Today's News Review

A quick look at todays news from our lovely GDN (gulf daily news) with a quick bit of commentary to follow:

- LOCAL NEWS SECTION:

Homes fraud probe vow
By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI

MANAMA: An investigation has been launched into allegations of corruption at the Muharraq Municipal Council, it emerged yesterday.

Constituents have accused council staff of swindling them out of money earmarked for a BD2.5 million housing renovation scheme.

Link to original story

Muharraq Municipal Council has lost 2.5 million that was supposed to be given to the poor. Bloody corruption everywhere. And this is just today's news. Remember the incidents with the GOSI, Gulf Air, etc etc?

So lets rethink here; wheres the 1% of my salary going? I probably wouldn't mind so much if I KNEW it was really going to the needy and unemployed, but things like this are exactly the reason no one agrees to that law!

Repatriation row over dead cyclist
By MANDEEP SINGH

THE sponsor of a Bangladeshi cyclist, who was killed in a horrific accident in Manama, is reportedly refusing to bear the cost of repatriating his body, it emerged yesterday.

Friends of 32-year-old handyman Foiz Ahmed told the GDN that the sponsor had allegedly even taken BD100 from them, because he wanted them to pay for other formalities. The sponsor is yet to resolve compensation, pending salaries (if any) and end-of-services benefits, say Bangladesh Embassy officials.

Link to original story

I really think this person should be made an example of, publicly humiliated, and forced to bear every last single fils to not only repatriate the body, but to pay the deceased's family any money that was due to him. A large number of people here take the issue of sponsoring someone for granted; they feel that they can bring them into the country, force them into slave labor, and totally ignore any responsibility when anything they didn't account for happens in the least. THEY'RE HUMAN for godsake, not cattle. You have a responsibility towards them and their family.

Come on, lets punish this guy very publicly so that every other person in this country realizes there are consequences to having responsibility towards sponsoring someone!

Fish deaths alert
By rasha al qahtani

A PROBE has been launched to discover why thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of Sitra and Sanad over the last four days.

Samples of the fish have been taken to labs for further study and a report on the problem will be ready by next week, said Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife head Anwar Al Hariri.

Link to original story

Well there you go. There's the direct result of us burying the sea, reclaiming land, wiping out fashts, and constructing things where things should not be constructed! Way to go Bahrain! Keep up the top notch environmental work!

- WORLD NEWS SECTION:

King wins Hilton's interview
LOS ANGELES: Veteran CNN newsman Larry King has won the race to secure the first post-prison interview with jailed socialite Paris Hilton, the global cable network confirmed.

Link to original story

Oh God, enough with the Paris Hilton stories already!

Nude bather held in Spain
A 22-year-old American man was arrested yesterday after an early morning naked bath in the historic Barcaccia fountain at the foot of Rome's Spanish Steps. The man stripped and bathed in the 17th century Baroque fountain in front of a crowd of tourists, before being led away by police, Italian news agency AGI news agency reported. He faces charges of committing an obscene act, it said.

Link to original story

Wahahahaaha... Now THAT'S news!

- COMMENTS SECTION:

How many of our MPs can use a computer?
By Amira Al Hussaini

IT was with bewilderment that I read reports that our esteemed MPs are drafting a request to grant themselves a laptop each.

All of a sudden our 40 elected members of parliament want to catch up with technology and have toys, which cost an average of BD600 each, at their disposal.

Link to original story

Really? Are they really getting free laptops? A few points here; these laptops are probably going to be thrown at home and used by their children to chat on MSN Messenger and check their email, since I really doubt Adel Al Maawda or most of the others have any idea on how to turn a laptop on. Secondly, don't they get enough pay that they can't afford their own laptops? Or cars for that matter, which they've also been given for free. Oh wait wait, is that where my 1% is going???

- READER LETTERS SECTION:

Wake up time

I am yet another Goan among thousands of others who wonder why Air India has started a direct flight to Mangalore and not to Goa.

The reply given by Air India Manager to Mrs D Fernandes' letter (GDN, June 18) is totally unsatisfactory. If Air India really wants to cater to the Goan community then even a flight to Goa with a stopover in Mangalore would be fruitful.

Come on Air India, wake up!

This being the peak season, and as pointed out by Mrs D Fernandes, many families with little children travel and face unnecessary inconveniences at the airports in India.

Link to original story

Umm, yeah, well, its a business decision not a "convenience" decision! I'm sure they would have organized one if they found it profitable - and they obviously don't, so you can ask for it nicely, but if you don't get it, don't get upset (Unless you and everyone else are willing to pay double the price or so for a direct flight to Goa, and my assumption is, you probably wouldn't). You know what, I want a direct flight to Los Angeles, but i'm not getting that! A short boy wants to be tall. A fat women wants to be thin! We don't all get what we want. So please, just be quiet. Good boy.

Sad but true... .

THERE are two things that will never change in Bahrain or the Middle East. People will always throw their garbage out of their car's windows. It is part of the culture. The parents do it, so the children will also do it .

People will not use their car's indicators because they are not taught to use them in the Middle East, and they are not prosecuted for not using them.

The average road user, including the traffic police in Bahrain, do not know how to use them.

Link to original story

I beg to differ... Not everyone throws garbage out of the window, although the people who do need to be publicly flogged. And no, its not part of the culture. Its part of the culture of people who haven't been taught any respect or manners by their family, and that extends to throwing garbage in the streets, not picking up your tray after eating in a restaurant, etc. Fines need to be given out, but obviously our very active Traffic Department really doesn't enforce those kind of things.

Anyway, about traffic indicators? We know how to use them! We are just to arrogant and lazy to do so, and the few centimeters we have to stretch our fingers to push the indicator left or right just takes too much effort. I'm sure we wouldn't find it as much effort if we compared it to having to wait a good hour and a half in the street under the hot sun waiting for the traffic warden to arrive after we crash into someone! USE YOUR INDICATORS PEOPLE!

Give more respect to workers

BAHRAIN is trying to fight back at the US State Department's report blacklisting the country for not doing enough to stop human trafficking.

Link to original story

Why are you fighting back! Instead of fighting the report and denying the accusations, go out there and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Just another way of running away from responsibility...


That's all for today!