KUWAIT: Interior Ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Nationality, Passports and Travel Documents Maj Gen Sheikh Faisal Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah gave instructions to limit the issuance of absence permission only for study, medication and humanitarian conditions according to certain conditions and standards, Al-Anba reported yesterday. The absence permission is given to residents in Kuwait who have to leave the country for extended periods of time, in order to avoid having their visas canceled. Sheikh Faisal also gave instructions to find solutions for Syrian residency violators who had entered Kuwait with visit visas. Those with salaries of KD 450 or more will be allowed to apply for family visas for their wives and kids, a source said, adding that there is a study to also give family visas for the father, mother, brother and sister in such cases.

Ice cream in kindergartens

The Public Authority for Food and Nutrition called local frozen dairy products' companies to comply with Gulf Cooperation Council standards before allowing ice cream into kindergartens. Director of Public Services at the Education Ministry Fahad Al-Hayan said there is a proposal to include ice cream in the food program of kindergartens for the year 2019-2020, at one day per week during September, April and May. He asked the authority for its opinion to complete the procedures.

Meanwhile, Director General of the authority Dr Nawal Al-Hamad said as the products' labels were reviewed and compared with regional recommendations, it showed that all local companies that produce frozen products are not committed to applying the GCC standards which stipulates that the product's nutrition facts (total calories, fat, sugar, protein, etc), its weight and the percentage be place on the label.

Storage areas

Director General of Kuwait Municipality Eng Mohammad Al-Manfouhi said 25 employees will be referred to the public prosecution for forging approval papers for unlicensed storage areas that were discovered in recent crackdowns. The problem lies in the fact that there are no rules to regulate storage in open area, Manfouhi said, adding that it is a major and highly sensitive issue. On another issue, the bidding for the management of fish, meat and vegetables market in Jahra reached around KD 30 million.

By A Saleh and Agencies