SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015
LOCAL
Ramadan soap
operas’ review
By Nawara Fattahova
KUWAIT: Watching soap operas is a
favorite pastime during the holy month
of Ramadan, and it’s considered the high
season for producers to broadcast their
works. Kuwait Times will publish a daily
review of three Kuwaiti soap operas
being aired on Al Rai TV channel. These
serials are rerun three times a day, so people can always find time to watch them.
‘Qabil lil Kaser’ (Fragile)
The main character Ali has been living in
the house of his uncle since he was a
teenager, after his father killed his mother and went to jail. He loves his cousin
Hadeel and is working to save money to
marry her. Hadeel is a teacher, and her
colleague, who is her childhood friend,
likes Ali and is always finding excuses to
go with them in the car.
Sulaiman was cheating on his wife
Jinan and got divorced recently, but he
wants to get back to his wife, who is
refusing. She just found out she is pregnant, and wants to get rid of her baby.
Her brother who is now engaged with
the sister of Sulaiman is convincing her
to go back to her husband and forgive
him.
‘Umina Rwehit al Jana’ (Our
Mother is a Scent of Heaven)
Popular Kuwaiti actress Suad Abdullah
(Fatma) plays the lead role as a mother
of seven children. Fatma is divorced
from her mentally ill husband and is raising her children alone. Once she ran out
of salt and sent her son to get it from
their neighbor, but got rat poison
instead, and was rushed to hospital.
One day she wakes up amnesic, miss-
ing 30 years of her memory. Her friend
comes to her house and is shocked that
Fatma has lost her memory since 1986.
Fatma is desperately looking for her kids
and cannot recognize her house or
room. Her friend then tells her she lost
all contact with her children, especially
after getting married, and her husband
was mistreating her children.
Scenes then show each of the children. Farouq is married to two women,
is very strict in his first house, but normal with his second wife, a TV presenter,
who is living in the same building. Fahd
drives with his wife to the UAE and on
their way back, has an accident, and his
wife dies. He marries her twin sister to
raise his children, but she is in love with
his brother, who leaves for study abroad.
Her daughter Futouh is married and has
children. Her old love calls her telling
her he is dying from cancer and wants to
see her for the last time. She tells her
husband, who refuses, but she insists he
divorce her. But when she reaches the
hospital, he is dead. Faisal is a popular
football player. His wife found out he is
cheating on her at their house through
the cameras that she installed at home.
‘Thakira min Waraq’ (Paper
Memory)
A great part of this soap opera was shot
in Germany. It focuses on Kuwaiti students studying there. Masha’el, one of
the students, is in love with the supervisor of the cultural center, who doesn’t
really love her and cares for her as a sister. A new roommate comes to live with
her. Some activities are not clear yet, as
some characters act weirdly. The interesting part is that one of the Kuwaiti
actors speaks German.
259 citations for
working during ban
By Meshaal Al-Enezi
KUWAIT: The Manpower Public Authority
announced filing 259 citations to construction workers caught working in the open
during inspection campaigns from June 1
to June 18. Working outdoors is banned
from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm every day until
August 31st.
Manipulation
Some employees from the Ministry of
Electricity and Water (MEW) were referred
for investigations for manipulating the fin-
gerprint attendance system, said MEW
Undersecretary Mohammed Boshehri.
Boshehri explained that those employees
had been using a special substance to
make exact plastic replicas of their fingerprints and then leaving them to others to
use at the machines to cover their
absences.
Bad smell in Firdous
Municipal Council member Nayef Al-Soor
recently urged the Ministry of Public Works
to repair the sewage lines in Firdous to end
the bad odors coming from the sewages.
KUWAIT: The four month grace period granted to
hand over unlicensed weapons would be over
tomorrow, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday. The law will be strictly imposed on anyone
arrested with the possession of unlicensed
weapons, said Brigadier General Adel Al-Hashash,
the ministr y ’s Relations and S ecurit y M edia
Department Director.
According to the law, anyone caught with possession of unlicensed weapons or ammunition
faces punishment of a maximum of five years in
prison and/or a maximum of KD 10,000, Hashash
explained.
Meanwhile, anyone caught trading in unlicensed weapons, ammunition, explosives, components that could be smuggled or stored to be
manufactured or contracting with terrorist cells or
organizations will be punished with a maximum of
10 years in prison and a maximum fine of KD
50,000, Hashash added.
By Hanan Al-Saadoun
KUWAIT: One expatriate was killed and three others were
injured when a vehicle turned turtle along king Fahad
expressway, said security sources. Rescue teams that
rushed to the scene found out that some of the passengers
had been thrown out of the vehicle when it turned and
rolled over. The injured people were rushed to the hospital
for treatment. Separately, two people were injured in a collision reported yesterday at King Faisal expressway.
Adel Al-Hashash
Salaries alternative
postpones to next term
By A Saleh
KUWAIT: Lawmakers’ attempts to
have the strategic payroll alternative
bill voted upon and passed this term
seem to have failed and it is almost
certain that it will be postponed till
the next term, said informed sources,
noting that the parliamentary human
resources committee had some reservations about the law.
shopping malls and going door-todoor demanding charity during
Ramadan. “People who wish to
donate must make sure the representative collecting donation holds an
MSAL ID authorizing him collect
donations,” he underscored, noting
that donations can only be made
through K-Net transactions or direct
bank deductions. Mutairi stressed that
no cash donations would be made
inside mosques.
Omair’s statements
Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair does not
oppose allocating part of the next
parliamentary session or a special one
to discuss his statements about the
presence of corruption and influential
oil sector tycoons who have interests
worth billions and are fighting his
reform attempts, said informed
sources, noting that Omair insists that
he seeks to reform the oil sector and
those fighting him are those negatively affected by such reform
attempts.
Charity ‘intruders’
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s
Undersecretary Dr Mutar Al-Mutairi
warned citizens and expats donating
to charity that charity collection has
been plagued by intruders and ‘outlaws’ who have been roaming various
Dusty weather forecast for
Ramadan
Today marks the summer solstice
when the day is at its longest - 14
hours. Meteorologists expect winds
to be moderate until they get faster
on Thursday with a chance of dust in
open areas until July 16, the end of
Ramadan.
News
KUWAIT: Officials from four ministries will carry on
with their inspection campaign on food markets during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, an
official said yesterday.
The campaign, which started ahead of Ramadan, will
continue through the month to control prices and
make sure foodstuff of good quality is available, the
Ministr y of Commerce and Industr y Assistant
Undersecretary for Control and Consumer Protection
Abdullah Al-Enezi said.
A committee that includes the Ministries of commerce
and industr y, interior, social affairs and municipal
affairs, has drawn up an inspection campaign to be
implemented around-the-clock during the month of
Ramadan, Enezi added. — KUNA
KUWAIT: The Supreme Council for Planning and
Development is preparing the third development
plan for 2020-2025, said Minister of Social Affairs
and Labor and Minister of State for Planning and
Development Hind Al-Subaih. The council’s General
Secretariat is set to hold workshops for those
involved in the plan to provide them with thorough
details, the minister said in a press statement yesterday.
Subaih also noted that the annual development
plan for 2016-2017 was adopted, adding that
Kuwait is heading towards a new development level, where the country’s budget is monitored by the
new plan for the first time since the planning law
was issued. —KUNA
No injuries in fire
A fire broke out in a Farwanya building, said security sources.
Firefighters discovered after arriving to the scene that the
fire had started on the ground floor as a result of an electric
short circuit. The fire was controlled and no casualties were
reported. Meanwhile, firefighters were recently dispatched
to deal with a fire in a Salmiya house. On arriving to the
scene, firefighters found out that the fire was limited inside
the kitchen. The fire was controlled and no injuries were
reported. Separately, a rescue team was recently dispatched
to release a number people who got trapped inside a broken
down elevator in Salwa, said security sources.
Local spotlight
The parliamentary youth and sports
committee recently rejected a proposed project to establish an authority for youth affairs and separate it
from that of sports in the Public
Authority for Youth and Sport (PAYS).
The committee also decided postponing the approval of the one -vote
sports clubs election system pending
suggested amendments.
i n
Development
plan prepared
Iranian ship rescued
Doha marine rescue forces recently saved sailors as
well as 565 sheep on board of an Iranian ship, when
water leaked into the ship on docking at Doha port,
said security sources. Some 15 sheep drowned
because of the incident, they noted.
One-vote system
Salah Al Fulaij, NBK CEO-Kuwait, in a group photo with the Summer Internship Program students.
Crackdown on markets
intensified in Ramadan
R e p o r t
One dead, three
injured in crash
NBK launches Summer
Internship Program
KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)
launched the first in a series of five, the
2015 Summer Internship Program. A two
week courses were custom-made for high
school and college students aged between
15 and 20 years.
The Summer Internship Program this
year is made up of five different sessions,
five-hour daily over two weeks each. The
second session starts on the 28th of June,
while the following sessions start on 12th
and 26th of July and 9th of August respectively.
The Program features a mixture of theoretical and practical training dedicated to
provide the interns with invaluable knowledge on a variety of subjects such as: teamwork, creative thinking, the means of selfexpression and modern banking, in addition to helping them having a greater exposure to daily banking work procedures.
This annual program demonstrates
NBK’s long-standing social involvement as
well as its national commitment towards
providing young generations with the
appropriate opportunities to experience
how the actual professional banking issues
and transactions are handled and
processed.
It has been 14 years since the establishment of this program. NBK views the
Summer Internship Program as an extension to its educative initiatives and as part
of its corporate social responsibility.
Crime
Weapons hand over
grace ends tomorrow
b r i e f
Steam unit
operational
AMMAN: The Jordanian government announced yesterday
that a steam unit designed for the production of electric
energy with a capacity of 143 MW went into operation
today-which was funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab
Economic Development (KFAED) and the Arab Fund for
Economic and Social Development estimated at $167 million.
Government-owned Samra Electric Power Company
said in a statement that it operated a new steam unit in
the Samra power plant, thus, enabling Jordan to save
230,000-ton-worth of fuel per year with a total value of
$162 million for the adoption of the new steam unit.
According to the statement, the implementation of the
project took 28 months and was carried out by the
Greek METKA Group at a cost of $167 million funded by
the two Kuwaiti funds. —KUNA
What’s the message
of Gulf art?
By Muna Al-Fuzai
muna@kuwaittimes.net
A
rt is of several types including comedy, drama, etc and
seeks to connect with the world. But what is the message of Gulf art today? We all know that Turkish art, for
example, has clear objectives for the promotion of tourism
and history. It has been something visible and successful for a
while now. Why can’t we do the same here?
I was in a discussion with some colleagues last night on
the goals of art in the Gulf and specifically about the serials
broadcast in Ramadan and repeated throughout the year on
various channels. Their messages vary between reality, fantasy and a little courage, especially the controversial series
called “Selfie” by Saudi artiste Nasser Al-Qasabi.
This drama confronted violence in its first episode and
increased its intensity in the second episode to attack and
criticize the militants of IS and their role in terrorism and murder. The series provoked a large number of militants to insult
and undermine the dignity of the actor and promised to kill
him. It is unfortunate that calls are made for the assassination
of an individual because his ideas are not appealing to a
group. This is becoming a familiar scene in our world today,
especially in the Arab world. I wonder why.
I’m not a singer or an actress, but as a citizen of the Gulf
region, we are bombarded with TV programs and serials that
are broadcast to the world on behalf of the Arabian Gulf,
whether Kuwaiti, Saudi or Emirati programs - these represent
Gulf art and reflect the aspirations and concerns of its people.
The problem here is when art is misinterpreted and swings
between freedom of expression in the current radical religious climate that does not recognize, appreciate or approve
the right of expression of an individual within the tools available in the local society, including the media and art.
We are living in a world of cultural change and globalization and we can’t keep ourselves distant from others,
because we are part of the GCC media and we have an
important role that we must adopt to protect society from
extremism and global terrorism that is tearing apart most of
the countries of the Arab world. In order to do so, we should
hold a Gulf conference to bring together everyone from both
the government and private sectors at the same table to set a
draft of the goals of art in the Gulf region. Programs, serials
and talk shows should make raising awareness of the danger
of terrorism and the rejection of religious extremism among
their priorities and promote the ideas of freedom of expression and justice to ensure the protection of society, since conservatives do not understand or respect the principle of freedom in any form. This is a way to protect and secure art.
Moreover, the privacy of the Gulf society must be taken
into account. It is unfortunate that some local productions on
behalf of Kuwait seem offensive to the country and are far
from reality, portraying individual cases as national phenomena. For example, most serials tackle the subject of drugs,
which is good, but do not show how to combat this evil or
how to undergo treatment. Also, not all Kuwaitis are wealthy
and live in palaces, as it seems in most of the local series.
It is clear that we lack positive criticism of TV soaps
despite the huge number of drama series produced annually,
and most of the impressions and opinions that we find are by
easy access to social media sites that are often lacking in scientific, systematic and objective criticism, governed by capricious opinion that lacks clear analysis and understanding of
art appreciation.
It’s time to set up a specialized college as a private technical university offering the subjects of art criticism and playwriting. Kuwait will be its appropriate home. Gulf art needs
more support to send its message without restriction and
away from extremist pressure, with a lot of appreciation.