Kuwait Times

Published Date: November 07, 2007

KUWAIT: Officials at the books censorship committee issued a decision banning the exhibition of 230 books scheduled to be exhibited at the 32nd Kuwait Book Exhibition which will be inaugurated next Tuesday. They said that the committee banned the books after reviewing 560 new books but added that they would review the banned books again in order to avoid an expected crisis with the publishing Dars (Houses). Officials at the Dars however have not been informed yet of the names of the books that have been ba
nned from being displayed at the exhibition. They said that the publishing houses pay huge fees to import the books and the decision to review the banned books would definitely contribute in preventing them from importing most of the newly released books. They added that due to this reason some companies might change their stands or even cancel their participation since the books that they intend to display at the exhibition might be rejected after importing them into the country.

Information reassembly
KUWAIT: The Minister of Information, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid said that the council of undersecretaries discussed in its latest meeting on Sunday important issues concerning restructuring the ministry. On being asked a question concerning his decision to disassemble and reassemble the ministry, he said that the former ministers had presented him with a study on the issue and that he was currently in discussions with the council of undersecretaries on how to go about the process and obtain the best results. S
eparately Al-Khalid also disclosed that the ministry plans to execute several projects in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to harmonize the foreign and media policy.

Governor mulls encouraging tourism
KUWAIT: The Governor of the Farwaniya Governorate Lt Gen Abdulhameed Al-Hajji disclosed that 500,000 expatriate workers live in the governorate where most of them are clustered in the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Hassawi areas. Speaking on issues concerning tourism, he said the government should show a keen interest in the tourism sector especially since Kuwait has several factors contributing to tourism that could help the state to transform it into a leading sector. He added that a lot of visitors arrive and le
ave Kuwait on a daily basis, which calls for investing in certain services like establishing more tourism companies in addition to creating an honest competition among tourism companies in presenting competitive services to visitors.

MPs spat with electricity minister
KUWAIT: Officials announced that some MPs at the Constitutional Parliamentary Bloc have started to impose pressure on the Minister of Electricity and Water, Mohammad Al-Olaim to appoint certain employees in supervisory positions at the ministry. They said that the MPs started applying pressure on him after he announced an imminent reshuffle among the assistant under secretaries during the next couple of days. They asked the minister to appoint certain candidates in certain positions. But when they learnt t
hat the minister intended to appoint only qualified engineers in supervisory positions they got annoyed and threatened to disclose all violations at the ministry. Mohammed Al-Olaim however refused to budge on his stance and insisted on appointing only qualified persons in supervisory positions so that they could manage them professionally.