KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaitis head to the polls today for a second parliamentary election in eight months that opposition groups are boycotting and that is not expected to heal years of bitter divisions. The election — the sixth in as many years — follows a dull campaign that has failed to jolt apathetic voters into action. At the heart of the issue is an amended electoral law that the constitutional court upheld in June, on the same day that it dissolved parliament and called the election. Most Islamist, nationalist and liberal opposition groups are boycotting the poll, a repetition of their stance at the last one in December.
Turkey frees ‘Israeli spy bird’
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities detained a bird on suspicion it was spying for Israel, but freed it after X-rays showed it was not embedded with surveillance equipment, newspapers said yesterday. The kestrel aroused suspicion because of a metal ring on its foot carrying the words “24311 Tel Avivunia Israel”, prompting residents in the village of Altinayva to hand it over to the local governor. The bird was put in an X-ray machine at a university hospital to check for microchips or bugging devices, according to the Milliyet newspaper, which carried a front-page image of the radiogram with the title “Israeli agent”.
Three dead in
Dubai car crash
Dubai: Three people were killed and two others injured as a small car crashed into a restaurant in Barsha 3 area in Dubai early yesterday. The car spun out of control at high speed and run into the kitchen of the restaurant killing two Asian workers instantly and injuring two. A third worker succumbed to his injury in the hospital. A Brazilian lady, 21, who was in the car, sustained medium injuries while the driver walked away without any injury.
Agencies
