Co-op union's representation in Durra 'invalid'

KUWAIT: The electronic crimes combating department is preparing to send a 'fashionista' to the prosecution for questioning on child mistreatment charges after she uploaded a video on social media showing her son crying heavily after she informed him of his grandmother's passing. Meanwhile, the child protection office has already referred the case to the Interior Ministry, according to sources familiar with the case. The video which went viral on social media drew a lot of condemnation as many people commented that the mother's actions violated the child's rights and caused him 'major psychological damage'.

Warehouse fire
Firefighters battled a blaze reported in an Industrial Shuwaikh warehouse late Wednesday night. The fire gutted a two-story, 2,000-square-meter warehouse, while firemen managed to extinguish it before flames could spread to nearby buildings. The warehouse reportedly contained electric supplies and plastics. Meanwhile, no injured were reported in the incident.
Firefighters from Industrial Shuwaikh, Shuhada, Hilali, Mishref, Mubarak Al-Kabeer and back up fire centers joined the operations, which were led by Director of the Capital Fire Department Colonel Mohammad Hayef Al-Rashidi, while Central Operations Supervisor Colonel Saad Al-Ansari and heads of the stations were on hand, the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate's Public Relations Department said in a statement.

Durra company's board
The Fatwa and Legislation Department said a government employee cannot represent any party as a member of a company's board of directors other than the state department he or she works in. This came about after the Ministry of Commerce and Industry asked the department for its legal opinion regarding the situation of three representatives of the Kuwait Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies in Al-Durra Domestic Help Company. The department said that their memberships were invalid after it was discovered that they are government employees. Article 26 of the Civil Service Commission's law 15/1976 bans government employees from becoming members of the board of a commercial or industrial company. As per the decree to establish Al-Durra company, the co-ops' union owns 60 percent of its shares.

Egypt's debt
The Egyptian Central Bank said Cairo must pay $14.7 billion during 2019, including $8.57 as deposits to Arab countries. The central bank said that according to the foreign situation of Egypt's economy, the debts that the country must pay during the current year include $683.7 million in rescheduled debts, and $1.76 billion in non-rescheduled debts, $2.75 million debts for international institutions and $961 million sovereign and foreign bonds' interests in Euro and US Dollar.
The payment of short-term debts during the first half of the current year includes paying $6.45 billion of Saudi deposits, as well as $1.35 billion for Kuwait and $1.17 billion for UAE. Egypt had paid $2.05 billion of debts to Kuwait during the second half of 2019, while it is supposed to pay $1.35 billion during the first half of 2019 and $667 million in the first half of 2020.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun and A Saleh