This week in the news

In Saudi Arabia 'marriage-lite' or 'misyar' are on the rise. Misyar are Sunnis alternative to Shias' temporary marriages. (That's right, temporary marriages, typically amounting to legal prostitution). Misyar basically allow the couple to set their own conditions and terms of the marriage. And apparently this often involves couples living separately but getting together regularly, sometimes just for sex. Urm, reconcile that with the conservatism of Saudi Arabia...

In the States, Condalezza Rice showed her infinite wisdom and intellect by avoid condemning Israel and stating that (paraphrased) "A ceasefire will not bring peace to the Middle East".

The Kuwait Times carried the following award winning reporting of dastardly and dubious criminal acts:

• "Man found with maid. A Kuwait man reported to Mubarak Al Abdullah police that he found a Pakistani expatriate alone with his Asian maid. Police moved to the scene and referred the maid and the expat to the authorities."
• "Groper arrested. Capital police arrested an Iranian expatriate in connection with groping a number of women in Salmiya market. Moreover, the expat was under the influence of alcohol."
• "Woman's voice. A source revealed that a Kuwait man immitating the voice of a woman asked several Asian expatriates to visit his flat in Omariya. When one expat arrived at the flat, the man talked to the expat through the window and asked to use their mobile phone. The citizen then stole the mobile phone and closed the window and fled the flat. During interrogation, police discovered the man had stolen a number of mobile phones from a number of expatriates."
• "Fugitive identified. A source revealed that the Kuwaiti man who stole a police car two days ago is wanted for a 15 year prison sentence for drug dealing. The Kuwaiti man stole the care after a policeman asked him to pull over because he was speeding. The man got out of his car and stole the police care. Police filed a case and started an investigation to arrest the man."

Meanwhile, over the border:

• A series of car bombings including an exceptionally deadly one in Kufa that killed 53+ people, sparked a lot of towns and cities to be sealed off from traffic as security forces search for more cars rigged with bombs.
• The politicians made more naively optimistic calls to disarm the militias.
• The perpetual dieter Saddam Hussein went on yet another hunger strike.
• Old man Al Sistani made another call for unity, but how long will his calming influence last.
• There were more reports of a huge demand for fake passports and identity cards as Iraqis take up multiple identities to survive the sectarian kidnappings and executions.

And in Israel, this image of the children signing bombs directed at Lebanon was taken, stirring up quite a debtate.

Follow this link for more on the background to the image and the debate about it: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/07/20/lies_damn_lies_and_war_pictures.html#more
Last, but not least, next door bought a *$%?!@ irritating cockrell that crows incessantly.