Kuwait Times

Published Date: November 18, 2009

RIYADH: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia declared yesterday that today, Wednesday Nov 18, is the first day of Thul Hijja. The announcement was made by the state-run Saudi TV which added that the Day of Arafat on the ninth of Thul Hijja in the Islamic calendar will coincide with Thursday, Nov 26. Thus the first day of Eid Al-Adha will be on Friday, Nov 27, 2009.

Kuwait combating slavery
KUWAIT: Kuwait, which has been on a US watch list of countries suspected of not doing enough to fight human trafficking, has taken encouraging steps to combat modern-day slavery, a senior US official said Monday. The director of the US State Department's anti-human trafficking office, Luis CdeBaca, said Kuwait now has a law before parliament that will help fight human trafficking. "I'm beginning to see that kind of response from Kuwait, which is very encouraging," he told AP after a weeklong tour of the Mi
ddle East. CdeBaca said the numbers of trafficking victims seeking refuge at their embassies in Kuwait were "pretty astounding". He said one embassy alone said it dealt with more than 5,000 citizens a year. He did not say which embassy or provide an overall figure. Kuwait has set up a temporary shelter for runaway maids and promised to build another with a capacity to help 700 people.

Temperatures to drop
KUWAIT: Meteorologist Issa Ramadan said yesterday temperature would drop to 10 degrees Celsius in some areas of the country at dawn today. In a statement to KUNA, Ramadan said the country is affected by a decrease in temperature in the northern Arabian Peninsula. The weather is distinguished with northwesterly winds, moderate to brisk, raising dust in desert areas, with a chance of rain in the northern border regions. Dust storms will taper off today evening, with a significant decrease in temperature, whi
ch requires wearing winter clothing at night. The country expects rain next week, with continued low temperature.

Iran warns Saudi Arabia
TEHRAN: Iran's chief of staff has warned Saudi Arabia over its military offensive against Shiite Yemeni rebels, saying it signals the start of "state terrorism" and endangers the entire region. The official IRNA news agency yesterday also quoted Gen Hassan Firouzabadi as saying the actions of Yemen and Saudi Arabia would fuel militancy and spread violence to the rest of the Muslim world. Shiite Iran is alarmed by the Yemeni and Saudi offensive against the rebels, whom the two Arab nations accuse of receivi
ng arms and money from Iran.