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Min 8º Max 29º FREE www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 16791- Friday, February 19, 2016 Kuwait media 34 candidates Zidane keeps delegation battle for one cool as Real meets Sisi, seat in Kuwait Madrid tours Egypt5 by-election9 march47 on Kuwait ship ‘graveyard’ See Pages 6 & 7 Local FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 Local Spotlight Photo of the day $1m spent on chocolate daily By Muna Al-Fuzai [email protected] early $1 million is spent on chocolate in Kuwait every day! This is what recent statistics on the Nstate’s growing chocolate market have shown. I found this report published in the Kuwait Times recently very interesting. After all, who can say ‘no’ to a piece of chocolate, especially of famous brands. Sixty companies in Kuwait specialize in selling Swiss, Belgian, Italian and other kinds of chocolate. Kuwaitis are known for their passion for chocolate and you can hardly enter a house or an office in the government or the private sector that is chocolate- free! I guess the high purchasing power of people and the selective taste of Kuwaitis makes this report not a complete surprise. In 2015, chocolate worth KD 47 million was import- ed. Adding profits and the price of finished products, KUWAIT: Photo shows a collection of old traditional Arabic coffee pots, called ‘dallah’. — Kuna/Ghazi Qafaf sales add up to more than KD 100 million, with a growth rate of 10 percent. Such figures show that even though Kuwait is a small market, it is very demanding. This figure is huge and says much about the con- In my sumers, their eating habits and possibly their percep- view tion of chocolate in their lives. Kuwaitis’ taste and love for cocoa compels compa- nies to provide the best, and those who do not will be Our Power Reserves forced to leave the market and lose customers. So, major companies in Kuwait are trying to provide the best and meet the demands of consumers. Some might think that chocolate is a luxury, but in Kuwait it is an essential staple like rice and sugar. Receptions its greatest peril. It is when we channel these enormous and weddings sometimes involve lengthy talks about By Sarah Fahed Abushaar trapped energies of our societies toward productive taste, flavor and uniqueness of this or that kind of pursuits, when we “refine” and enrich, through quality chocolate. education systems, not just our fuels but our young This obsession is not free of danger, because some people’s minds and engage them in our region’s leader- ship. people have started to manufacture chocolates and [email protected] sweets in their houses and sell them through social It is when we empower young people, like this, that media. This is dangerous because it is not guaranteed they ignite the propeller engines of our progress, rather that they may follow health standards in the manufac- s we focus our attention on plummeting oil prices than set our worlds ablaze. It is when we empower turing process. Moreover, the sellers are unlicensed and dwindling reserves, we overlook what is far young people like this, that we feed lifeblood into the too. Some cases of food poisoning have been report- Amore decisive to our region’s success. The Middle pipelines of our nations; feed dynamism into societal ed, and things are getting out of control. East’s greatest natural resource and power source, is not circulation, rather than have it spill wastefully at the This love of chocolate can also lead to health prob- in its oil or its gas but in its predominantly young popu- behest of radicalization. lems and obesity. Although some argue that dark lation. Home to one of the highest concentrations of And so we transform our societies from exploding chocolate is the best, consuming large amounts of any young people in the world, with more than 60 percent with dynamite to exploding with dynamism. And so we kind of chocolate is dangerous. We need awareness of our population under the age of 25, the fuel of our set our world alight rather than set it ablaze. campaigns to warn people from eating too much future is in abundant supply. That we may tell those who tell us we are home to chocolate, especially children and teenagers. But just as fuel powers, it inflames. And so too, within the highest reserves of fuel power in the world. ‘Yes, our youth is both our region’s greatest promise and also that’s right.. in our youth!’ Dates, fish, rice ‘Al-Machla’ - foodstuff for pearl divers KUWAIT: After leaving their loved ones ly consisting of grilled fish and rice, might be behind, Kuwaiti pearl divers and sailors set postponed till sunset which is basically the on a brave voyage into the vast wide ocean, time the pearl divers, referred to as “Al- sustaining themselves mentally and physi- Ghasah”, come out of the water. cally with a courageous attitude and an While in the dead of night, the ones essential ration of dates, fish, and rice or “Al- steering the ship usually keep awake by Machla” as it was usually referred to. drinking coffee and have some sweets, Spending months in overseas, these brave said Al-Asfour. The researcher noted that sailors learned to ration their Machla to the type of food material might slightly enable them to carry out their tough tasks change with the season, adding that the “day in and day out” to sell those precious ship’s water resources were usually replen- pearls for a living. ished when the sailors docked on land in Speaking to KUNA, researcher Nawaf Al- various ports in the Gulf region and India. Asfour said that each type of Al-Machla was Al-Asfour also noted that sometimes the used for a specific purpose, noting that dates sailors make a celebratory meal called “Al- and Arabic coffee were considered as break- Shinyali”, a dish mainly made out of dates, fast for those tasked with diving duties, due flour, and sugar, to signify that they have to the meal being easy on the stomach. As made it through the toughest part of their for lunch, Al-Asfour said that this meal, usual- journey. — KUNA A Kuwaiti pearl diver seen removing the pearls. Local FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 From the editor’s desk United we stand By Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan Editor-in-Chief [email protected] his week I traveled with a delegation of Kuwait media to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah TAl-Sisi. The visit was an important moment in Egyptian-Kuwaiti ties. Cairo and Kuwait have enjoyed a long standing and positive relationship and in fact President Sisi recently reiterated his willingness to help protect Kuwait and other Arab Gulf states in the event of a direct threat: “The Egyptian Army belongs to all Arabs,” he said. The reality is that Egypt has played an important role in the region for decades. It stood with us during the Iraqi aggression and time and time again has stood up for Arab causes, battling the invading European Jews occupying Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi with Kuwait newspapers’ Editors-in-Chief Palestine before Israel was even created. In recent times, Egypt has undergone a tremendous amount of instability and change brought on by the Arab Spring and the Gulf states including Kuwait stood with our friend to offer support during its moment of need. Gulf states offer millions of jobs to Egyptian expatriates, Kuwaiti and other Khaleeji students study by the tens of thousands in Egypt, every year hundreds of thousands of people from the Gulf travel to Egypt for tourism and our economies and societies are intricately linked. One of the biggest challenges the Arab world faces today is maintaining unity in the face of external pressures and interference. It is only through the continued development of lasting relationships that we will be able, as a united Arab front, to weather the worst of the storms we are now experi- encing and to emerge stronger, more unified and more sta- ble. Our development, our youth, our economies and our futures are tied together. In Kuwait, we have a saying that goes ‘qoumin taawano President Sisi with Annahar Editor-in-Chief Emad President Sisi with Adnan Al-Rashid, Treasurer of the Kuwait ma thallo’ (People who cooperate will not lose). I think this is Bukhamseen Journalists Association and Al-Anaba Deputy Editor-in-Chief with . a good way of describing what we in the Arab world need to remember about our relationships with each other. It’s time we reminded ourselves to stand up for each other and with each other. ‘ President Sisi with KUNA Cairo office Director Muna President Sisi with KUNA Editor-in-Chief Saad Al-Ali President Sisi with Al-Qabas Editor-in-Chief Waleed Al-Nesif Shishty President Sisi with Al-Shahed Editor-in-Chief Sheikh President Sisi with Al-Rai Editor-in-Chief Majed Al-Ali President Sisi with Al-Sabah Editor-in-Chief Dr. Barakat Sabah Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah Al-Hudaiban FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 Local Sailor shares story of his life • Abandoned ships in Kuwait Bay Story and Photos by Athoob Al-Shuaibi hen the sea tides farewell the shore near Doha, a Wshocking secret is revealed. Tens of scuttled and abandoned ships, covered by the tide, lay strand- ed on the sandy seabed floor, exposed to the sun and sur- rounding landscape. The ships are mostly rusted, covered in barnacles and stuck in the sticky sand, slanted to one side. As I delved more into the shore, I reached two ships resting against each other, one of them all rusty and covered by small corals.

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