jamal Al-Omar | 2305 | 1132 | 1398 |
| Hamad Al-Tuwaijri | 1819 | 844 | 760 |
| Saleh Al-Fathala | 1112
| 1920 | 2197 |
The table clearly demonstrates that without Adiliya, where Jamal took 17.74 % of the votes, and Surra, where he took 18.56 % of the votes, Jamal Al-Omar would not have made it into parliament. Therefore, for the "orange people" I say, stop targeting an area, just because government will let you. Al-Naibari stated recently that around 13 members of parliament reached it through money. Why is Jabriya targeted by this campaign? Why did the "orange people" not show up in Khaitan or Bayan or Khaldiya? Again, because Jabriya is a soft target, and because the people behind these theatrics do not have the balls to do so. Good for you people of Jabriya, for you are least responsible for the likes of Fathala. Just a note on this good Friday :)
Welcome to the Kuwaiti elections. In less than 24 hours, life will go back to normal, after all the hoopla ends. We will wake up in a country where there is no corruption, where people respect themselves, others and the law, and where people's rights are respected and protected. We will find that corrupt candidates did not win, and the new ministers will be qualified individuals. Finally, we will realize that we are living a blast from the past.
On 02-08-1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. It was a thursday dubbed as "black thursday." Welcome to yet another "black thursday." Peace.
Parliamentary sources confirmed today that Kuwait's parliament will be dissolved and new elections will be held on the 22nd of June, 2006.
I read in Al-Rai Al-Aam an article about Kuwait being ranked 1st Arab-wise, and 85th in the world, in terms of press freedoms. You can access all 153 pages of the Reporters Without Borders 2006 Report here.Following are the two references to Kuwait in the report: - "In Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s Equatorial Guinea no excuses need to be given for the desert for freedoms that the government runs. No-one talks about freedom of the press to the head of “Africa’s Kuwait”. - Never knew a Kuwait existed in Africa. Interesting twist! Quoted from page 4.
- The second reference is a map showing Kuwait on page 134.
- The ranking comes from the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Kuwait ranks 85 out of 167 countries. Last place went to North Korea. To put it in context, in the same Index for 2004 Kuwait ranked 103. In 2003 Kuwait ranked 102, and in 2002, Kuwait ranked 78. Therefore, Al-Rai Al-Aam is boasting about a good rank being 1st in Arab countries etc, yet it fails to state that this is a failure compared to 2002 when Kuwait was ranked 78. Kuwait went backwards for 2003 and 2004, and is rebounding. No big deal really.
You might have come across this in the newspapers today. Click here for the complete International Intellectual Property Alliance 2006 Special 301 Report's (.pdf) section on Kuwait. You can also access the table of contents here.
Ladies and Gentlemen,Kuwait2005 is glad to announce the resumption of transmission.If you read Sunday's newspapers in Kuwait, you might have read about Al Rai Al Aam's Editor-in-Chief Jassim Boodai legal troubles. So what did he actually say? To find out, take a look at the video yourself, posted by q8direct-blogspot.com last February. The actual footage was aired first on C-Span 2 on 20-01-2006. It is must-see-tv. Some people thrive on controversy and want to appear as the champions of civil rights and liberties. However, many of these people fail miserably in the end.
- Jassim Boodai responds in his newspaper
- News of Boodai's legal troubles
- AlShaeb's originally published article about Boodai which got its Editor-in-Chief Hamid Buyabis into legal trouble
Dear Visitors,
Due to time-constraints and a large number of responsibilities, this blog will cease publishing for the time being. Publishing will resume sometime in future. Thank you for visiting.
