KUWAIT: A Farwaniya police patrol arrested seven men (three citizens, an Egyptian, an Iraqi, a Yemeni and an Indian) dressed in women's attire and shooting a video outside Jaber Stadium, said security sources. Case papers indicate that on patrolling the area, patrol officers spotted three vehicles parked opposite Jaber Stadium in an industrial area and on approaching, policemen saw that a group of men were dressed in women's garments. They had extra women's clothing and cameras in their vehicles. The suspects were referred to state security for investigations. They said that they had been shooting a comedy video to post on Instagram without prior permission, which is illegal. Further investigations are still in progress.

Government's work

Denying that he has any intentions to join the Cabinet or assume any government position, chairman of the parliamentary priorities committee MP Yousef Al-Zalzalah stressed that he prefers parliamentary work to governmental work. Zalzalah added that government work was restricted to the entire government team's performance even if a member has a different viewpoint. He also criticized the government's performance, noting that it lacked cooperation and coordination and that this was behind delaying many projects.

Accordingly, Zalzalah suggested establishing a special body within the Cabinet to help various ministers coordinate their work and overcome any hindrances while executing various projects. Further, Zalzalah referred to a report made by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Hind Al-Subaih in which she pointed out that there was a severe lack of cooperation and coordination amongst government bodies in terms of executing development projects.

"I am not completely satisfied with this government and a reshuffle must be made in many portfolios because there is only a handful of good ones, but the others have to step down," he added, noting that a message had been conveyed to His Highness the Prime Minister that his Cabinet performance would remain below par unless he renewed some 'blood'.

Passed laws

Rapporteur of the parliamentary educational committee MP Humoud Al-Hamdan reconfirmed the parliament's importance in passing many laws and said that since the beginning of the current parliamentary term, 37 laws had been passed including ones that had been in drawers for years, although many parliaments went in and out of office. "However, thanks to both powers' cooperation, this parliament managed to pass many laws," he added. Speaking at a ghabqa held to honor his constituents in Fintas that was attended by a number of ministers and dignitaries, Hamdan said that the parliament was currently discussing 40 final statements before approving their budgets.

Value added tax

The GCC financial and economic cooperation committee members (finance ministers) are scheduled to meet today in Jeddah, said the GCC secretariat general, noting that the meeting will be dedicated to discuss various issues on top of which will be the recommendations made concerning the unified value added tax and transitional tax projects.

Fake degrees

A committee formed by Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Bader Al-Essa to examine and investigate some fake degrees, papers, researches and promotions recently finished its work and submitted a report accordingly. The results are yet to be announced. Notably, the committee had been investigating some fake degrees referred to by the State Audit Bureau. Separately, Director of Information Systems Department at the Ministry of Higher Education Tareq Al-Marzouq said that the total students who applied for get scholarships reached 6,672 so far, including 3,388 for scholarships overseas and 3,284 for local ones.

By A Saleh