THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020 / JUMADA AL AWWAL 15, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17575 16 PAGES 150 FILS

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Cabinet voices hope on resolution of Gulf crisisKUWAIT CITY, Dec 29, (Agencies): The Cabinet during its Monday’s meet-ing was briefed on the invitation received by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah from King Salman Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to attend the 41st GCC ordinary leaders’ summit in Riyadh, as well as the letter sent by Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

In his letter, the Qatari Amir voiced appreciation to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for their sincere efforts to resolve the Gulf crisis.

The Cabinet, in this regard, expressed content over the potential breakthrough in mending the Gulf rift, hoping for the anticipated summit to complement pre-vious efforts led by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

During the session, a visual display on the State Audit Bureau’s 2019-2020 financial reports was presented by chair of the Government Performance Fol-low-Up Agency Sheikh Ahmad Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for projects under the Agency’s mandate.

The Cabinet then discussed latest political issues and developments on re-gional and international levels.

Flights will resume at Kuwait International Airport on Saturday, January 2nd, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Tuesday.

DGCA spokesman Saad Al-Otaibi told KUNA that decision was made af-ter the Cabinet decided, on December 21, to halt flights from and to Kuwait

as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).The resumption of flight will begin next Saturday at 04:00 pm local time,

said Al-Otaibi, adding that all decisions might shift according to coronavirus developments.

The Cabinet decided previously to suspend commercial flights until January 1.

The fi le of domestic workers in the country is witnessing great neglect by the decision-makers amid the absence of the government’s vision to address the issue of stopping the recruitment of new domestic workers for more than a year. This was not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also caused the closure of many recruitment offi ces after they were forced to pay monthly rents and salaries to employees, but also the employment crisis with the Philippines’ side preceded by the Indian and Sri Lankan sides, which has now returned with the suspension of commercial fl ights, despite the fact that the government platform “Bilsalamah” allocated institutional quarantines for them, reports Aljarida daily.

Chairman of the Union of Owners of Domestic Labor Recruitment Agen-cies in the country Khaled Al-Dakhnan called on the Cabinet to exclude the “Bilsalamah” platform for returning domestic workers from the Cabinet’s deci-sion to suspend commercial fl ights at Kuwait International Airport due to the allocation of the platform to quarantine incoming workers as an institutional quarantine rather than home quarantine, as is the case with other travelers.

236 new cases

Pandemic said stable ... no mutant strain‘Largest ever’

Seizure nips‘brand’ fraudKUWAIT CITY, Dec 29, (KUNA): Kuwaiti Ministry of Trade and Industry announced Tuesday that the Commercial Control and Consumer Protec-tion unit has managed to control the largest fraud in counterfeit-ing 52,000 cans emulating an international brand used for cooking.

The ministry said in a press statement that through the in-structions of the Trade and Indus-try Minister, Faisal Al-Midlej, inspectors have intensified their inspection rounds, which en-abled them to control goods that are sold to grocery stores without invoices.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29, (Agencies): The Cabinet held its weekly session Monday, chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sa-bah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

After the meeting, Deputy Prime Min-ister and Minister of State for Cabinet Af-fairs Anas Al-Saleh said that Health Min-ister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah briefed the meeting on latest development concern-ing COVID-19 in Kuwait. The Minister voiced content over the general status of the pandemic in the country, deeming it “stable” based on declining figures in new contamination and fatality rates.

Sheikh Dr Al-Sabah also underlined that the decision to suspend commercial flights and land travelling is still valid un-til January 1, 2021; with traffic in all ports & border crossings resuming the day after the aforementioned date.

He fortunately noted that no mutant COVID-19 strains were detected thus far, as well as not detecting any side effects since the trial launch of vaccination cam-paign last Thursday.

Kuwait reported 236 new coronavirus infections to raise the total 150,093 in the past 24 hours, as the death toll remains at 932 patients, the health ministry’s Spokesman said Tuesday.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus currently stands at 3,105, with 43 patients of them in intensive care units, according to the ministry spokes-man Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad.

The ministry had earlier reported that some 248 people had been cured from the virus over the past day, raising the total of those who have overcome the disease to 146,056

So far 2,500 doctors, nurses and phar-macists have received the COVID-19 dose on the second day, in addition to a number of senior officials in the legisla-tive and executive authorities who had launched the trial campaign for the vac-cine at the end of last week.

RevealedDirector of the Public Relations De-

partment at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ghada Ibrahim said there is an increasing demand to receive the vaccine to confront the virus, and revealed that the elderly people those who are 80 and above have been added to the first stage which is starting tomorrow, Wednesday, provided that the rest of those on the list complete receiving their dose.

In a statement to Al-Seyassah daily, Ibrahim mentioned the number of infor-mation counters inside the vaccination center at the Mishref Fairgrounds will be doubled to (eight counters) to scan the barcode and facilitate vaccination pro-cedures, while at the same time praising the organization and the measures taken in this regard.

She indicated the doctors, nurses, labo-ratory and radiology technicians at the Ministry of Health, along with a num-ber of personnel working in the private medical sector and Kuwait Oil Company Hospital, continued to receive COVID-19 doses on the second day of the launch of the campaign.

Ibrahim denied what was said about the emergence of a new strain of the virus in Kuwait, and confirmed that the preven-tive health laboratories had not reported the emergence of a new mutation of the virus in the country so far, and that they had tested those arriving from Britain on the fifth and tenth days of their arrival, and did not detect any mutation so far.

She reiterated until now there have been no complications or side effects of the vac-cination reported by the people who have received the doses since last Thursday.

For its part, the Consultant for Inter-nal Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Head of the Department of Allergy Dis-eases at Al-Rashid Center for Allergy, Dr.Mona Al-Ahmad, said the vaccination continued at the same pace on the second day of the campaign.

In a statement to Al-Seyassah daily, Dr Mona emphasized the vaccination process does not differentiate between a citizen and a resident, and that the nationality is not specified, as doctors and technicians of different nationalities and age groups working in various hospitals in Kuwait rushed to receive the dose on the first and second days of the launch of the campaign.

Also:ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, on Tuesday, sent 196 medical professionals to the State of Kuwait under the agreement signed be-tween the two countries in July this year.

This new batch of medical profes-sionals, which included 41 doctors, 131 nurses and 24 technicians, came under the agreement between Pakistan and the State of Kuwait to combat COVID-19.

Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to Pakistan Nassar Al-Mutairi thanked the Pakistan government for providing medical assistance to his country and said Kuwait-Pakistan ties were rock-solid and unbreakable.

In a statement to KUNA, he said that Kuwait would continue to work with the Pakistani government and people to en-hance cooperation to combat the corona-virus pandemic and to promote coopera-tion and development in all sectors.

“Thank you to all of the healthcare workers who selflessly provide their ser-vices. You are true heroes and should be recognized as such. Blessings to the medical team. This step will help bring two brotherly countries closer,” stated the ambassador.

Legislation seeks toKuwaitize judiciary

Readiness affi rmed during PM visit

By Saeed Mahmoud SalehArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: MP Hesham Al-Saleh has submitted a bill on amending Article 19 of the Judiciary law, such that only Kuwaitis will be appointed as judges and public prosecutors.

According to the bill, all judiciary jobs will be nation-alized within three years of its implementation. Al-Saleh pointed out the country has the required number of Kuwaiti ju-dicial experts who can fill up vacancies.

He said the current law does not state that serving as a public pros-ecutor is a requirement for appoint-ment as a judge, so he suggested that the government should orga-nize training courses for lawyers in order to qualify them as judges. He argued the judiciary is sovereign, so it should consist of Kuwaitis only; adding that no other coun-try hires foreign judges and public prosecutors, only Kuwait.

Al-Saleh also proposed amending the Administrative Court Law to cover all issues re-lated to citizenship and worship places. He said the court should decide on every administrative matter, except the deportation of expatriates who committed cer-tain violations. He also intends to open a file on the cancellation

of citizenship for political rea-sons from the 1980s till date.

MP Muhammad Hadi Al-Hewaila submitted a bill on the establishment of a hospital in Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate within three years of its enforce-ment.

The bill states that the Min-istry of Public Works will su-pervise the construction works; while the government can hire an international expert to pre-pare the design and follow up the construction works to ensure the hospital is built according to in-ternational standards.

MP Ahmed Al-Hamad pro-posed the establishment of vo-cational and industrial zones in different parts of the country to support the initiatives of youths who constitute 60 percent of the Kuwaiti population. He explained the proposal is aimed at develop-ing the contributions of youths to the national economy and social security.

MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji pre-sented a bill on amending Article 19 of Public Authority for Hous-ing Welfare Law number 47/ 1993. The bill stipulates that a citizen, who applied for a hous-ing grant, is eligible for monthly rent allowance of KD 250 starting from the month he submitted the housing grant application until he receives the house.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29, (KUNA): His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, visited on Tuesday, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, namely the Ahmad Khaled Al-Sabah Hall.

His Highness the Prime Minister upon arrival was received by, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah, Chief of the General Staff of the Army Lieutenant-General Sheikh Khaled Saleh Al-Sabah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense in Charge Sheikh Fahad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Army Lieutenant-General Fahad Abdulrahman Al-Nasser.

His Highness the Prime Minister delivered a speech, as saying that this visit follows the visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah last month, to develop programs and mechanisms to and to implement his directives.

His Highness the Prime Minister af-firmed that the state’s responsibility is to provide all equipment for all sectors of the Kuwaiti army and to provide ed-ucation in the most prestigious military colleges and institutes.

His Highness expressed his thanks and appreciation to all employees of the Ministry of Defense for their role in working with the government team to confront COVID-19 health crisis.

Kuwaiti Air Force was fully pre-pared to transport citizens, equipment, ship requirements to confront this pan-demic, and equip hospitals and field quarantines, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah delivered a speech, dur-ing which he stressed the Ministry of Defense’ readiness to provide all forms

of support and assistance to various of-ficial bodies.

He also stressed the continuation of developing various weapons and mili-tary equipment, bringing the military ac-tion system to the level that all aspire to.

His Highness Prime Ministe also on Tuesday visited , Ministry of Interior headquarters, namely the Nawaf Al-Ahmad Building.

Upon arrival, he was received by Minister of Interior, Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, and Un-dersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, Lieutenant General Issam Salem Al-Naham.

In a speech, His highness said this visit carries several messages, first is to follow up the visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah last month and follow his directive of applying the law to ev-eryone, and that no one is above the law.

The second message is to express thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Interior and its members for the great role they played during COVID-19 health crisis.

His Highness expressed wishes of work to continue in the same manner, as this health crisis still has not ended.

While in the third message, His Highness stressed the need to preserve the role of the security man and per-form their work as a role model in this society.

Minister of Interior, Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, deliv-ered a speech during which he stressed the importance of the Ministry of In-terior’s employees ‘commitment to the contents His Highness speech, by embodying cooperation with all state agencies, improving public services and addressing the core issues of con-cern to the nation and citizens.

KUNA photoHH the PM Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah visits Defense Ministry Headquarters.

KUNA photoSheikh Sabah Al-Khaled visits the Interior Ministry Headquarters.

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received a cable of condolences on Tuesday from Lead-er of Al-Sadr Movement Muqtada Al-Sadr, expressing his sorrow over the demise of late Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sa-bah, the former Deputy Prime Min-ister and former Minister of Defense.

In turn, His Highness the Amir thanked Al-Sadr his kind words and sincere sentiments. (KUNA)

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KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received a ca-ble of condolences on Tuesday from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, expressing his sorrow over the de-mise of late Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Defense.

In turn, His Highness the Amir thanked President Rouhani for his kind words and sincere sentiments. (KUNA)

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CROATIA: A strong earthquake hit central Croatia on Tuesday, destroy-ing buildings and sending panicked people fl eeing into rubble-covered streets in a town southeast of the capital. Authorities said fi ve people were killed and at least 20 were in-jured.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said a magni-tude 6.3 quake hit 46 kilometers (28 miles) southeast of Zagreb. It caused widespread damage in the hardest-hit town of Petrinja. The same area was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday.

Offi cials said a 12-year-old girl died in Petrinja, a town of some 25,000 people. Another four people were killed in villages near the town, according to the state HRT televi-sion. At least 20 people were hos-pitalized, two with serious injuries, offi cials said.

“The center of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists,” HRT report-ed, saying people remained inside collapsed buildings.

“My town has been completely destroyed. We have dead children,” Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbo-vic said in a statement broadcast by HRT. “This is like Hiroshima - half of the city no longer exists.”

Marica Pavlovic, a resident, said the quake felt “worse than a war.” (AP)

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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s push for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks now rests with the Sen-ate after the House voted overwhelm-ingly to meet the president’s demand to increase the $600 stipends, but Re-publicans have shown little interest in boosting spending.

The outcome is highly uncertain heading into Tuesday’s session. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc-Connell has declined to publicly address how he plans to handle the issue. But Democrats, sharing a rare priority with Trump, have seized on the opportunity to force Republicans into a diffi cult vote of either backing or defying the outgoing president.

After bipartisan approval by the House, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned, “There is no good reason for Senate Republi-cans to stand in the way.”

“There’s strong support for these $2,000 emergency checks from eve-ry corner of the country,” Schumer said in a statement late Monday. He called on McConnell to make sure the Senate helps “meet the needs of American workers and families who are crying out for help.”

The House tally was a stunning turn of events. Just days ago Republicans blocked Trump’s sudden demands for bigger checks during a brief Christmas Eve session as he defi antly refused to sign the broader COVID-19 aid and year-end funding bill into law.

As Trump spent days fuming from his private club in Florida, where he is spending the holidays, dozens of Republicans calculated it was better to link with Democrats to increase the pandemic stipend rather than buck the outgoing president and constituents counting on the money. (AP)

2ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

editor’s choice

The world’s tallest tower will light up the night’s sky as part of its legendary New Year’s Eve spectacular.

Emaar, the master developer of the Burj Khalifa, has collaborated with Zoom Video Com-munications, Inc., a video-first unified communication platform, to host its spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations live from Downtown Dubai in a global Zoom video call. Up to 50,000 people from around the world will be invited to tune-in and usher in 2021 on the first ever New Year’s Eve celebration to be hosted on Zoom.

Emaar NYE 2021 will be broadcast live globally on Zoom from 8:30 pm GST (+4 GMT) onwards, featuring a grand masterpiece of fireworks and light & laser show in Downtown Dubai to bring in 2021.

Emaar prides itself on creating memorable experiences for audiences in Dubai and around the world. The New Year’s Eve celebration in Downtown Dubai is a global event and the partnership with Zoom will create a whole new type of show for online audiences around the world.

Following a successful year focused on supporting users globally through the pandemic and providing solutions for users around the world, Zoom is continuing its mission of giving users a sense of normalcy, unity, togetherness and happiness by coming together with Emaar and allowing a space for people to celebrate together and give its users the opportunity to celebrat-ing the new year together.

“Zoom is proud and honored to take part in such a monumental event with Emaar, where our platform will allow people from all over the world to participate as we ring in a new year,” said Abe Smith, Head of International at Zoom. “In 2020, we were honored to help companies, schools, and families around the world stay connected through the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to welcoming 2021 with hope and a feeling of unity.”

To access the live event on Zoom, registration is required through the following links https://bit.ly/34ARq2L .

While the New Year’s Eve celebrations will be broadcast live, Emaar also announced seam-less access for visitors interested in attending the show from the public viewing area on the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard.

Additionally, the restaurants and hotels along the boulevard, Souk Al Bahar, Dubai Opera, and The Dubai Mall Promenade are available for dining reservations.

Emaar NYE 2021 will have several health and safety measures in place, including thermal cameras, social distancing, contactless payments, and frequent deep cleaning and disinfection, in line with Dubai Government guidelines and directives.

ABU DHABI, Dec 29: The Author-ity of Social Contribution – Ma’an, has launched its first Accelerator pro-gramme, which aims to elevate the im-pact of social enterprises by supporting them to scale up and grow their opera-tions in Abu Dhabi.

Working in collaboration with Plug and Play ADGM, the programme’s content developer, six existing social enterprises from six countries have been identified to enter the first cycle of the virtual initiative, which will focus on mental wellbeing.

Ma’an’s Accelerator programme en-courages social innovation by bringing together individuals and organisations, enabling them to create innovative solu-tions to social challenges in Abu Dhabi by providing 1:1 mentorship, coaching

and the facilitat-ing of deal flows with entities and investors. Ma’an will also offer access to market informa-tion, support col-laborations and provide facilities including an of-fice space and complementary license registra-tion at ADGM as

well as gain priority access to Ma’an’s Grants Programme

The Accelerator programme will of-fer on-demand training, tailored to the participants’ needs, including access to a network of industry professionals and government entities, including ma-jor healthcare providers and insurers to support the cohort’s theme.

Ma’an’s inaugural Accelerator pro-gramme will be themed to address “Mental Wellbeing”, a social priority that has been identified by Abu Dhabi Department of Community Develop-ment, directly in response to the grow-ing need for initiatives in the region to help negate the social impact of CO-VID-19.

The six established ventures, which each provide innovative solutions to the challenge, have been selected by Ma’an and will now enter the three-month intensive programme to expand their operations and offering,.

H.E. Salama Al Ameemi, Director General of Ma’an, said: “The launch of the Accelerator programme signi-fies Ma’an’s commitment to benefit-ting Abu Dhabi’s community through empowering social enterprises in the emirate, encouraging Abu Dhabi’s third sector and addressing key social priorities.

“Ma’an has established an increase in the scale of existing social enterpris-es and not-for-profit organisations in Abu Dhabi, this has resulted in a rise in jobs within the social sector and further awareness for social entrepreneurship as an agent in driving social change.”

Participants in Ma’an’s Accelerator programme can be based in the UAE, GCC or internationally, as long as they are able to anchor a base in Abu Dhabi. Entrants must already have a validated and operating business model.

One of the goals of the programme is to attract impactful global social en-terprises to operate in the emirate, in-creasing the number of social enterpris-es legally licensed in Abu Dhabi and strengthening collaboration between the private, public and third sector en-tities through mutually beneficially en-gagement and contract deployment.

The programme was officially launched on 7th December with a vir-tual orientation day and will conclude in March during a demo day where the enterprises will demonstrate their prog-ress and achievements.

About Ma’anMa’an was established in February

2019 under the Department of Com-munity Development in Abu Dhabi with the aim of bringing together the government, the private sector and civil society to support a culture of social contribution and participation. The authority will deliver solutions for social challenges with five main pillars of work – a Social Investment Fund, a Social Incubator Program, Community Engagement Programs and the intro-duction of a new type of public con-tracting, Social Impact Bonds, as well as Outreach Management.

Ma’an will support the third sector to flourish in Abu Dhabi, enabling respon-sible not for profit associations or foun-dations and social enterprises to con-tribute to the development of strong, active and connected communities.

Ma’an Authority for Social Con-tribution is a ‘Ghadan 21’ accelerator programme initiative, supporting Abu Dhabi to become one of the best places in the world to do business, invest, live, work and visit.

New launch

Ma’an focuses onmental wellbeing

H.E. Salama Al-Ameemi, Director General of Ma’an

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

3

Other Voices

‘Graduation dream a nightmare’“IN 1982, the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training was established to provide and develop the national workforce to fill the deficiencies in the national technical workforce to meet the developmen-tal needs in parallel with the Kuwait University, as the ‘only governmental university’ in the country,” columnist Oweid Al-Salili wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“The march of applied education has faced count-less obstacles and problems since its foundation which linger on to the present day. The reason is the senior officials who have trans-formed the institute’s faculties into quasi-governmental institu-tions subject to mediation, favoritism and futile bureaucra-cy.

“All of this in fact has nega-tively affected the level of the outputs of these faculties which have become weak, in addition to the poor level of teachers.

“Favoritism and nepotism is known to everyone. Scholarships to obtain higher degrees are controlled by officials in colleges; therefore conditions are tai-lored for selection of relatives and acquaintances to be sent abroad and then appointed as professors in colleges and other departments while ignoring those who are competent.

“The scientific departments have been transformed into sections that are subject to parties, currents, families, sects and tribes. Only those who belong to them are accepted and this is what happens under the noses of the concerned officials.

“The criteria for success and failure of some profes-sors are subject to mediation, not to distinction and perseverance, in addition to the spread of the phenom-enon of textbooks trade in the faculties forcing students to buy these books which are most expensive.

“Nepotism and favoritism have reached an unprec-edented level especially in the College of Basic Education. The process of registering students has become almost impossible under the pretext of unavailability which has prompted male and female students to resort to wasta from parliamentarians to register in academic subjects, due to the failure of the Dean of the College, Dr. Fareeh Al-Enezi, to solve these obstacles and closed his doors to students and their parents.

“The great disaster is that the person in charge of the Authority is the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Ali Al-Mudhaf, who was until recently the Director-General of the Authority, who is known for his good manners and sincerity but he was unable to fix that defect in the Authority because of the entou-rage that used to manage and control the authority.

“The Minister is now required to hold accountable the negligent in the Authority’s colleges, especially the College of Basic Education, after they turned the dream to graduation into a nightmare.

“There is a dire need to replace those leaders who are unable to reform with leaders who open their hearts before their doors to students and solve the problems they suffer from.”

Also: “The existence of a committee for Negative

Phenomena in the Parliament is itself a negative phe-nomenon. Indeed, I don’t understand what benefit this committee is to the society,” columnist Dr Balqis Al-Najjar wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“I think that it is better for the honorable MPs to devote their time to discussing issues of priority to society in terms of economic, cultural and scientific nature that will have an impact on reforming the dete-riorating situation to support the country’s renais-sance and progress and improve the standard of living of citizens and residents.

“Anyone who hears about the existence of this com-mittee (Negative Phenomena) thinks at first glance that it belongs to a country other than Kuwait. In countries in which casinos and bars and other places of entertain-ment are widespread but it certainly does not apply to Kuwait, where there are no public entertainment plac-es, and what was there has been closed such as the Entertainment City, the Al-Sha’ab Park and the Skating Rink until the pleasure of citizens and residents is lim-ited to eating at various places – cafés and restaurants – which are mushrooming every day.

“If it were not for the corona pandemic these days, we would have found big queues in the departure halls at the airport to travel outside the country and to the nearest destination such as Dubai, Bahrain or Beirut to celebrate Christmas and the New Year holidays.

“What will the agenda of this committee be? Will they decide what to wear? And when will we get out of the house? And when shall we come back? I hope that their first and last concern is not to restrict the freedom of the citizen, specifically women.

“If the committee intends to assume the role of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice after it was done away with by sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I think that the members of the committee know that this cannot be applied in Kuwait, especially since the people of Kuwait, throughout its history, have been enjoying freedom of thought and movement.

“The truth is that we have become a subject of sarcasm in the Gulf, and our relatives and friends in these sister countries warn us about the consequences of such a committee’s control, and what it can decree

or approve. Even in the social media, brothers have begun to inquire and mock Kuwait’s retreat and its adoption to what other states have abandoned.

“In general, as long as the government wants to continue with this committee, there must be wisdom in that, and as our kind people always repeat ‘The government is more knowledgeable’, meaning that the government knows our interest.

“By coincidence, the media and social media reported two important issues that are at the core of the Negative Phenomena Committee and it would be desirable for the members to take these seriously and work to fix the situation or limit the harm caused by them.

“The laws related to honor crimes allow any teen-ager to end the life of his sister, mother, or female relative when any dispute arises, or just because he hears gossip, or even for no apparent reason, and perhaps to prove his virility.

“We read and hear about such crimes in other coun-tries, but recently they have been repeated in Kuwait in an alarming way. This is indeed a negative phe-nomenon and I hope that the Committee of the Negative Phenomena will pay attention to such crimes which are alien to the Kuwaiti society.

“As for the second news, it is what Al-Qabas pub-lished on Thursday Dec 24, 2020 on the second page, about the arrest of a group of Kuwaiti teenagers who were lured and recruited by ‘ISIS’ to carry out terror-ist bombings against innocent people.

“Is there a negative phenomenon that is more fatal to youth and society than targeting young people and brainwashing them to destroy their homelands and kill their families?

“If the Negative Phenomena Committee is to deal with such serious issues, then you are welcome. If it were to measure our steps and take account of the air we breathe, then this committee is not welcome.”

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“I say it loud and clear, and without mincing my words – the new Parliament term will be a watershed point in the history of Kuwait and in terms of the public reaction because everyone places their hopes and aspirations on this parliament as their last option”, columnist Iqbal Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Therefore, if it will produce something to smile about, we will smile; or else, if the aggravation per-sists, disappointment is all that we will talk about. Everyone in the country is alert and awaits productiv-ity, waiting for amendments, reforms and initiatives that would eradicate corruption from its roots and hold the perpetrators accountable without distinction or discrimination.

“I know that this will not happen overnight, but we wish to savor the taste of achievement, and smell the smoke of the wheel of development as it moves little by little.

“The aggravation experienced by a certain group, and the sleeping state experienced in the country, in addition to the indifference, absence of accountability and punishment, turning a blind eye and showing a deaf ear by the government in some matters will not continue without a reaction, because we all cannot follow this boring scene without anyone moving.

“Our children cannot see recurring mistakes, expanding corruption, and melting of the law in the hands of some officials at the expense of people. They remain spectators when their country is moan-ing and suffering.

“However, it seems that there is a side that still insists on its mistakes without the slightest responsi-bility or feeling the danger of the next stage. The government and all the MPs and the speaker should be aware of the fact that what remains of the people’s patience for the stagnation in the scene can no longer persist for much longer.

“Let all of us – government, parliamentarians and people – cooperate in order to turn a dark, boring page and move to a new page full of color, life, achieve-ments and progress.”

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“The nation’s representatives made many promises during the electoral campaigns that were marked by the adoption of many popular issues that affect the life and future of Kuwaiti citizens”, Khaled Al-Arafah wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“After the opening session, the MPs extended a hand of cooperation to the government in order to solve the important and urgent issues, and urgently put them on the agenda in preparation for their solu-tion.

“The voters fulfilled their word and changed the composition of the parliament despite the health con-ditions, due to the failure of the MPs to meet the people’s demands over the past years, which they had previously announced and did not achieve, until the life of the parliament ended. This prompted the voters to change most of them.

“The nation’s representatives in the current parlia-ment drew their roadmap through their electoral campaigns. The majority of them placed a number of issues on the top of their work priorities. Those issues include combating corruption, comprehensive amnes-ty, economic development, improvement of housing, health and education services, amending the election law, the cybercrime law, the Bedoun issue and a num-ber of other files that have been set on the list of pri-orities.”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli

KUNA photoHH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mesha’al Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah received in his office on Tuesday, Dec 29, HH Sheikh

Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Various issues were discussed.

Legal action vowed againstfirms hiring illegal workers

‘Violators must amend status’

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has launched strict procedures to put an end to violations related to the employment of illegal workers in companies and various establishments, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting official sources.

They explained that PAM has been reviewing the files of hundreds of companies in all six governorates that obtained licenses through a partnership between the Inspection Department and the Needs Assessment Department. The violators were notified of the need to amend their status.

The violations that were recorded on establishments and companies included stopping the assessment of the

‘Work is ongoing to update data ofbeneficiaries of COVID-19 reward’KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: According to senior government sources, the reward for front-line COVID-19 workers is now subject to updating the data of the beneficiaries with the aim of achieving fairness and giving all those covered by the financial compensation their due reward, reports Al-Anba daily.

In response to a question about set-ting a deadline for government agencies to complete the update process, the sources replied, “No date has yet been set for completing the process of updat-ing the data of those included in the reward. There are bodies that have com-pleted the data of those who are entitled to receiving the reward and are ready. There are some others that are still car-rying out the work required of them in terms of updating. This is in regard to the extent to which all government agencies have correctly completed the data of their employees who actually worked during the period from March 12 to May 31. Since the formation of the government, no new instructions have been issued with regard to setting the date for the disbursement of the reward or adopting a specific date to complete the required update.”

Regarding reports that all govern-ment agencies have submitted the employees’ data that are subject to the conditions of disbursement, the sources said, “Yes, there are bodies that have

completed their work, and at the same time some government agencies are still sending data after completing the required update”.

Meanwhile , Head of the Endocrinology Unit at Al-Sabah Hospital Dr. Adel Redha revealed that special cards will be issued soon to patients who receive regular steroid treatment, reports Aljarida daily.

In a press statement, he explained that these cards are for sick patients requiring this treatment, and contain special medical instructions for dealing with them. They will also contain a barcode with the approved international protocols. This version will be available for patients of Al-Sabah Health Zone.

They will help alert patients who are dependent on steroid due to adrenal insufficiency, and make sure that their medical condition is known to paramed-ics and other medical professionals, allowing them to quickly assess and diagnose the condition, and thus provid-ing them with the best treatment accu-rately, quickly and appropriately.

Dr. Redha stressed the importance of these cards in alerting and educating caregivers, teachers, friends and parents about the patient’s condition, and informing them about what to do in emergency situations when immediate action is required.

Oweid Al-Salili

needs of unfurnished companies that obtained licenses as shops or vari-ous activities, but did not respond to the needs assessment department, and the provision of appropriate jobs for those registered on the file, which made it necessary to stop the file and disable all forms of actions until the situation is corrected.

The sources said, “The two departments will make daily visits to com-panies registered in the governorates to make sure of the total number of existing workers, and compare them with the numbers disbursed by the needs assessment depart-ment. In the event that it is confirmed there are no workers and the compa-nies are empty, the job title is temporarily delet-ed, but it will be re-added when needed using a form given to business owners in coordination with specialized employ-ees”.

CampaignMeanwhile, Director of

the Inspection Department at PAM Fahad Al-Murad revealed that the cam-paign, which is carried out on activities and com-panies that are not com-mitted to laws and regula-tions, aims to make them aware of the seriousness of the matter in terms of what they are doing on the labor market system.

Murad said, “After making sure that the workers registered on the facilities are not commit-ted, legal measures are taken against the employ-er and the worker until the conditions are modi-fied, and the files are stopped and referred to the competent authorities for investigation”.

In a similar statement, Supervisor of the Needs Assessment Department in Ahmadi Governorate Nasser Al-Jarib affirmed that the Needs Assessment Department is taking measures on its part by suspending the needs assessment files tempo-rarily, until the situation is corrected.

Al-Jarib stressed that stopping the need assess-ment files stops the trans-fer, renewal and cancella-tion of work permits until the review is completed and the situation is cor-rected.

Fahad Al-Murad

Abdullah Jassem Al-MudafFirst Constituency

ABDULLAH JASSEM AL-MUDAF, a Sunni, was born in 1983. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at Gulf University for Sciences and Technology.

He has vast experi-ence in investment and banking. He is a member of Kuwait Economic Society.

He occupied ninth place in his constitu-ency during the 2020 parliamentary elec-tions with 2,437 votes.

Voting Record

Abdullah Jassem Al-Mudaf has no voting record as he is a first-timer in the National Assembly.

mp profile getting to know you

Al-Mudaf

Let in foreignworkers: KPCKUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: A high-ranking oil source revealed that the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) requested the con-cerned government agencies to make an exception for the entry of foreign workers for the stra-tegic projects imple-mented by Kuwait, reports Al-Anba daily.

The source explained that the execution of some oil projects came to a stop since last August, and there is difficulty in bring-ing manpower from countries that are not allowed entry in Kuwait.

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

4

‘4,000 mutations in superfi cial orspinal protrusions not surprising’

Al-Jarallah hails available technologies, ability to develop vaccines

By Marwa Al-BahrawiAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The con-sultant for internal diseases, rheumatol-ogy and immunol-ogy, at the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Profes-sor Dr Khaled Al-Jarallah, said it is not surprising that more than 4,000 mutations in the su-perfi cial or spinal protrusions of the coronavirus have been detected since the beginning of the pandemic until now.

In a statement to Al-Seyassah daily, Al-Jar-allah assured that these mutations are not associ-ated with any increase in the severity of the disease or the response of the cells of the immune system, nor even on the ability of the vaccines to be ef-fective against the virus, because the technology of these vaccines has been selected to target multiple sites in the protein of the spinal protuberances. A mutation in one or more regions of the protein will not affect the antibody’s potency, he said.

He went on to say the oc-currence of mutations from the nature of the viral cycle during the process of repro-duction in the organisms cells and that with millions of copies resulting from the process of entering the virus into the cell, errors occur in transcription of one or more amino acids when copying virus proteins, and therefore it is known in RNA viruses (ribosomal acid or RNA) that occurs frequently, for example, in coronavirus and infl uenza.

Dr Al-Jarallah praised the currently available tech-nologies and their ability to develop vaccines to counter viral mutations whenever the need arises, and in record time as well, explaining that repeated mutations may con-tribute to the inactivity of the virus and then its spread, as happened in many viruses.

GenomicHe pointed out that the

new mutation that was de-tected in Britain within the genomic studies of the virus, which exceeded more than 140,000 genomic sequenc-ing tests, and the British called it VUI-202012/01 is a package of 17 mutations in the surface spinal protein of the virus, which is the pro-tein responsible for the adhe-sion of the virus’ live cells.

He explained the British scientists believe that the ob-served changes may be the cause of the increase in cases of injuries in the southeast-ern provinces of the United Kingdom recently (Novem-ber and December in par-ticular), and this hypothesis was based on epidemiologi-cal data and mathematical simulations, but at the same time there is no evidence that these mutations have relationship to disease se-verity, immune response, or vaccine capacity.

Dr Al-Jarallah also con-fi rmed that this hypothesis related to the spread of in-fection rates is not shared by experts in virology in the United States, for example, as they believe that there are many factors that may ex-plain the high rate of infec-tion with seasonal changes and the movement of human gatherings, and the degree of commitment to preven-tive precautionary measures in the community, as well. There is a controversy in projecting the epidemio-logical measurement on the biological properties of the virus, which needs complex laboratory experiments to prove it, he said.

He added that the Brit-ish genomic effort in epi-demiological monitoring contributed to enriching the epidemiological treat-ment and helped direct early warning signals in-ternationally, in light of the presence of regions that have been inflamed for months in the East that do not have the technology for genomic monitoring and then early warning for their people and the surrounding countries.

KUNA photo

KRCS volunteers deliver relief supplies to Syrian refugees whose camp was totally burned.

KRCS relieves Syrian refugees whose camp was scorchedKuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) on Tuesday delivered re-lief supplies to scores of Syrian refugees whose camp in northern Lebanon was totally burned.

Head of the KRCS mission in Lebanon Dr Musaed Al-Enezi said in a statement to KUNA that the so-ciety team acted quickly to relieve the refugees after their camp was scorched in the town of Bahnin.

The team, in coordination with

the Lebanese Red Cross, distrib-uted food, hygienic materials and blankets to the families who were deprived of dwellings after the blazes gutted the shanty town, which had accommodated 100 families.

Dr Al-Enezi indicated that rapid response was necessary to aid the refugees, amid the biting winter cold.

For his part, the deputy Munici-

pality head in Bahnin, Amer Bekaai, expressed in remarks to KUNA ap-preciation for the Kuwaiti aid for the impoverished Syrians.

The camp was set afi re against background of a personal quarrel that involved some locals with Syr-ian workers.

Al-Enezi also indicated that among the team latest tasks was delivery of aid supplies to 300 Leb-anese and Syrian families. (KUNA)

KUNA photo

HH the Amir with Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad.

Photo by Rizk Taufi q

The meeting in progress.

‘Hike plant subsidies, cut electricity prices’

New campus to include number of programs

Farmers union’s chief ‘promises’ tosubmit requests to Assembly panel

Crisis of ‘non-renewal’ of US army workers contracts has resurfaced

Discussion held to open KU branchin Sabah Al-Ahmad Residential City

By Abdul Nasser Al-Aslami Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwaiti Farmers Union, Abdullah Al-Damak, has promised to submit a number of requests to the Ag-riculture and Food Security Committee of the National Assembly for approval as soon as possible, including the need to increase plant subsidies and reduce the price of a kilowatt of electricity for farmers to return to its previous era when the charge was just two fi ls instead of the current of 5 fi ls per kilowatt.

This came during an open meeting held by the union for the 155 farmers who won plots of land during the Shubra Al-Raqqa lottery. They have signed contracts in the presence of a large number of farmers and

members of the union’s board of directors.Al-Damak stressed that the union’s board

of directors seeks to reduce the price of fresh water to its earlier prices and also sub-mit a request to charge 10 dinars for a work permit instead of the current 60 dinars that burdens the farmers.

He explained the board of directors seeks to amend the agricultural portfolio law and extend the payment period for more years than what is in place now, reduce adminis-trative fees and demand exemption for agri-cultural inputs from customs imposed at the present time.

He pointed out the board seeks to fi nd suitable prices for both the farmer and the consumer. He said the union also favors the agricultural product from the farms going to the consumer without the intervention of any intermediary.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The crisis of non-renewal of US army workers’ contracts has resurfaced, as the State Department has re-ceived a complaint from the United States Embassy in Kuwait about confusion in re-newing work permits for the workers at the American base in the country, reports Al-Qabas daily.

According to informed sources, the op-erating companies also complained to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they were not granted the right to renew their work on government contracts belonging to Ku-wait’s Ministry of Defense due to the bu-reaucracy agreed in advance with the Pub-lic Authority for Manpower (PAM), the US Army and the Kuwait Army’s Chief of Staff.

PAM is planning to hold a meeting this week with representatives of the Kuwait Army’s Chief of Staff and the US Army concerning the confusion over the renewal of non-Kuwaiti and American workers’ contracts registered under the contracts of the US Army.

The sources went on to explain that the

damage to workers registered on US mili-tary contracts began last August. Until now the permits have not been renewed, although the transactions were proceeding normally before that. PAM requested the transfer of workers from government contract fi les to the main fi le of the operating company, al-though the contract is continuous and has not stopped. This costs the companies oper-ating in logistics services KD 410 per year, and the number of affected workers is more than 9,000.

A legal memorandum was also submitted to the minister of economic development in his capacity as being responsible for PAM regarding the confusion of US army con-tracts, especially since PAM had in Febru-ary 2019 already verifi ed the integrity of the 12 companies operating in the service of the US Army.

The damage has now occurred to many projects in the base, because of the compa-nies’ inability to fully meet the services due to the refusal to renew work permits or issue work permits to non-Kuwaiti or American workers in these companies.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: In a move aimed at restoring the spirit in the project for open-ing a branch of Kuwait University in Sabah Al-Ahmad Residential City, the University Council discussed in its meeting on Sunday, Dec 27, the developments of the project, based on a request from the university’s Planning Sector, in addition to considering the legality of establishing a new branch of the university, reports Al-Qabas daily.

According to a letter sent by the Planning Sector to the university administration, the university formed a specialized work team on May 30, 2018 to develop a vision for the project components and the required scien-tifi c disciplines.

The new campus will include a number of programs in the College of Administrative Sciences, College of Engineering and Pe-troleum, College of Education, and College of Science, provided that joint programs for the bachelor’s and master’s stages will be created among the four colleges. This is in addition to the establishment of study and research centers, project incubators and a community service center, as well as facili-ties to establish workshops and seminars.

TimetableThe letter explained the schedule for the

project. The project began in 2018 with the approval of the budget with the Ministry of Finance. Then the components of the pro-ject were approved in 2019, based on the concerned university committees, provided that the preparation for operation begins in 2026, and the study will start in the new campus in the 2026/2027 academic year.

The Ministry of Finance approved one

million dinars for the project in the 2019-2020 budget, and the University Council, at its meeting in April 2019, approved the use of the land allocated for the project and the construction of a multi-purpose university building.

The letter revealed that the university had formed a specialized work group on May 30, 2018 to develop a vision for the project components and the required scientifi c dis-ciplines.

ProgramsIt was decided that the new campus will

include a number of programs in the colleg-es of Administrative Sciences, Engineering and Petroleum, Education and Science, pro-vided that joint programs for the bachelor’s and master’s stages will be created among the four colleges. This is in addition to the establishment of study and research centers, project incubators and a community service center, as well as facilities to set up work-shops and seminars.

The Planning Sector called for re-launch-ing the project in the University Council and deciding on it, in light of the need for legal review to establish a new branch of Kuwait University. This is based on the is-suance of government universities Law No. 76/2019, which states that with the move to Sabah Al-Salem University City, the current buildings, facilities and lands of the univer-sity will be devolved to the new Abdullah Al-Salem University. The land allocated for the project now is within the current facili-ties and lands of Kuwait University, which requires studying the legality of starting the design and implementation of the project.

Superintendents of school subjects submit reportKUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: At a time when the education system needs con-certed efforts to bring about a break-through in the educational fi eld, the superintendents of all school subjects submitted a report to the Acting Under-secretary of the Ministry of Education Faisal Al-Maqsid regarding the evalua-tion of the technical advisor to the head of the department, affi rming their eligi-bility to participate in the “competency assessment” process, and calling for necessary action in this regard, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In the report, the superintendents explained that the technical guidance team is an integral part of the educa-tional system and one of its pillars. It contributes greatly to the progress and

success of the educational process. The multiple and prominent roles that it performs in a special technical capacity have perhaps rendered it to be the only team capable of evaluating the perfor-mance of the heads of departments ac-cording to its experience.

The superintendents elaborated the justifi cations for the evaluation in 14 main points. They are topped by the point that a technical instructor is a specialist who is able to technically evaluate the performance of the heads of departments, being the technical reference for the scientifi c specializa-tion of the head of department. The competency evaluation contains tech-nical items from the core of the precise scientifi c specialization of the technical

instructor for the scientifi c subject.They said, “A specialized technical

advisor is primarily responsible for fol-lowing up the evaluation of the heads of department and their teachers’ com-mitment to implementing the curricu-lum plan and training courses designed by the technical guidance in terms of their level, objectives, organization and results. The competent technical advisor also monitors and evaluates the head of department’s implementa-tion of training plans for the profes-sional development for teachers in all groups and measures the refl ection of its impact on the performance of teach-ers and the educational attainment of learners and the progress of the educa-tional process.”

HH Amir receives HH Sheikh NasserHis Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received, at Bayan Palace Tues-

day, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. (KUNA)

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

5

‘River for thirsty, fruit for hungry, sun for warmth’The rivers do not drink their own water, the trees do not eat their own fruit, and the sun does not give heat for itself–The Dalai Lama.

❑ ❑ ❑

By Ahmad Alsarraf

It makes us happy when someone is a river for the thirsty, a fruitful tree for the hungry, and a shining sun for those who need warmth. Wonderful people who live to serve others, it may be their destiny. They give and spend without com-plaint, whatever the hardships of life, because giv-ing makes them happy and makes their days won-derful.

It is nice for us to eat a delicious and fi lling meal, and it is most beautiful to feel that those around us do not go hungry. It is wonderful to feel the warmth and enjoy the sun’s rays, and the most wonderful thing is that a poor person among us does not sleep in the cold without a cover, or is deprived of seeing the sun during the day.

There is no better feeling of health and wellness, but we must take care of the needs of the poor and sick around us, with food, medicine, care and love. Just as health is beautiful, disease is ugly, the hunger kills, and there is noth-ing much cruel to a person than hunger and disease, as it makes the happy mis-erable, the strong humiliated, the genie a dwarf, and the mother is unable to be merciful.

The happiness of many cannot be achieved without giving, and with the other’s sharing of what we have for all our material matters will remain after

we depart life, so why not allocate part of them to the needy, the weak and the sick, and see happiness in their eyes, joy on their faces, and satisfaction in their souls? It is nice to share what we have with others.

From this standpoint, the Kuwaiti Humanitarian Friendship Society has launched a campaign in recent days to collect donations from the gener-ous people, people of big hearts and noble feelings in order to spend them on achieving the goals of the Society, which is to provide social and material care to the needy and for any gender or nationality they belong to especially indigent patients, in addition to help-ing prisoners and arranging for their re-turn to their homelands, buying tickets for violators to return to their families, honoring old residents, sharing their na-tional holidays, and strengthening the bonds of friendship and love with all spectrums of society, other than sup-porting centers for domestic female workers, carrying out relief work and providing social assistance.

The Humanitarian Friendship Soci-ety is the charity that is almost the only one that adheres to the strictest stand-ards of oversight and transparency. It publishes its annual budgets in local newspapers, and its sources of income and banks are known.

Its founders and board of directors are among its biggest donors, and they do not deduct any percentage of money for themselves from the donation funds it receives, which are allocated to one of its projects.

It also provides the donor, in case he has expressed his desire, with a state-ment showing the manner in which his donation was spent.

To donate to the Society, please con-tact its managing director, Ali Al-Qal-laf, phone no. 51430306.

❑ ❑ ❑

e-mail: a.alsarraf@alqabas.com.kw

alsarraf

Other Voices Court sentences Kuwaiti man, expatto 10 years jail in public funds fraud

Ex-MP Duwailah acquitted in ‘royal’ slander case

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The Criminal Court sen-tenced a supervisor from the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, a Kuwaiti citizen and an expatriate to ten-year im-prisonment with hard la-bor, and obligated them to return KD 207,000 and imposed a fi ne of twice the amount as well as dismissed the supervisor from work. They are ac-cused of embezzlement of public funds, reports Al-Anba daily.

The Public Prosecution ac-cused the supervisor, in his ca-pacity as a public employee, of seizing approximately KD 207,000 through tenders for a company by approving payment invoices for the value of work assigned to the company rep-resented by the citizen despite their knowledge that the work was not fully carried out. This rendered the Financial Affairs Department to pay the afore-mentioned amount to the citizen, who issued a cheque to the expat and handed some of it in cash to the supervisor in a bid to embez-zle the amount.

This crime was linked to another felony with an indivisible connec-tion, as at the time and place, the citizen committed falsifi cation of offi cial documents, which are in-voices and documents for the pay-ment of the value of the tender as indicated in the investigations.

❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwaiti absolved: The Court of Appeals upheld the verdict issued by the Court of First In-stance which acquitted a Ku-waiti citizen who was accused of broadcasting false news about the entry of a number of Egyp-tian residents into the country and claiming that they are infect-ed with COVID-19 virus. It also upheld another verdict which ac-quitted him of charges of using words deemed offensive to the

entity of His Highness the Amir, and misusing a smartphone.

The Public Prosecution charged the accused with intentionally publishing false news that would destabilize the internal situation of the country, and misusing his phone, as well as posting messages on Twitter that are deemed offen-sive to the entity of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, and misusing his phone.

❑ ❑ ❑

Ex-MP acquitted: The Crimi-nal Court acquitted former MP Mubarak Al-Duwailah in a State Security case, on the charge of at-tributing statements to His High-ness the Amir regarding the events of the “Gaddafi tent.”, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The verdict came after the Pub-lic Prosecution directed accusa-tions against Al-Duwailah and re-leased him on bail of 1000 dinars.

❑ ❑ ❑

Fashionista jailed: The Mis-demeanor Court sentenced the Fashionista Jamal Al-Najadah to imprisonment for a year with hard labor and force, and a fi ne of 1,000 dinars in the case of insulting pros-ecutors, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Al-Najadah had spread an of-fensive audio recording in which she insulted the prosecutors who investigated her in the case of ac-cusing her and some celebrities of money laundering.

Garbage can be seen thrown everywhere in the Wafra agricultural area.

Wafra farms area turns garbage dumpInstead of being farmland area radiating greenery and providing food crops for the Kuwaiti market, much of Wafra area – streets and public squares – have been turned into permanent garbage dumps, in full view of the Kuwait Municipality, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

Despite the Al-Seyassah daily highlighting this situation earlier, it is evident the Municipality has turned a blind eye which has become a big obstacle for the farmers of the area.

In this context, a number of farmers and other par-ties concerned with agricultural affairs have called

for an urgent solution to the problem of waste of all kinds that is spread over large areas in abundance, either next to the farms or in the open areas nearby.

The sources indicated piles of waste are spread-ing at the expense of the greenery. It is surprising to note the Municipality offi cials seem to be satisfi ed with the accumulation of waste in the agricultural areas of Wafra and all main and internal roads in the area.

The sources have appealed to the Municipality of-fi cials to to save the environmental situation in the Wafra farms and surrounding areas.

Technical inspection of vehicles from Jan 1By Munaif Nayef Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The General Traffic Department announced that the technical inspection departments in all governorates will resume work on inspecting all vehicles as of Sunday, Jan 1, 2021 from 8 am to 4 pm.

It is noteworthy to mention the inspection of vehicles remained sus-

pended to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Interior has enabled all citizens and residents to renew their driving licenses which had expired from March until early June 2020.

On the other hand, the Ministry of the Interior disbursed the cash allow-ance for the leave balance for its per-sonnel who have applied for it, provid-ed that it was more than 45 days.

LOCALARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

6

40 percent of Kuwait Airportproject ‘completed’: Al- Anzi

‘Gateway to realizing Kuwait’s Vision 35’

By Mohammad GhanemAl-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: As-sistant Undersecretary for the Government Center for Inspection, Quality Control and Research Sector, Assis-tant Undersecretary for the Major Projects Engineering Sector at the Ministry of Pub-lic Works Eng. Abdul Mohsen Khaled Al-Anzi announced the completion of 40 percent of the Kuwait Airport project, Terminal Building (2).

He stressed the project is pro-gressing in full swing to help

achieve the desired goals since the airport project is one of the major developmental projects and will contribute in the desired develop-ment of the country.

The project is the gateway to realiz-ing Kuwait’s Vision 35 under the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad, and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled and members of the govern-ment.

In an interview with Al Seyassah, Al-Enezi stressed that the project has not been affected by the reduction in the state’s general budget, since a total amount of 400 million dinars has been allocated for the project for fiscal

2021/2022.He explained all sectors of the min-

istry, including the engineering sector of major projects, have prepared the five-year term plan until 2025 and includes the estimated cost to cover the expenses of these projects.

These plans were discussed by the Ministry’s Planning Committee, and of course among them is the passenger building project (2) at the Kuwait International Airport as one of the major development projects imple-mented by the Ministry of Public Works.

Al-Enezi clarified there is keenness to combine all efforts within the proj-ect to meet all challenges, with the support of the Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Dr. Rana Al-Fares.

An aerial view of Kuwait Airport project.

The Municipal Council meeting in progress.

Committee head optimistic after reaching consensus

Municipal Council discusses requests submitted by membersBy Abdul Nasser Al-Aslami

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The Legal and Financial Committee of the Municipal Council discussed the request that has been submitted by some members re-garding implementation of the Municipal Council decisions related south Saad Al-Abdullah to prepare and submit a report to the Chairman of the Municipal Coun-cil regarding obstacles, their causes and the possibility of removing them.

The head of the Committee Fahid Al-Muwaisari said they discussed the chal-lenges and obstacles in the presence of the concerned authorities. The discus-sions, he said, were positive in terms of the convergence of views on this vital housing project that was disrupted due to the presence of obstacles.

He referred to another meeting which was held for the same reason and praised the cooperation of the concerned

authorities and their keenness to follow up on this fi le during the committee’s next meeting.

He said he is optimistic after reach-ing a consensus between the committee members and the concerned authorities, but he warned not to be overly optimis-tic about the existence of a huge hous-ing project in light of the legal obstacles intertwining that need coordination in order to resolve issues.

For his part, member Hamad Al-Medlej said all parties associated with south Saad Al-Abdullah housing pro-ject have been summoned, as it became clear that the Public Authority for Ag-ricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) has a major problem with the Ministry of Finance’s decision be-cause it does not have any contract with poultry farms located in the Saad Al-Abdullah South site.

He also said, the representatives of the Ministry of Electricity and Water

mentioned the power supply was given at the alternative site and that the poul-try farms were compensated to the tune of 7 million dinars, and an additional 6 million dinars were being given to them for the transfer, according to the Minis-try of Finance.

Al-Medlej said the farms trade in state property and said the Public Au-thority for Housing Welfare does not play its role despite its offi cial receipt of the site for more than a year, indicat-ing that there are 30,000 families that are not part of the government plan and there is no seriousness in dealing with this problem.

He pointed out he is preparing a com-plete report to present it to the Munici-pal Council and refer any failure to the supervisory authorities, starting with Nazaha (Integrity) and ending with the Public Prosecution. It is unacceptable for any government agency to be negli-gent with the housing issue.

Wastage of funds

Covid crisis cuts budgets

Domestic workers’ share in ration cards to ‘cancel’

Number of citizens movesto S. Sabah Al-Ahmad City

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the cancellation of shares of domestic workers that are not under the guarantee of the owner of the ration card, starting from the beginning of next January, re-ports Al-Rai daily.

In this regard, informed sources revealed that there are about 60,000 domestic workers who will be covered by the decision

They said, “Some of these workers left the country some time ago, without the sponsors updating their ration data, and they continued to get their usual rations without stop-ping.

The new decision will reduce wastage of public funds by about KD 4.5 million annually, on the basis that the cost of the rations for domestic workers to be removed from the ration card exceeds KD 360,000 dinars. This step was calcu-lated by the new Minister Faisal Al-Medlej, taking into ac-count that the domestic worker gets all the rations prescribed in the card just like the citizen.

Within the framework of cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Interior and Kuwaiti Supply Compa-ny, and thanks to the automated interface among the vari-ous government agencies, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry restricted domestic workers that are not under the sponsorship of the ration card holder to automatically cancel them from the ration system.

This amendment will allow registering new eligible do-mestic workers, and citizens will have to register the new workers by updating the ration card data through the minis-try’s electronic portal.”

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The number of Kuwaiti citizens who wish to move to South Sabah Al-Ahmad City has in-creased by about 30 percent compared to the total number of plots to be distributed during the current fi scal year, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting reliable sources.

They explained that about 3,140 applications were made until last week for citizens who applied for privatization of the project, out of 10,000 plots each of 400 square meters area.

The number of citizens wishing to privatize apartments in Jaber Al-Ahmad residential city reached 855. The num-ber of desires exceeded the required number for available apartments, which amounted to 520 apartments, each of 400 square meters area.

Meanwhile, the South Sabah Al-Ahmad Voluntary City Committee announced that the COVID-19 crisis led to the reduction of state budgets due to which the project contract will be put forward in the 2021/2022 fi scal year at the re-quest of the Ministry of Finance.

The committee explained that it visited the Public Author-ity for Housing Welfare (PAHW) to review the develop-ments of the project. It clarifi ed that starting the implemen-tation of the project after the start of the 2021/2022 fi scal year will take four to six months maximum, in case PAHW renews the prior control of the State Audit Bureau and the law tenders. However, if the renewal process is not expedit-ed and the law is approved in the National Assembly, a delay of approximately one year will occur due to the bureaucracy, the document cycle and the issuance of government agen-cies’ approvals.

LOCAL/MIDEASTARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2020

7

Group preps for challenges of 2021, discusses major defensive actions to mitigate attack risk

ISC2 Kuwait Chapter conducts annual meeting, tackles cybersecurity issuesKUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The Kuwait Chapter of the International Information System Security Certifi cation Consortium (ISC)2 conducted the annual meeting on-line Dec 22, 2020, 8-10 PM. The agenda for the meeting was to discuss the cyber-security issues of 2020 and prepare for the challenges of 2021.

(ISC)2 Kuwait Chapter Vice-Presi-dent, Dana Winner, opened the meeting with a review of cybersecurity continu-ing professional education opportunities available through the (ISC)2 Professional Development Institute (PDI). (ISC)2 is currently offering an exceptionally low price for PDI education courses – avail-able only for non-members. She also in-troduced the new (ISC)2 Community in-ternet portal. The meeting attendees were then encouraged to form small groups in the Zoom breakout rooms to discuss the agreed topics.

Topic 1: Led by Ayed Al Qartah, Tech-nical Solutions Architect, Cyber security @ Cisco Systems, group 1 tackled the topic of ransomware. Reporting for the group, Syed Basha, Sr Cybersecurity An-alyst, KNOC, highlighted that the group reviewed the ransomware “kill chain” from start to fi nish. Some attendees re-ported that they had experienced ransom-ware attacks while others were primarily hoping to avoid such attacks. The group discussed the major defensive actions that should be taken to mitigate the risk of an attack and to respond to an attack in progress.

One of the major vulnerabilities of or-

ganizations in Kuwait is the common use of personal “free” email addresses – such as gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc. - for busi-ness purposes. It is not uncommon to see that personnel in security functions using personal email addresses rather than well-secured enterprise email systems.

Topic 2: Led by Colin Brown, Secu-rity Management Consultant, the group discussed the challenges jointly faced by physical and logical (cyber) security and how to improve collaboration between the two functions. They agreed that the major cause of the lack of collabora-tion was “mind set”, i.e. the attitude by organization leaders that assumes “that won’t happen to me”. The group humor-ously called this the “All-Trust model” as opposed to the “Zero Trust Model” cur-rently being implemented widely in the cyber security discipline.

Also, causing a lack of investment in security is the belief that all forms of se-curity are a cost rather than adding value to the organization. The third major chal-lenge to security in all organizations in Kuwait is the general tendency to not know how to defi ne the security require-

ments. Consequently, when the security solution is delivered the reaction is “This isn’t what I asked for.” These three issues are shared by physical security and cyber (logical) security functions.

Weak collaboration between physical and logical (cyber) security is primarily caused by lack of understanding of each other. The group identifi ed mutual un-derstanding through training and devel-opment of policies, rules and regulations to guide security preparation for, defense against and response to incidents will im-prove the collaboration between physical and cyber (logical) security.

Topic 3. Led by Senthil Kumar, Pro-tiviti, Kuwait, the group discussed how to develop the Kuwait cybersecurity work-force. They highlighted the need to attract “fresh minds”, to ensure new thinking. They acknowledge the benefi t that Ku-wait provides a stable business environ-ment compared to many countries in the region. However, cybersecurity is stress-ful work due to the fact that the worker is always on duty. The result is that attrition is high. To make the cybersecurity pro-

fession more attractive, it is necessary to make it more lucrative.

To reduce the level of stress it is im-portant to create offi cial information sharing processes. As an example of the need for better cybersecurity information, the group discussed the recent attack on the Kuwait Fire Brigade. The knowledge that such an attack has happened without knowing more details only increases the sense of working blind which increases stress.

To attract “fresh minds” they sug-gested “hackathons” which are oppor-tunities for proposing and developing new ideas. It is important to attract non-Kuwaitis as well as Kuwaitis to en-sure the needed diversity of skills and perspective. There is a specific need to attract Python coders. This might be done by conducting workshops in schools to make students aware of what cybersecurity is. The students should receive coupons for free training, schol-arships, internships and other first step cybersecurity activities.

Topic 4: Reporting for the group, Nasser B. Alqadeeri, KPC, asserted that “the world changed” as a result of the recent cyberattack on the global cyberse-curity infrastructure. As seen in the cor-ruption of the Solarwinds Orion software by the adversary, the software supply chain has been proven to be an unex-pected source of vulnerability. Now, the concept of Zero Trust architecture will be more widely implemented as a necessary expense.

The mitigations discussed by the group included the actions already implemented such as profi ling of 3rd party products, baselining for normal behavior, so as to detect deviation, human monitoring of cybersecurity data. The group suggested that to increase vigilance, vendors should establish checksums for all of their prod-uct fi les and all checkpoints in the sup-ply chain should verify the checksum for each fi le before accepting and implement-ing the products.

Topic 5: The group discussing The Hu-man Factor in Cybersecurity and Work-ing from Home (WFH) included Crystal Al Shatti, Deputy Head Enterprise Secu-rity, Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC). Al Shatti reported that the GIC Network was ready for employees to WFH se-curely. However, based on the experience of 2020, new organizational policies and procedures have been developed to sup-port WFH. Many employees found that they prefer WFH, however, the assess-ment by the organization leadership is that Kuwait law does not explicitly sup-port a policy for WFH. This issue is under review to determine the regulatory frame-work regarding WFH.

The group also reviewed the added risk posed by people using their own devices for work and education activi-ties, as required by most organizations in Kuwait. Most alarming is the requirement for teachers and students to use personal devices to conduct eLearning. These de-vices number in the tens of thousands in Kuwait, representing a large attack vec-

tor, i.e. a large target for cyberattack.Reviewing the basic actions neces-

sary to protect individual devices, the group highlighted password managers, pass phrases, multi-factor authentication, software updates and encryption of stored data. Most of all: people must not open email messages from unknown sources and must not click on links or open at-tachments unless they are 100% trustwor-thy.

Overall, the conclusion of the meet-ing was that, unfortunately, the situation in cyberspace, including the Internet, is increasingly high risk, requiring a Zero Trust policy.

(ISC)2 Kuwait Chapter meeting regis-trants work in the following companies: Deloitte, Diyar United Co., Asc, NBK, Warba Bank, Fortinet, BK, NestingTech , ATC, Gulf Investment Corp, Zak Solu-tions, CDN, UAS, Cisco Systems, Minis-try of Information, Palo Alto Networks, OSSC, Al-Awael/Checksum, ICCR Ku-wait Ltd, Asar, Ministry of Education, AUK, Gulf Drilling, KPC, Delite Engi-neering, UAS, Sabah AlAhmed Center for Giftedness and Creativity, CAIT, Consulenza Global , Protiviti, KNPC.

The offi cers of (ISC)2 Kuwait Chapter: President, Tom Gamali; Vice-President, Dana Winner; Secretary, Najat Alkan-deri; Treasurer, Sunthil Kumar; Public Relations Offi cer, Abdul Aziz Alhamoud; Membership Chair, Ahmed Hasan. For more information connect with (ISC)2 Kuwait Chapter’s Linked-in group “IS-C2Kuwait”.

Kuwait National Guard and Bahrainicounterpart hold Taawon 5 exercise

Defense prepares list for cash leave allowance

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: The National Guard held an exercise “Taawon 5”, (Cooperation 5) with the participation of the Bah-raini National Guard, by means of ‘remote commu-nication’ technology, given the grim health conditions the world is going through due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The aim of the drill was to en-hance and exchange cooperation gained through crises.

Undersecretary of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Hashim Al-Rifai, conveyed to the participants the greetings and appreciation of the Supreme Command of the National Guard, His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali, Chief of the National Guard, and the fi rst retired Lieutenant-General Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawwaf, Deputy Chairman of the National Guard, and all the National Guard members, com-manders and forces.

He also thanked Lieutenant Gen-eral HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Bah-rain National Guard, Major-General Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Saud Al-Khalifa, Director of Staff of the Bah-rain National Guard, commanders and forces of the Bahraini National Guard, and all participants in the (Taawon 5) exercise.

Al-Rifai added, the fi fth edition of the exercise comes during exceptional circumstances; the emerging Corona virus (Covid-19), during which the National Guard has shown it is a great model in providing support all types of support.

In other news, the Ministry of De-fense has prepared lists of eligible of-fi cers, non-commissioned offi cers and individuals from various military units for cash allowances, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a statement to Al-Anba, the min-istry said a circular was issued to all military units in all sectors of the army for those who wish can cash their an-nual leave balance – a maximum as set by the ministry.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Interior has already deposited into the bank accounts of its employees the cash leave allowance.

Pravasi Legal Cell Kuwait, At Law Group sign ‘MoU’

GUST’s Al Shammari ‘appointed’to editorial board of int’l journal

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: Pravasi Legal Cell Kuwait has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kuwaiti law firm At Law Group. In event the Law Group was represented by Kuwaiti law-yer Yusuf Khalid Al Mutairi, Pravasi Legal Cell Kuwait country head Babu Francis, General Secretary Biju Stephen and Treasurer Shiny Frank. The Pravasi Legal Cell started functioning in Kuwait last December 2019. All expa-triate Indians can avail legal advice through the Pravasi Legal Cell Kuwait Chapter. Moreover Kuwaiti lawyers’ legal advice and other assistance as per Kuwait law through MoU, what makes it special and that available to people quickly. Pravasi Legal Cell officials said, services can be request on mobile number 66957576 or Email:pravasilegalcellkuwait@gmail.com

PLC filed more PIL’s before Hon’ble Supreme Court and High Court in favour for expatriate Indians including the recent case demanding full refund of airlines tickets canceled following the lockdown. PLC provid-ing pro-bono and competent legal aid

to Indians mainly abroad, those who cannot afford the process of getting due justice. A number of committed lawyers on PLC panel are ever willing to provide free legal aid and legal counseling to common man in various judicial forums. PLC is committed to spreading legal awareness among the public and legal advices for Indians with support of Lawyers and experts locally in each PLC chapter counties in association with leading academic institutions and organizations in Indian community.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: Dr Shahd Al Shammari, Assistant Professor of English at Gulf University for Science and Technology, has been elected to the Editorial Board of the international aca-demic journal, Disability & Society. As an editor on the editorial board of the journal, Dr Al Shammari will be reviewing articles submitted by academics worldwide, while ensuring the tone and direction of the edito-rial publishing policy.

Disability & Society is an interna-tional disability studies journal that pro-vides a focus for debate about issues such as human rights, discrimination, definitions, policies and practices. It appears against a backdrop of constant change in the ways in which disability is viewed and responded to.

Assistant Professor at the English Dept., Dr Shahd Al Shammari said, “It is an honor to be involved with such a prestigious academic journal. I look for-ward to more rigorous research to shed more light on these important topics, and to raise GUST and Kuwait’s aca-demic and professional standing.”

Dr Al Shammari is a widely pub-lished scholar whose articles appear in internationally renowned peer-reviewed academic journals, and is also an accomplished creative writer. Her work has been featured at numerous events, including the Emirates Literature Festival, and the Malta Book Festival. Dr Al Shammari’s focus on women and

disability studies solidifies her among the best young early-career researchers in the Gulf region.

The peer-reviewed top-tier Q2 jour-nal was established in 1986 and is pub-lished by the international publisher Taylor & Francis Group in the UK. It is considered one of the leading contribu-tors to the field of Disability Studies and has been cited to have a 2017 1.212 impact factor.

This is a prestigious nomination that will enhance GUST’s exposure to the international and regional level of research collaboration and reputation, and will enhance the place and influ-ence GUST maintains amongst the top universities that can contribute in eco-nomic research on the Middle East and North African region.

The National Guard, along with its Bahraini counterpart, carried out the ‘Taawon 5’ exercise via remote commu-nication.

Photos by Saeed AhmadPhotos during the blood donation camp

Organization lauds Kuwait Central Blood Bank

Pak Donors organizes blood donation campBy Mujahid Iqbal

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 29: A blood do-nation camp was organized by Paki-stani Donors on the occasion of Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muham-mad Ali Jinnah’s birthday at Al-Adan Blood Bank. Respecting the rules and regulations imposed by the Ministry of Health in the wake of the coron