A Kuwaiti MP proposed yesterday state-aid for male citizens to take second wives, in a bid to reduce the large number of unmarried women in the oil-rich emirate.
The Gulf state already grants Kuwaiti men who wed a female citizen for the first time a “marriage aid” of 4,000 dinars (€11,000), half of which is a grant and the rest an interest-free loan with easy installments.
But Mr Duwaisan wants the government to grant an additional aid package for men to take second wives. The prospective grooms must obtain written permission from their existing wives to marry again, or they must be widowed or divorced. The women they marry must be widows, divorced or at least 40 years of age and never married, Mr Duwaisan said in his proposal. (AFP)
Baby boom winter
The long, cold winter was being blamed for a baby boom this autumn.
Health chiefs in Portsmouth, Hampshire, are having to plan for a surge in births expected from this September after more than 600 12-week scans were carried out in March – 100 above the normal monthly average.
Independent midwife Joy Horner, of Birth Joy, said bad winters often led to baby booms, telling the Portsmouth News: “If you cannot get out of your house, you’ve got to find some way to keep yourself occupied.” (PA)
Underwear thief
A 20-year-old man was given a four-month suspended jail sentence after admitting to repeatedly stealing underwear from a woman’s washing line.
Luke Wicker, 20, formerly of Whitby Close, Biggin Hill, south east London, stole the underwear from the victim’s garden in Melody Road, Biggin Hill, during the early hours of the morning on four separate occasions between June 1 and 11.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of theft at Bromley Magistrates’ Court in June, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said, after officers found 65 items of clothing hidden behind his bed, including 15 bras and 26 pairs of knickers. (PA)
Transsexual takes action
A transsexual care worker is suing her former employer claiming she was sacked after she turned up for work in a dress.
Rachel Millington claims her bosses were unsympathetic to her situation when she changed her name from Andrew and started dressing as a woman.
The 24-year-old, from Lincoln, alleges bosses at Housing and Support Solutions Limited, in Cleethorpes, terminated her contract without reason just days after she announced her gender change decision. (PA)
Body forgotten in hearse
An investigation was launched after a woman’s body was left in a hearse for nine days.
Police in the US state of North Carolina found the body of Linda Walton last week after reports of a foul smell.
The 37-year-old died earlier this month in her apartment. (PA)
Lion’s den
Motorists were shocked to see a lion in the back of a van in a car park.
The animal was left in the vehicle while the circus owner who bought it stopped for a break after a long day’s driving in Kazakhstan.
Police seized the lion but plan to return it eventually to the new owner, who is in the process of expanding his animal collection. (PA)
Tomatina fest in Spain
Tens of thousands of revellers from around the world pelted each other with tonnes of tomatoes yesterday in a mushy festival in the Spanish town of Bunol.
The one-hour bloodless battle, known as the Tomatina, left the town awash in a sea of tomato pulp.
The town council brought in some 100 tonnes of ripe tomatoes on trucks for the estimated 40,000 tourists who descended on the town for the annual festival, which has taken place for more than 60 years. Many of the participants were shirtless while others wore old clothes, hard hats or goggles.
Afterwards, workers hosed down the walls and streets to remove the tomato pulp.
Spanish media said the tomatoes cost the town council around €28,000, about one third of the overall budget of €70,000 euros for the festival. (AFP)