L O C A LTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

By Meshaal Al-Enezi

KUWAIT: The Court of Appeals yesterdayadjourned the hearing of a case in which a num-ber of citizens, including former MPs are chargedwith breaking into the parliament. The adjourn-ment came to study a request to change one ofthe judges. The court set September 9th as thedate for the next hearing. The Criminal Courthad acquitted all defendants but the publicprosecution challenged the ruling and took thecase to the Appeals Court.

Meanwhile, lawyer Mohammed Al-Jassimwho represents former MP Musallam Al-Barrak inthe case rejected bringing his client to courtwith shackled feet, as well as the presence ofmasked special forces inside the court room.Lawyer Jassim also objected to the presence ofone of the judges who was a member of the pre-vious panel at the Criminal Court. Barrak wastransported from prison to court in a heavilyguarded convoy consisting of state security, traf-fic police, the investigations’ department andcentral prison security officers.

New PAAFRA director Oil minister Dr Ali Al-Omair recently dis-

missed the acting Public Authority forAgricultural and Fish Resources Affairs (PAAFRA)Director Nabila Al-Khalil after two years in officeand promoted Faisal Al-Hasawi as actingPAAFRA director and manager of the AgricultureDepartment.

Monitoring devices A bedoon (stateless) man was recently arrest-

ed at Amghara scrap yard with possession ofeight wireless devices capable of monitoringMinistry of Interior (MOI) wireless communica-

tion waves, said security sources. Case papersindicate that the suspect seemed confusedwhen a police patrol stopped him and thus hisvehicle was thoroughly searched and thedevices were found. The suspect was referred tothe State Security Department for further inves-tigations.

Truckloads of seafood denied entryTwo trucks loaded with 10 tons of fish and

shrimps were banned entry yesterday by theimported food stuff department at Nuwaiseebland border exit. The shipment did not matchthe GCC Unified Imported Food Specifications

and was then returned to the country of origin.

Anti-imported fish campaignIn a related development, Capital Governor

Thabet Al-Muhanna yesterday met with repre-sentatives of fish importers who complainedthat the Fishermen Union had launched anti-

imported fish campaigns to reduce imports andthus increase the prices of local fish. Theimporters also said that fishing boats go out for5-10 days before they return with their catch tothe market without examining the fish’ healthvalidity.

Parliament storming caseadjourned to September 9Former MP brought to court ‘with shackled feet’

KUWAIT: A photo that went viral on social media yesterday shows former MPMusallam Al-Barrak smiling during a court hearing in a case in which a number of cit-izens are accused of storming the parliament’s building.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: A fire broke out in the basement ofa 10-storey Farwaniya building and was putout by firemen from Farwaniya, Sabhan andback-up centers. More than 200 residents ofthe building were evacuated, as the base-ment was used as a carpentry shop andwarehouse for furniture and foam material.The fire was brought under control in a shorttime and kept from spreading elsewhere. Noinjuries were reported. Another fire brokeout in a house under construction in Zahraand was put out by Sabhan fire center andbacked by Mishref center team. The fire start-ed in leftovers and construction material out-side the house. Meanwhile, a vehicle caughtfire in Jabriya and was responded by Hawallyfiremen. In another incident, a power gener-ator in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh caught fire,

prompting Jleeb firemen to respond and putout the minor fire quickly.

Water leakA call was received about an abnormal

water leak at a building in Abu Halifa.Mangaf fire center went to the building,evacuated all residents and cut the power.Water was found leaking from the 12th floor.Furthermore, a shack made from corrugatedgalvanized iron was found built in the areain violation of fire safety regulations. Aninvestigation was opened.

RingHawally firemen headed to Mubarak hos-

pital in response to an emergency call abouta woman with a ring stuck in her finger.Firemen successfully cut the ring off of theAsian woman’s finger.

No injuries in Farwaniya10-storey building fire

Firefighters tackle a blaze in a 10-story building in Farwaniya.

A power generator on fire in JleebAl-Shuyoukh.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry’s Nationality andPassports Department will start from January 1,2016 to implement Article 12 of the Foreigners’Residency Law 17/1959 and Article 159 of theimplementation rules of Foreigners’ ResidencyLaw 640/1987 which states that “it is not allowedfor the residency permit given to a foreigner toexceed the validity of his passport,” InteriorMinistry Assistant Undersecretary for Nationalityand Passports Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah said.

Major General SheikhMazen Al-Jarrah addedthe National andPassports Sector is exert-ing all efforts to developthe work systems toensure the comfort ofthe citizen and expatand make it easier toprocess transactions.

He said this measureis in the interest of citi-zens and expatriates,besides the periodgranted before its imple-mentation is enough for

all to check the validity of their passports andadjust their situation before heading toResidency Affairs Office to get the new residency.Once the passport expires, the residency visa willlikewise be voided according to the new law, andno new residency will be issued until the pass-port is renewed.

ProcedureMajor General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah urged

expatriates to check the validity of their pass-ports and renew them before they expire andthen go to the Residency Affairs Department toregister the new passport information and trans-fer the residency information from the old to thenew passport. He also urged citizens to checktheir domestic help passports to avoid any viola-tion. He said there is continued coordinationwith Relations and Security InformationDepartment to launch awareness campaigns forcitizens and expats. He said that brochures in fivelanguages, Arabic, English, Hindi, French andUrdu were printed, as well as a roll up about thislaw that will be distributed to all governmentand private establishments, as well as NGOs.

Renew passports before renewingresidencies: Interior MinistryNew residency validity to push through Jan 1, 2016

The roof of a shack made from corrugat-ed galvanized iron damaged by waterleaked at a building in Abu Halifa.

Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah

Brochures in English and French issued by the Interior Ministry as part of an aware-ness campaign regarding the new regulations.

Low visibility haltsnavigation at portsAir navigation not affected

KUWAIT: Bad weather conditions haltedmaritime traffic at Shuwaikh, Shuaiba andDoha ports yesterday, the Kuwait PortsAuthority announced. “Navigation willresume at Shuwaikh port once visibility isback to normal, as the country is experienc-ing a dust storm with gusty winds,” actinghead of marine operations at the portCaptain Thiyab Al-Enezi told Kuwait NewsAgency (KUNA). Visibility was less than 0.5nautical miles and wind speed was record-ed over 15 knots, he added.

There were five vessels waiting to enterthe port while seven others were ready toleave as soon as weather improved, Enezisaid. Acting Deputy Director of Navigation

Operations at Shuaiba port Captain TawfeqShehab said meanwhile that recorded visi-bility was less than 0.5 nautical miles in theport. There was one vessel standing by toenter the port and another in the exit areaawaiting better weather to leave, he added.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed that the airnavigation traffic in the country has notbeen affected by the dust storm that is cur-rently prevailing in the country. Arrivingand departing flights were proceeding nat-urally at the Kuwait International Airport,Director of Operations Department atKuwait International Airport Engineer SalehAl-Fadaghi said. —KUNA

KUWAIT: A skyscraper is flanked by yesterday’s dust storm in Kuwait City. —KUNA

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: The Higher Committee forCoordination and Planning at KuwaitMunicipality issued a recommendation yes-terday to assign a location in Naayem asthe new site to collect used tires in thecountry. Six recycling plants would be relo-cated to the two-million square meters siteas per the recommendation that camebased on a request from the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry.

Acting Director of Kuwait MunicipalityAhmad Al-Manfouhi said the committeediscussed several topics on the agenda,including solid waste, used tires, temporaryslaughter house and advertisements.

Al-Manfouhi lauded the efforts of thecommerce and industry ministry to solvethe problem of the site where used tires arecurrently disposed of, saying that removingthe site eliminates one of the main obsta-cles standing in front of carrying out theSouth Saad Al-Abdullah housing project.

Municipality approvesnew tire recycling site

KFSD signs three equipment contractsBy Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Director General of Kuwait Fire ServicesDirectorate (KFSD) Lieutenant General Yousuf Al-Ansari signed three contracts with representatives ofSatco Engineering Company to supply a small opera-tions engine equipped with the latest equipmentand specifications at a total cost of KD 257,370. The

system contains HD video system and works withheat vision and internet communications. The sec-ond contract was signed with MohammadAbdelrahman Al-Bahar Establishment to delivereight ladder vehicles of various heights at a total costof KD 2.1 million. The third contract was signed withAtomac Cars Company to lease 27 four-wheel-drivevehicles for fire centers at a total cost of KD 279,936.

KUWAIT: KFSD Director General Lieutenant General Yousuf Al-Ansari (right)signs a contract with a local company to supply equipment.