Two MoH undersecretaries referred to retirement
KUWAIT: The Civil Service Commission (CSC) approved referring two assistant undersecretaries at the Ministry of Health, namely Mahmoud Abdul Hadi and Omar Al-Sayyed to retirement effective October 23, 2017.
TEC projects
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh said that the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) failed to launch the Jahra Recreational Hall project as a lawsuit concerning it is still being heard in court. Saleh added that TEC is waiting for the final decision on developing Failaka island and to start working on the site allocated for it within the island development plan. Commenting on the closure of AlShaab Park and delaying its opening for visitors, Saleh stressed that the park was closed upon court orders which terminated TEC’s contract and ordered eviction within four months effective from November 30, 2017. Saleh said that most TEC projects were worn out as the company had been established in the beginning of the 1970s but had not been developed ever since, which made the company prepare field studies about developing some of its projects which were reviewed by the cabinet pending funding plans.
Political issues
The Kuwait International Book Fair, a cultural event avoiding all political issues regionally prevalent, opens today and lasts until November 25, said Mohammed Saleh Al-Assoussi, Assistant Secretary General for Cultural Affairs at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL). He noted that in addition to being a book fair, the event is also accompanied by several cultural activities such as lectures, seminars and workshops focusing on books and readers’ other quotidian concerns. He added that around 482 publication houses from thirty Arab and foreign countries, including 423 private, 53 public and six Arab and International organizations, will take part in the fair displaying over 160,000 books including 11,000 new 2017 publications. Assoussi said that the books include over 7,400 Arabic, over 500 foreign books in addition to 1,080 Arabic and 1,385 foreign books for children. The total number of fair visitors last year was 330,000 with a daily rate of 33,000, hoping that this year’s fair will attract as many visitors.
Court cases
The criminal court yesterday abstained from passing a verdict against a female citizen accused of joining the Islamic State (IS) in Sinai. The defendant, who faces charges of joining the terrorist group said that she had left Kuwait after receiving an invitation from a person who identified herself as a member of the organization. After being asked to do things she did not approve of, the woman made a failed attempt to escape, but was detained, and her father paid a ransom of KD 5,000 for her release. Separately, the criminal court sentenced a citizen and a number of expats to jail terms ranging between five and 10 years over charges of smuggling a container full of liquor bottles into Kuwait.
No earthquake
Head of the Green Line environmental group Khaled Al-Hajri has strongly denied rumors about a devastating earthquake predicted to hit Kuwait and other countries in the region soon, which was falsely attributed to the United States Geological Survey Agency in some social media reports yesterday.