When You’re Gone

41 die in a Kuwaiti Wedding Fire

People gather around the burnt debris after a fire broke out at a wedding tent on Saturday night in Kuwait City, 15 Aug 2009

Kuwaiti officials say 41 people are dead after a fire tore through a wedding tent filled with women and children.

Authorities say forensics experts are working to identify the 35 women and six children killed in the fire, since many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.

At least 57 others were injured in the disaster, which occurred late Saturday in Jahra, west of Kuwait City.

The exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined, though news reports indicated it could have been triggered by faulty electrical wiring.

The fire broke out in a tent filled with women and children. There was a single exit for the tent, which was made of flammable material and did not comply with safety regulations.

Within minutes the temperature inside the tent reached approximately 1500 deg. Celsius and many died because of stampede due to panic.

Our prayers go for all the deceased and wounded.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

I will produce superior frogs!

Air Supply – All Out of Love

This is one of my all time favorite songs

U.S. Financial Regulation – Global Effects – Part 1

What is Financial Regulation ?

Financial regulations are a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization.

Roles and Goals of Regulation:

1. To enforce applicable laws
2. To prosecute cases of market misconduct, such as insider trading
3. To license providers of financial services
4. To protect clients, and investigate complaints
5. To maintain confidence in the financial system

Source: Wikipedia

Obama’s Financial Regulatory Reform:
Obama has proposed a Financial Regulatory Reform which address five key objectives;

1. Promote robust supervision and regulation of financial firms.
   • Financial institutions which are critical in keeping the market stable should be subject to strong supervision and regulations.
   • New powers are given to the Federal Reserve to supervise all the firms that could pose a threat to financial stability, including those which are not banks.
   • To improve inter-agency cooperation and to identify financial risks, a new council will be formed, called Financial Services Oversight Council.
2. Establish comprehensive supervision of financial markets.
   • Additional power to Federal Reserve to oversee payment, clearance and settlement systems of financial systems
   • Comprehensive regulation of all over-the-counter derivatives by the Federal Reserve (A type of financial derivative that has its transaction directly negotiated between two parties rather than through an exchange. Some financial derivatives, such as a swap, a forward rate agreement or an exotic option, are usually done over the counter.)
   • New requirements for market transparencies, stronger regulation of credit rating agencies.




3. Protect consumers and investors from financial abuse.
   • A Consumer Financial Protection Agency will be established to protect consumers across the financial sector from unfair, deceptive and abusive practices.
   • Improving the standards of the providers of consumer financial products and services, whether they are a part of a bank or otherwise.
4. Provide the government with the tools it needs to manage financial crises.
   • Issues of non-bank financial institutions, whose failure could have serious impacts on the market, to be resolved by an overseeing authority (Federal Reserve)
   • Revisions to the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority to improve accountability.
5. Raise international regulatory standards and improve international cooperation.
   • International reforms to strengthen the capital framework; improving oversight of global financial markets; coordinating supervision of internationally active firms; and enhancing crisis management tools.

As one can notice in the above propositions, that more power has been vested in The Federal Reserve to monitor, control and supervise financial and non-bank institutions.

What will be pros and cons of such a reform and how will such a reform have global impact?

What are the macro effects on the Gulf and how will an individual global citizen affected by such a reform?

To more on the above questions, stay tuned to watch more updates.

Blind Melon – No Rain

Bruises by Chairlift

Intrumental – Awesomeness

Las Ketchup

I have heard this song quite a long back and reminds of old memories.

Social Engineering

Definition: Social engineering is a concept in political science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behavior on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups.

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine and he was expressing intense emotional attitude towards the security personnel at U.S airport.

It was about how they ask direct questions, for e.g. Are you a terrorist? and so on, to passengers from the Middle East. It is personally insulting, according to him.

I had to ask, whether it was his experience. He said, his friend, a lady had faced such a situation and had felt personally insulted by such questions.

Now, her emotions have been transfered to my friend and he inturn was actually was against the U.S. security personnel so much, that I could see an elevated aggression in him.

We had to talk about it.

He was carrying her emotional baggage and did not think objectively when he heard the whole ordeal from her.

If you carefully analyze, there is nothing personal about the U.S security personnel asking such questions.

They have security protocols and standard instructions to follow. They are just doing their jobs.

Every question is properly framed, every answer is analyzed meticulously, including body language applied.

If our country was in potential danger from a certain region of people, we as citizens would be very aware of the potential danger from that region and would take into consideration all security measures, to keep our country safe.

So, does the U.S.

We have think from a global perspective, yet deal with an individual at a time, since every individual MAY be a POTENTIAL danger to the national security.

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Without understanding, from the perspective of the U.S security, many passengers take such questions very personally.

We can calmly let them do their jobs and lets do ours.

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The point of this post is, how people can be victims of emotional transference, if not thinking objectively AFTER what they have listened to.

My friend was affected by his friend because there was an underlying aspect called TRUST and thus comes INFLUENCE.

Emotional reactions can be quite disastrous in such cases.

No wonder youth are social engineered into terrorism with powerful emotional transference, as the most youth would react emotionally than thoughtfully.