KUWAIT GROK Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
[Links to full articles were active on the date posted here]
Kuwait MP Requests Probe of Prime Minister Over Pollution [May 30]
“Kuwait’s lawmakers and the government are apparently set for a fresh clash after an opposition MP on Sunday filed for an interrogation of the prime minister over a failure to tackle pollution. “This is mainly a humanitarian quizzing. I have tried all ways to resolve the pollution issue, but to no avail,” Khalid Al Tahous, MP for the Popular Action Bloc, said after he filed a 19-page request to question Shaikh Nasser Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah. “The grilling is to highlight how the state laws have not been applied and how people who have abused the system and caused the deterioration of living conditions in the Ali Sabah Al Salem area (formerly Um Haiman) have not been held responsible for their acts. I do hope that the MPs would get familiar with the grilling before they issue any judgement,” Al Tahous said. Al Tahous had often said that he would push for the parliament probe of the government if it did not move to tackle the pollution problem affecting several residential areas in the area, located south of Kuwait City..” [Complete Report]
Lawyers Call for Revision of Kuwait Divorce Laws [May 30]
“Lawyers and sociologists in Kuwait have called for rewriting the divorce laws after official figures indicated that 42 per cent of marriages ended in separations in 2009. “There are many reasons for the alarming increase in divorce rates, but the Kuwaiti law is also to blame,” lawyers said. “Under the law, a divorcee gets a salary, a house, a car and a maid and at the same time, she is free of all marriage commitments,” Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah quoted the lawyers as saying. Laws and legal texts that do not place family bonds and cohesion at the top of the priorities should be amended as they are often the direct or indirect causes of high divorce rates, the lawyers said. “The phenomenon is widespread mainly among newly-married couples, which denotes that they were not ready for marriage. Their lack of experience and their inability to appreciate the commitments and responsibilities associated with the marriage are the main cause of this phenomenon,” the lawyers said..” [Complete Report]
Hamas Praises Kuwait’s Part in Freedom Fleet [May 30]
“Hamas-led dismissed government in Gaza welcomed here yesterday a Kuwaiti ship’s participation in the Gaza-destined “Freedom Fleet” as a “praiseworthy move”. Speaking to reporters, Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the dismissed government in Gaza, said: “The presence of the (Kuwaiti) ship shows that the great Kuwaiti people stand beside Gaza and the people of Gaza. We greet Kuwait’s Amir, people and government. We wish that the Kuwaiti and Algerian ships, together with other ships, could safely reach Gaza.” Earlier in the day, Haniya joined a rally at Gaza harbor as part of underway preparations for receiving the “Freedom Fleet”, which is hoped to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip. He urged the international community, mainly the UN and the EU, to pressure Israel to allow the ships to enter the Palestinian territory. The “Freedom Fleet” consists of a cargo ship funded by Kuwait raising the flags of Turkey and Kuwait, a cargo ship funded by Algeria, and a cargo ship funded by Europe from Sweden and Greece, and five vessels to transport passengers..” [Complete Report]
