KUWAIT: The court of appeal yesterday upheld the criminal court's verdict sentencing a citizen to death, after he was found guilty of murdering his ex-wife in Salwa by stabbing her in front of her son. In another case, the court also upheld a first instance verdict acquitting a female citizen and sentencing her son (Abu Turab) to five years in presence over charges of joining IS. Notably, the criminal court had sentenced Abu Turab (A Al-Ossaimi) to five years with labor after returning from Syria, where he fought with IS, sentenced his brother in absentia (who was already killed in Syria) to 10 years and acquitting their mother of all charges.

Smart meters

The Ministry of Electricity and Water's (MEW) Undersecretary Mohammed Boshehri explained that the State Audit Bureau is currently studying the smart power meters' tender and that it will be approved soon before the deal's contract is signed shortly afterwards. "Efforts are in progress to develop work at MEW departments pending the implementation of the new tariffs," he underlined, noting that preparations for the summer season are also in progress to avoid outages. The ministry looks to import smart meters to have them installed at apartment buildings and shops before the higher energy tariffs are implemented next month.

Commercial licenses

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) is currently working on using online services to renew commercial licenses without having to check in at its offices. The system is expected to be operational within the coming few months.

Kuwait Bay

The Environment Public Authority (EPA) called for protecting Kuwait Bay as a natural habitat due to its marine life and as a source of desalinated water used in Kuwait. EPA pointed out that some relevant state bodies had not been doing their jobs to maintain marine life safety within the bay. EPA said that its inspection teams had recently surveyed all beaches to detect environmental violations. It had already detected a growing number of pollutants coming out of rain drainage pipes under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works (MPW), which increased the number of harmful algae. Inspection teams also found high rates of pollution resulting from MEW's desalination plant, overfishing and violations of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) laws concerning banning fishing within Kuwait Bay.

By A Saleh