On the occasion of Hijri New Year 1444, the Civil Service Commission announced holidays for all ministries, government agencies, public authorities and institutions on Sunday, July 31.

Official work for all ministries, government agencies, public authorities and institutions will resume on Monday 1st August.

While the US State Department’s report on human trafficking for the year 2022 reduced Kuwait’s classification on the Watch List placing Kuwait on the second level (orange), the head of the National Office for Human Rights, Ambassador Jassem Al-Mubaraki, said that he was not surprised by this decline, describing the sponsorship system as “similar to the system of slavery, servitude and forced labor,” reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Mubaraki said in a statement to the daily, that he spoke repeatedly, and conveyed his opinion to officials of the need to abolish the sponsorship system, as it harms the reputation of Kuwait, explaining that these sponsors bring workers in exchange for a material amount, according to nationality, and the prices of recruiting some nationalities may reach more than 2000 dinars. He asked, “Do they think that the world does not see what is happening in Kuwait?” He reiterated the “necessity of abolishing the sponsorship system, and putting an end to what is happening in the recruitment offices of domestic workers.” He added, “The world sees advertisements posted on websites where servants are offered for sale, and this is slavery, although the decision has been issued by the Council of Ministers to ban such advertisements.”

A prominent Kuwaiti labour activist has urged Kuwaiti authorities to reconsider a ban on domestic workers being transferred between employers in cases of disputes to alleviate labour shortages.

Bassam Al Shamiri, a Kuwaiti expert in domestic labour affairs, told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba that a decision should be issued in this regard and deportation should not be the first step. The first step should be to re-employ workers who have been laid off. The workers should receive their full dues before they leave the country if this is impossible," he said.

Kuwait's employment market needs to be stabilized and eased by rehabilitating and returning domestic workers to the labour market, according to Al Shahmiri.

When the domestic worker leaves for good or goes on vacation, the final clearance must be approved, which demonstrates that all his/her dues have been paid in accordance with the law. A similar measure is in place in neighbouring countries. The program has proven successful for both private sector and domestic workers, reducing cases of violations of workers' financial rights by 90%, making these countries attractive to workers of all types.

Due to global COVID-19 restrictions, Kuwait has experienced shortages of labour in several fields in recent months.

The purchase committee of the Kuwait Municipality has agreed to fl oat a tender worth half a million dinars for the preparation of advisory studies for the project to develop and beautify Kuwait City for a period of ten months, reports Al-Qabas daily. The committee stipulated the availability of financial accreditation, and the necessary approvals obtained from the regulatory authorities in accordance with the laws and regulating circulars.

The Kuwait City beautification project aims at creating a sustainable urban environment in line with the environmental, economic, cultural and recreational aspects of the Kuwaiti way of life. It is worth mentioning that the municipality has taken measures for including the Kuwait City beautification project in the budget of the 2022/2023 fiscal year in order to be able to implement the Cabinet’s decision within the required timeline. Coordination is ongoing with various institutions in the public and private sectors, ministries and civil society organizations to cooperate, participate and present their initiatives related to this project.

The municipality’s vision is that Kuwait City should be sustainable and contribute positively to the local and regional development plans, while adhering to the highest standards of sustainable development and civic social responsibility, and improving Kuwait’s civilized vision. The municipality has undertaken to achieve its mission by providing an appropriate environment to facilitate and support development initiatives in both public and private sectors and civil society organizations in order to achieve a sustainable recovery, and realize the vision of the State of Kuwait for an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable city.

Meanwhile, an informed source revealed that the Supreme Planning Committee, in its last meeting concerning the transfer of the tent market, assigned the head of the Public Markets Committee Eng. Muhammad Sarkhouh to coordinate with the projects sector, and hold an urgent meeting with Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) to discuss the application of the necessary conditions and requirements, find appropriate solutions for all obstacles according to the existing situation, and submit a report.  

In reaction to the decision of the Minister of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Ali Al-Mousa to form a committee to set controls for charging electric cars locally, officials from car companies and specialists in electrical cars highlighted the need for all concerned parties to cooperate to make the service successful, as it will lead to a reduction in the value of fuel subsidies, and limit carbon emissions and environmental pollution, reports Al-Rai daily.

During an interview, many company officials agreed on the importance of studying the experiences of the neighboring countries that preceded Kuwait in providing electric car charging stations, setting controls that encourage local agencies to provide the service quickly, and solving all obstacles they faced technically, financially and economically. In this regard, the Director of Marketing at GMC Behbehani Motors Tony Trantic stressed the need to provide electric car chargers in commercial complexes, ministries, cooperative societies, hospitals and government agencies, as well as to ensure large capacities for them in the parking lots of these entities.  

Against the background of the Court of Cassation’s assertion that the Umm al-Haiman area is not suitable for housing because it has turned into a hotbed of pollution, a number of citizens residing in the area revealed that they intend to file new cases against the concerned government authorities to compensate them for the damages they have sustained over the past years, as well as to demand that they be given alternative housing in other areas, reports Al-Qabas daily. A tour of Umm Al-Haiman revealed the increasing suffering of the people due to the emission of fumes from dozens of factories close to the houses. The citizens indicated that they had submitted complaints more than once to the government authorities to save them from the clutches of pollution, but none of the officials have acted.

A new Kuwaiti government has been appointed, three months after the ex-Kuwaiti government resigned. Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah will become the country's new Prime Minister.

Al Qabas newspaper reports that an Emiri decree appointing Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem as Prime Minister was issued today. 

The new government will also be formed under Sheikh Mohammed's leadership.

As the fourth son of the 12th Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, who ruled Kuwait from 1965 to 1977, Sheikh Mohammed was born in 1955.

A graduate of Claremont College in California, he holds a PhD from Harvard University in Economics and Middle Eastern Studies.

A former deputy prime minister and Kuwait's foreign minister, Al Sabah served as both. Kuwait appointed him ambassador to the US in 1993. Until 14 February 2001, when he was appointed state minister for foreign affairs, he held this position. From January 2003 to July 2003, he served as minister of finance. While retaining his position as foreign minister, Mohammad was appointed deputy prime minister on 11 February 2006.

As a protest against alleged corruption within Kuwait's government, he resigned from office on October 18, 2011. Upon leaving office, Al Sabah worked at Oxford University as a visiting fellow.

 The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) has launched a service that provides an overview of population growth from 1990 to 2021, reports Al-Jarida daily.

In a recent press statement, PACI revealed that the service facilitates monitoring of population growth in any region throughout the country on the authority’s website.  

 The Ministry of Health is closely following the latest developments in diseases and epidemics locally and globally, especially after the outbreak of the “Marburg” virus in Ghana, where the World Health Organization announced on Sunday first outbreak there, indicating that the virus belongs to the Ebola family, and is transmitted via the animals, reports Al-Qabas daily. The sources reiterated the situation in Kuwait is good and safe, and stated that the health authorities had not received any notification or new recommendations from the WHO until yesterday about the Marburg virus, the virus that is known since 1967 and most of its cases appeared in the south and east of the African continent, pointing to the readiness of the medical and nursing staff to deal with any diseases or epidemics that may be registered in the country, given the continuous cumulative experiences through its dealings with the Corona virus and its variants since February 2020. 

The sources indicated that the disease is considered a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever, and is transmitted to humans through fruit bats, and is also transmitted from people to people by direct contact with the body fluids of the infected people and surfaces.

The sources ruled out the need to resort to health authorities to tighten procedures with travelers through air and land ports during the current period, given the absence of any new instructions or guidelines issued by the WHO on travel. The sources stated that the symptoms of infection with the virus, according to international reports, begin with fever, muscle aches and body pain, headache, cough and sore throat, followed by diarrhea or vomiting, as well as bleeding from the mouth, nose or internal organs, noting that there is no specific treatment or approved drug for the disease so far. The sources reiterated the continuous coordination with the WHO noting that the health situation in Kuwait is good, and the medical system has gained great experience. Reports say the Marburg virus belongs to the Ebola family and is transmitted from animals; the virus is known since 1967 and has spread to southern and eastern Africa; the disease is considered highly contagious hemorrhagic fever; it is transmitted between people through direct contact with body fl uids; symptoms start with fever, muscle aches, headache and cough and there is no specific treatment or approved drug for the disease yet.

 The Kuwait Vaccination Center at the exhibition grounds in Mishref is witnessing a huge turnout of people who want to get vaccinated in light of the intensified public awareness campaigns on the importance of vaccination including the booster doses, reports Al-Rai daily. Official statistics revealed that 85 percent of citizens and expatriates have been vaccinated.

Around 3,436,600 people or 87.62 percent of the population eligible for vaccination got the first dose; while the number of those fully vaccinated reached 3,326,073 or 84.81 percent and those who got the booster dose reached 1,386,614. Sources attributed the increase in demand for vaccination to rising societal awareness on the importance of vaccination, the travel season, keenness to be protected from the virus, large segment of those qualified to get the third dose, and fourth dose for certain categories.

Sources reiterated the call for the initiative to get vaccinated, including the booster doses, in order to increase the level of protection and expand the scope of herd immunity

The Indian rupee fell to more than 80 per US dollar for the first time on record Tuesday, as the greenback extended its rally and foreign capital outflows intensified. The rupee hit 80.0600 against the US dollar in early trade, Bloomberg data showed, before paring losses on suspected central bank intervention to close at 79.9487.

High inflation and rising interest rates in the United States coupled with fears of an impending recession in the world’s biggest economy have fuelled a broad dollar rally in recent weeks as investors become increasingly risk-averse. Tighter US monetary policy has exacerbated outflows from emerging markets such as India, where foreign investors have withdrawn a net $31 billion in debt and equity this year.

Data released last week showed that US consumer price inflation hit a fresh four-decade high in June, exceeding market forecasts and stoking expectations of another large Federal Reserve rate hike next week. In a written statement to the Indian parliament on Monday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman attributed the rupee’s sharp fall to external reasons.

“Global factors such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, soaring crude oil prices and tightening of global financial conditions are the major reasons for the weakening of the Indian Rupee against the US dollar,” she said. At the same time, the Indian currency has strengthened against the British pound, the Japanese yen and the euro in 2022 so far, Sitharaman added. But higher crude prices have resulted in a deteriorating trade balance in a country that imports 80 percent of its oil.

India’s merchandise trade deficit widened to a record $26.18 billion in June, official data showed last week, largely because of higher crude and coal import prices. In its monthly economic review, the finance ministry said costlier imports could widen the current account deficit and cause the rupee to depreciate further. Consumer price inflation in India, the world’s sixth-largest economy, cooled slightly to 7.01 percent in June after hitting an eight-year high of 7.79 percent in April.

But price rises have persisted well above the central bank’s two-to-six percent target range despite consecutive interest rate hikes in May and June. The central bank has also sold more than $34 billion of its foreign currency reserves in an effort to stabilize the rupee. “The near-term outlook for the rupee will continue to be weak as it tracks developments on the oil and gas front in international markets,” forex market expert K Harihar told AFP.

“The weakness will persist until trade deficit numbers come down or capital inflows counter it,” he said, adding that the rupee could fall to 81 per US dollar without an agreement between Europe and Russia on gas supply. The rupee’s move followed Russia’s Gazprom telling Europe late Monday that it cannot guarantee gas supplies following maintenance work on its Nord Stream pipeline. India’s benchmark Sensex index closed 0.45 percent higher on Tuesday. – AFP

Google on Tuesday celebrated the 113th birth anniversary of famous Malayalam poet Balamani Amma with a Doodle illustrated by Kerala-based artist Devika Ramachandran. The Doodle shows Balamani sitting by a window and composing a poem. Several books can also be seen in the scene.

Balamani was a recipient of multiple awards, including the Saraswati Samman -- India’s most esteemed literary award -- and Padma Vibhushan -- India’s second-highest civilian award. She published more than 20 anthologies of poetry, prose, and translations.

Known as the grandmother of Malayalam literature, Balamani was born on July 19, 1909, in Nalapat, her ancestral home in Punnayurkulam located in Kerala’s Thrissur district. She never received any formal training or education but was instead schooled at home by her uncle Nalappat Narayana Menon, who was also a popular Malayali poet. He had an impressive collection of books and works that Balamani studied at a young age.

At 19, she married V.M. Nair, the managing director and managing editor of Mathrubhumi, a Malayalam newspaper.

In 1930, at the age of 21, Balamani published her first poem titled Kooppukai. Her first recognition as a gifted poet came from the former ruler of the Kingdom of Cochin, Parikshith Thampuran, who awarded her with the Sahithya Nipuna Puraskaram.

In it’s tribute, Google said in a blog post, “As an avid reader of Indian mythology, Amma’s poetry tended to put a spin on the traditional understanding of women characters. Her early poems glorified motherhood in a new light—she became known as the ‘poetess of motherhood’.”

“Her works adopted the ideas and stories of mythological characters, but depicted women as powerful figures who remained ordinary human beings. Her most famous works include  Amma (1934),  Muthassi (1962) and  Mazhuvinte Katha (1966),” it added.

Balamani’s daughter Kamala Das was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1984.

“Balamani Amma’s poems describing her love for children and grandchildren earned her the titles of  Amma (Mother) and  Muthassi (Grandmother) of Malayalam poetry,” Google’s post read. She passed away in 2004 and her cremation was attended with full state honours.

 The Court of Cassation ruled that the Umm al-Hayman area was unfit for habitation due to the pollution of factories, and proved the government’s mistake in its decisions to approve the area as habitable, reports Al-Rai daily.

The expert management committee assigned by the court confirmed that there were studies and research conducted by the Environmental Protection Council before the establishment of the residential area, which proved that it is exposed to high levels of pollutants that exceed the permissible limits for housing.

The Ministry of Interior said a study conducted by it showed that the period between 7:00 am and 10:00 am was best suitable for cyclists to practice their hobby on Fridays on the Jaber Bridge, but the latter said this time was inconvenient for them and declined the offer from the ministry, reports Al-Qabas daily.

At the same the farmers said the closure of the bridge for vehicles at this time will cause harm to them because this period of time is best suitable for them to transport their goods and fresh produce. In the event of this the ministry came to the conclusion that the bridge will be close for vehicular traffic on Fridays only if government institutions or private companies request permission to hold marathons.

Reports in Annahar daily indicate that the Ministry of Finance has vehemently denied rumors spread on social media platforms about the cancellation of consumer and personal loans; urging the public to obtain information from its official Twitter and Instagram accounts. After watching a video clip of some activists claiming a decision to cancel the above would be issued soon, the ministry confirmed it is keen on taking legal action against anyone who spreads false news.

Social media went viral with the mention of the loans. As far as activists are concerned, the ministry has begun procedures to determine the number of citizens with consumer loans and personal loans so that the total amount - estimated at KD2 billion - can be determined.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Fahad Al-Shariaan has issued a decision to ban the import, manufacture, sale or installation of all types of exhaust systems and their accessories in cars, reports Al- Qabas daily.

According to the decision, sports bodies specialized in engines, approved car agencies, and car spare parts agents licensed to sell them who have obtained a car exhaust agency and the approval from the General Traffic Department are excluded from the ban.

Kuwait Meteorological Department said on Sunday the weather in the country was affected by northwesterly wind, resulting in humidity in areas near the coast and dust in some other parts. 

Yasser Al-Boloushi, an official at the Meteorological Department, stated to KUNA that the temperature was expected to be 46-49 degrees and the wind northwesterly at speed between 8-32km/h, adding that the visibility will gradually improve. Al-Boloushi added that weather tonight was expected to be at 35-37 degrees with northwesterly winds at 8-35 km/h in speed. (KUNA)

According to the Director General of Bash Aviation Company for Travel and Tourism Muhammad Bashir, despite the end of the Eid al-Adha holidays and the end of almost one month since the start of the summer vacation, the prices of flight tickets are still high due to the continuous demand by citizens and residents to travel. This demand has led to an increase in the prices of flights to some preferred destinations from Kuwait by up to 200 percent, reports Al- Anba daily.

In detail, Bashir explained that Turkey, Egypt, London, Baku and the Maldives top the list of destinations currently preferred by people from Kuwait. The roundtrip costs for those destinations after the Eid holidays are high, given the ongoing high demand. The prices to travel to some of those destinations from Kuwait are not high but the costs of return tickets are high. For example, the cost of a flight ticket to London at present is about KD 390 round trip, but KD 100 one way.

The price of a ticket to the Maldives is about KD 334 round trip with the end of the Eid holidays, but only between KD 75 to KD 130 one way. The price of a one-way ticket to Egypt is currently about KD 172. The cost of a one-way trip from Kuwait to Egypt was about KD 50 recently, and it rose again in the last one-two days to almost KD 100.

WhatsApp, owned by Meta, has added several new features recently. The company is also developing more features for future versions. Take a look at some of these

DRAWING TOOLS: The company has rolled out three new drawing tools: two new pencils and a blur tool. The blur tool was already available on WhatsApp for iOS, so what's new is the interface of the drawing editor when using these new drawing tools.

REACT TO MESSAGES WITH MORE EMOJIS: The platform currently gives users the ability to react with just 6 emojis. But the company has recently rolled out a new feature that will let users react to messages with any emoji of their choice. Emojis like a robot, french fries, surfing in the sea, etc. are some among them. The feature may take a few days to reach all Android and iOS devices that use WhatsApp, but rest assured that it is finally on its way.

2GB FILE SHARING: Users can share larger files now since the platform has increased the file transfer size from 100MB to 2GB.

512-MEMBERS GROUP CHATS: WhatsApp has doubled the maximum number of participants allowed in a group chat, from 256 to 512 people. This facility to add more people to the groups is slowly being rolled out.

MUTE, MESSAGE PARTICIPANTS DURING GROUP CALL: These group calling features would allow users to mute others during a group call and send messages to specific people. One can also see a banner when someone joins a group call off-screen.

HIDE PROFILE PHOTO, LAST SEEN FROM SPECIFIC PEOPLE: This new privacy setting would allow users to hide their 'profile photos,' 'last seen,' and 'about' information from specific people in their contact lists. Until now, users had three privacy options for one's profile photo, last seen, and About info - Everyone, My Contacts, and Nobody. These are joined by a fourth option called 'My contacts except...' which is also available for Status privacy. But if someone doesn't share their last seen with others, they won't be able to see others either, just like read receipts, with the only difference being that the latter will always remain active for group chats, even if they've turned it off.

MESSAGE EDITING TOOL: The company is readying another important function, the ability to edit a message. It has been quite a while since the app started letting users delete messages, but it never brought the ability to edit them. The upcoming feature will let users fix any typo after sending a message.

HIDE ONLINE STATUS FROM ALL: WhatsApp is also working on a feature that will give iOS users the ability to hide their online status from everyone. As of now, users can choose to display their 'Last Seen' information to contacts, some people, or no one. For a future version of the app, WhatsApp will let users follow a similar approach to the online toggle.

SEARCH SHORTCUTS: With the new shortcut feature, users will be able to make searches straight from the info page of personal contacts and group chats.

VERIFICATION CODE TO PREVENT FRAUD: The under-development feature would add an extra layer of security before logging into a WhatsApp account. That means any successful attempt to log into the user's account from another device requires an additional verification code to confirm. This feature would help to protect those users that may naively share their 6-digit code.

EXIT GROUPS SILENTLY: Currently, when users exit a group, WhatsApp normally adds a system message in the chat to inform all participants that one has exited the group. As per this under-development feature, when users want to exit a group, other people will not be notified in the chat. Only group admins will be able to see who exits the group.

MULTI-DEVICE LINKING: The new feature being tested in the beta will allow users to talk with the same account on different phones. This is a significant advance from the past when multi-devices could only be run via a desktop client or web browser. Once functional, this feature will allow users to talk with the same account on different phones, or a phone and a tablet.

PREVIEW PHOTOS AND VIDEOS: The company is working on a new way to get the document preview when you share videos and images as documents in chats. Currently, you cannot get a glimpse of an image or video sent as a document without opening it. The preview will be similar to the one that is visible when you share a PDF file as a document on WhatsApp.

POLLS: The new feature will allow you to select a question and add several options to it. This includes adding a question and up to 12 different options for responses. The feature is initially expected to be available for WhatsApp groups only.

REELS: The company is planning to allow Reels inside WhatsApp in future updates. The feature will reportedly allow users to watch Instagram Reels directly from the messaging app. It could be a part of WhatsApp’s integration plan with other Facebook-owned apps.

COMMUNITIES FEATURE: The platform is soon expected to introduce a new Communities feature for Group administrators. The feature is about to provide more control to the Group administrators. With this, admins can create Groups within Groups. The Sub-Groups will also be end-to-end encrypted.

NEW CHAT FEATURE FOR GROUP ADMINS: The new chat feature for group admins will allow them to delete messages sent by other group members. This will be rolled out in a future update. When its functional, the group admins will be able to delete inappropriate messages without the permission of the authors. Also, it will give more power to admins to control the group chats. When an admin deletes a particular message in the group chat, users will receive a notification that says ‘This was deleted by an admin’.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP APPROVAL: The latest beta update also includes an admin approval feature that allows WhatsApp group admins to accept or deny requests from people wanting to join via hyperlink when enabled. When available, the feature must be manually enabled for each group that requires it. The option to toggle it on or off will be available in the group settings as 'Group Membership Approval' and whenever the feature is toggled on or off, all current customers in the group will receive a quick notification to let them know about the change. When the feature is enabled, admins will see group membership requests in a separate subsection in the 'Group Info' section each time someone tries to join the group using a sharable link. Admins can choose which clients to grant access to the group on this page.

READ LATER: Currently, when you archive an individual or group chat, the service hides it in the archive section, so that the chats are not visible on the top of the messaging app. However, when a new message arrives, the archived chat automatically shows up on the top of the screen, which is quite annoying. With this new feature, the platform aims to eliminate these interruptions. Archived chat will not be brought to the top of the messaging app. Read later will also come with an edit button for users to customise settings. The users will also be able to select multiple chats at once to quickly unarchive them.