Kuwait: Sheyaab blast from the past
Many talented Kuwaitis take the initiative to come up with something new, which is evident after three Kuwaiti students formed a performing band called ‘Sheyaab’. The special thing about this band is that they appear as elderly men imitating the behavior, moves and dialects of really old people. Their perfectly done makeup and costumes are very convincing and help people relate to them easily. The members of this band have a special way of expressing themselves even during interviews. They refuse to reveal any real information about themselves and represent the characters they play throughout.
Each of them has a special nickname – Romeo, Mirshiego, and Alijandro. They play various musical instruments, sing and even dance. “We formed our band 200 years ago, while we were studying in the United Kingdom, during a horse race. When we met, we felt that our souls, hearts, cultures and hobbies are similar and decided to establish a band. We loved this idea and think that we can spread our feelings and energy through our band’s performance,” Romeo told Kuwait Times. A clip they posted on YouTube of their participation in Arabs Got Talent got more than 4,873,000 hits in just three weeks. In this competition, they passed the first round of the audition with four ‘Yes’ votes from the judges and moved to the second round where they received the highest number of text message votes from fans. ...
Kuwaiti Times
UK: Art theft second to drug crime in UK
Organised criminal gangs are increasingly targeting valuable works of art and antiques in the UK, according to senior police officers.
Figures suggest these thefts total more than £300m a year, second only to the proceeds of crime from drug dealing.
Detectives say the gangs are prepared to use extreme violence to get what they want during the robberies. ...
BBC
Somalia: Somalia’s Shabaab militants ban residents from using smartphones
Al Shabaab militants have banned residents from using smartphones in Lower Shabelle, a region south of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
Residents who declined to be named for security reasons say that no person from the general public is allowed to use smartphones.
“Use of iPhones and Samsung Galaxy is strictly prohibited,” one resident said. ...
Daily Nation
Switzerland: Swiss to take on exec pay at the polls
How much more should a company boss earn than the person who empties his wastebin? The issue is being hotly debated in Switzerland ahead of a popular vote seeking to dramatically rein in executive salaries.
On November 24th, the Swiss head to the polls to determine whether it should be illegal for the highest wage-earner in a company to take home drastically more in a month than the lowest-paid employee makes in a year.
The radical proposal has been dubbed 1:12 after the ratio it seeks to set between the highest and lowest salaries in a company. ...
The Local
Germany: Interview with a Phantom: Cornelius Gurlitt Shares the Secrets of His Pictures
Cornelius Gurlitt hoarded art treasures his father obtained under dubious circumstances in the Nazi era. The reclusive 80-year-old has given SPIEGEL the first interview since news of their discovery broke two weeks ago. He says the pictures are the love of his life and must be returned.
No one had ever seen Cornelius Gurlitt in his nightshirt before, until a day in February 2012, when they broke the lock and marched in -- the strangers, as he calls them -- the customs investigators and officials with the Augsburg public prosecutor’s office.
His apartment was his world. But now these strangers had entered. There were many of them, perhaps 30, and they didn’t go away. Instead, they spent four days wrapping up his life in blankets, packing it into cardboard boxes and carrying it away -- well over 1,000 works of art. ...
Der Spiegel
Indonesia: Life according to pop novels
They are casual, familiar and as sweet as cotton candy. Pop novels are the laid-back, stress-free weekend nibbles to whet many readers’ appetites.
As about a third of the country’s population are young and active and live in cities, the novel genre — mostly portraying women, romance and urban life — has a solid standing with almost a decade in presence.
Starting with the adoption of chick lit and young adult novels from the US and UK, it has developed into urban contemporary novels, which delve into urban lifestyles and attract more male readers.
Nanien Yuniar, is in her twenties, single and lives in Jakarta, fancies novels that tell about uptown socialites. ...
Jakarta Post
Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka praises Key, gifts elephant
Prime Minister John key appears to have won over his Sri Lankan hosts during this weekend’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and New Zealand is being rewarded - with an elephant.
The unusual gift is being signalled as a symbol of the two countries friendship.
Colombo Page
*Image of executive via Shutterstock
