Kuwait: Fake reality shows
… Why aren’t there any reality shows in Kuwait? A colleague said “The real reason is the conservative traditional culture which will get exploited due to exposure to these staged misleading and extra emotional drama featured on these reality television shows”.
They present “reality” in ways both implicit and deceptive or even fraudulent, with misleading editing and participants being trained in what to say or how to behave instead of actual reality. When the same question was asked on an online forum, one of the individuals answered “Reality television is non-existent in Kuwait because people are afraid that it might degenerate the culture of the future youth.
It negatively impacts the viewers of the new generation as limited “reality” is present and it is scripted and edited only for entertainment purposes.”
According to a different opinion expressed on the forum, “We do not have reality shows because we lack evolved audiences who are ardent TV consumers.” …
Kuwait Times
Finland: Food business goes underground with “pop-down” restaurant
Every few months Finland’s amateur restaurateurs get into the food business with so-called “pop-up” restaurants. One restaurant owner decided to try the flip side of the trend – by setting up a “pop-down” eatery.
A temporary restaurant opened its doors to denizens of the underground Friday at the Tytyri limestone mine in Lohja, southwest Finland.
Running a restaurant – let alone the subterranean version – is no easy task. Moreover, due its location in a mining facility more than 100 metres below the surface, there was no sign of fire in the underground restaurant Muru.
Additionally, a lorry trying to deliver boxes of wine could not dock its payload because it was too large to fit in the mine’s access tunnel. The entire load had to be carried by hand the last several metres into the restaurant. …
Uutiset
Canada: Jewish sect says exodus from Quebec tied to clash with education authorities
MONTREAL—It was a radical move by a sect of orthodox Jews that has been branded the Jewish Taliban for its strict interpretation of the faith.
Under the Monday morning moonlight, at about 1 a.m., 40 families numbering nearly 200 people boarded a convoy of buses to flee their homes and what they considered the imminent threat of Quebec’s child protection authorities.
The exodus of the Lev Tahor (“Pure Heart”) community led them west along Highway 401 to salvation in Chatham-Kent. It may not be the promised land — most families are lodged in two dozen rooms at the local Super 8 motel — but the southwestern Ontario town of 108,000 is now home.
Nacham Helbrans, the son of Shlomo Helbrans, the group’s leader and a self-proclaimed rabbi, told the Star they were forced out of Quebec over a clash with education authorities regarding the secular curriculum they were being ordered to teach their home-schooled children. …
Toronto Star
Nigeria: Man Offers to Sell Son for N10m
A man who intended to sell his child for N10 million [$60,000] has been jailed for five years by a Chief Magistrate Court in Minna.
The accused, 30-year-old, Isah Aliyu contacted one Magaji Atiku with the intention of selling his nine-year-old son for N10 million.
He attributed the reason why he wanted to sell the child to the biting level of his poverty …
Daily Times
South Africa: You know you’re South African when….
Trending on Twitter on Thursday, the hashtag “You know you’re South African when” got lots of people talking about all the weird and funny characteristics that means you come from Mzansi.
Some points raised were….
The love of standing around a fire cooking some meat over smoky, hot coals. … The high cost of data and Internet in the country. … The mouthful that is the South African anthem which many artists have botched. …
eNCA
St Eustatius: Awkward moment at royal opening of slavery exhibition
The opening of the exhibition ‘Days of Slavery on St Eustatius’ by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in the Museum of the St Eustatius Historical Foundation (SEHF) was marked by an awkward as a result of a last-minute change by the island governor’s cabinet of the agreed and approved script and program of the king’s interaction at the museum.
The slavery past of the island is obviously still a sensitive subject. From the start, the island governor (appointed by the Dutch government in The Hague) was opposed to the inclusion of the exhibition in the program of the Royal visit to the island. However, it remained included. The island governor then tried to get the opening act by the king removed from the official program of the visit. That also failed. Finally, this opening act was blocked minutes before the arrival of the Dutch royal couple, leaving the king and queen in an awkward situation. …
Caribbean News Now
Australia: Keeping up with the Abbotts in Forestville
Whatever else he may achieve in his term as Prime Minister, Tony Abbott has succeeded in one respect – putting Forestville on the map. …
The pace is slow in this tree-lined neighbourhood by the bush. There is no through traffic. Cats sun themselves on the road. Children cycle by the security truck outside the Abbotts’ home, where Australian Federal Police officers keep watch.
It is business as usual for residents, though one wonders whether the police ”take your number plate down every time you drive past”. Neighbour Lisa Mesman said the round-the-clock security detail has ”added a bit of flair” to the quiet street.
”Every day it’s like the changing of the guard,” she said. ”When he comes and goes there are the men in black – suits and dark sunnies with little wires in their ears. There’s constantly police there, so we don’t have to lock up.”
Long-term resident Vanessa said the police presence made the neighbourhood more secure. …
Sydney Morning Herald
*Image of mine in Finland via Shutterstock
