Kuwait News by -- KM Correspondent M..P. Kuttippuram

New Law on staff salaries in Kuwait

The Kuwait Ministry of Social Work and Labour has started to implement the new law on staff salaries for employees in the private sector. It has been announced that, from March 1, the ministry will not process administrative papers for private companies, unless they produce evidence that staff salaries are being paid into bank accounts. It will be recalled that the ministry had previously given the private sector a three months notice to prepare for implementing this directive.

 CII DelegationVisits Kuwait to enter Iraq Reconstruction Market

India Looking for Fruitful Participation from this region

KUWAIT CITY - February 22, 2004.The apex organization of the Indian Industries, CII (Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region) had organized a trade / commerce delegation led by a team of nine members to Kuwait from 6th to 9 th Feb 2004. Led by KKM Kutty, Chairman of CII (Southern Region) the delegation represented Indian companies from ship building, chemicals and petrochemicals, information technology

" We are here to look for partnership in diversified areas in this region" the delegates told a press conference organised by the Indian embassy in Kuwait. Mr Raghunathan, Sundaram Infotech Solutions, stated, " Our policy is adding and enhancing competitiveness and our value proposition and with huge investment flow in the global market, we are hopeful to have a sizeable investment in this region"

Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Swashpawan Singh stated, " Ever since the new government has taken over under H.E. Sheikh Sabah, there is even greater scope and potential for industrial development" He also briefed on the important role which Kuwait will play in the first ever GCC India Conference scheduled later this year. He said Kuwait is now the chairperson of the GCC. He further stated that these visits and business relations would "foster and solidify relations between India and Kuwait" and Indian Industries can play a pivotal role in this endeavor since " they can achieve target at a speed unmatched, at a cost less than others and with a quality better than the rest"

India would love to be a part of Iraq Rebuilding. In the past, we have had hands on work experience in Iraq but we must respond to clear objectives.... When its the right time you will see a lot of Indian Companies there and we are looking forward to working together with our Kuwaiti Friends"

Art of Living-Basic Course on 6th March at Kuwait messial beach hotel

Art of Living is organizing a basic course from March 6th-10th at Messila Beach Hotel. A highly experienced and knowledgeable trainer from Art of Living-Germany,who is fluent in English, has kindly consented to come and conduct this workshop.The workshop offers specific breathingpractices and techniques that infuse the body with energy and harmonize the natural rhythms of the body, mind and emotions.The knowledge and techniques acquired bring greater relaxation,infuses energy,improves awareness and brings joy to life.

The workshop has proven to reduce stress, empower individuals to be more centered and focused and enhance creativity and clarity of mind. Independent research findings have indicated that the Art of Living workshop reduces stress hormone,relieves depression, anxiety,restores normal sleep patterns, increases well-being hormone.Visit web site www.artofliving.org/research.html for more details on research findings.contact 6270137/3718643 or email:artofliving_kw@hotmail.com

Actress' lover convicted in murder case

Hyderabad: A lower court hearing the case on the murder of Telugu film actress Pratyusha convicted her alleged lover Siddhartha Reddy to five years rigorous imprisonment. Hyderabad Metropolitan Sessions Judge G V Seethapathy, while convicting the sole accused for the offence punishable under Sections 306 and 309 of IPC, also slapped a fine of Rs 5000.

Pratyusha's death on February 23, 2002, in a city corporate hospital in the presence of her "lover" Siddhartha, a student of a local engineering college, raised hue and cry, initially from the victim's family.

Women's organisations soon took up the matter and moved the High Court through a public interest litigation following which a CBI inquiry was ordered.

The investigating agency filed a charge sheet in two months, explaining that the actress had entered into a suicide pact. In all, the prosecution, conducted by Special Prosecutor Ilan Chezhin, examined 38 witnesses and got 63 documents marked during the course of trial.

Saudis bent on reform, no early end to women driving ban

French MPs who conclude a three-day visit to Riyadh today will leave convinced that Saudi leaders are bent on pressing ahead with gradual reform but do not expect an early lifting of the ban on women driving, members of the group said. The parliamentarians argued that allowing women to drive would do wonders for the kingdom’s image in the world, Antoine Carre said. ‘We told Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz that granting women the right to drive would constitute a powerful gesture (that would greatly improve) Saudi Arabia’s image in the world,’ he said. The reaction of the crown prince and de facto ruler was that ‘it is a question of the evolution of society. They will be able to drive one day, but this cannot be done sharply and quickly.’

Anthrax Powder in Indian passport shuts down US office

Washington: A US State Department satellite visa office has been sealed after the discovery of a white powder, suspected to be anthrax, in an Indian passport.

An envelope containing the passport was opened at about 11 am yesterday in the visa service unit on the seventh floor of a building in Columbia Plaza. The powder spilled from between the Indian passports pages, Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said.

Officials sealed off the floor and briefly quarantined about 20 employees while preliminary tests were conducted on the powder. The tests found that the powder contained protein, leaving open the possibility that it could contain anthrax spores, Etter said.

The workers were allowed to go home after it was found that they had suffered no ill effects, but the seventh floor remained off limits, he added. The visa office is just one block from the main State Department building. "There is no reason at all to believe that this is anything sinister," Etter said.

A State Department spokesman, Lou Fintor, said the office processes visas for validation and renewal. He said it was not unusual for the office to receive passports by mail.

Fintor said he did not expect operations to be disrupted significantly and the office staff would return to work soon. The FBI was havinFBI spokeswoman Debbie Weterman said initial field tests often produce 'false positives'.

"This is not a procedure that is done on a daily basis. However, additional testing of a suspicious substance is not uncommon or out of the ordinary," she said. Recently, the discovery of anthrax resulted in the temporary closure of the main post office facility and Congressional offices. The powder created a scare in the US after the September 11 attacks.

ENOC PROVIDES WINNING FORMULA FOR DSF

Network generated more than half of DSF Nissan winners

February 24, 2004

More than half of this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival Nissan vehicle winners obtained their free winning raffle tickets from Emirates National Oil Company LLC – ENOC – and its subsidiary Emirates Petroleum Products Company’s – EPPCO’s - service station network.

A staggering 56% of the lucky Nissan vehicle winners received their tickets after spending just DHS25 at one of the extensive network of ENOC and EPPCO outlets across Dubai during the month-long promotion.

This figure is even more impressive when you consider that tickets for Nissan Super Raffle were available at 50 other companies and organisations in the emirate.

Hussain Sultan, ENOC Group Chief Executive and Board Member, said: “One of the reasons for our customers’ success is that once again ENOC and EPPCO required the LOWEST purchase for entry into the draw. During the final week, as a bonus offer to our customers, we actually gave away TWO raffle tickets on every purchase of DHS25.

“As a key sponsor from the outset of the Dubai Shopping Festival, ENOC and EPPCO constantly strive to delight customers with offers, promotions and fresh ideas during DSF. The enormous success of this years’ Nissan promotion is testament to the hard work and dedication of all the ENOC and EPPCO team.”

This success translated into a 36% increase in general shop merchandise sales, compared to last year’s figures for DSF, bolstered by specially-built stand-alone shops on Al Muraqqabat Street and Al Seef Walkway.

The number of car washes increased during the shopping festival by 30.9% compared to last year, as customers took advantage of the Nissan Super Raffle ticket promotion.

The number of people using the network’s Quick Lube facilities rose by 31.9%, because of the promotion, while the value of sales of the group’s convenient e-cash pre-paid payment cards rose by 21.8% year on year.

“These great figures are the icing on the cake for us. What is more important for ENOC Group – as a Government of Dubai company - is taking part in the Dubai Shopping Festival, and ensuring we constantly innovate and exceed customers’ expectations, while remaining the energy partner of choice,” concluded Sultan.

Through a joint network of 169 service stations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, ENOC and EPPCO symbolise speed, convenience, service and value. The two companies’ core petroleum retailing business is supplemented by a comprehensive network of quick lubes, Fix Plus vehicle maintenance and repair centres, Tasjeel vehicle licensing and registration centres, car wash facilities and convenience stores.

BEA WebLogic-driven portal helps deliver images and data from Mars to NASA scientists

The Weblogic Platform is helping hundreds of scientists to study data
beamed by two rovers

February 23, 2004BEA Systems' WebLogic Enterprise Platform? is playing a major role in delivering vital information to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) scientists about whether water, and perhaps life, once existed on Mars.

Hundreds of scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California, and at other NASA facilities and universities in the United
States of America (USA) and abroad, are actively studying data beamed
by the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, from the red
planet's surface. This data travels over NASA's Deep Space Network, an
international network of antennae located in Australia, Spain, and the USA. The data
is processed by ground-based software and then stored on file servers
at JPL. The processed data is made available to the scientists and
researchers over the Internet by a middleware layer powered by BEA WebLogic
Server?.

"The contribution being made by BEA Systems in such a critical mission
speaks volumes about WebLogic Platform's industry-leading features,"
said Diyaa Zebian, Regional Manager, Middle East and Egypt, eSolutions BEA.
"The round-the-clock data access provided by the WebLogic-powered
portal is crucial to NASA's scientists so that they can formulate meaningful
conclusions about Mars. The WebLogic software is helping scientists collaborate in
order to locate, view, analyze and integrate the data collected by the
rovers."

"The WebLogic Platform was designed to help developers to build
service-oriented enterprise-class Web applications and Web services with high
productivity levels. Some of the world's leading enterprises globally, and several
companies in the Middle East, are increasingly realizing the multiple benefits
that the WebLogic platform delivers," Zebian added.

The middleware layer was built using Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), the
Java Message Service (JMS), and Web services. The middleware layer serves
several key client applications, including the Collaborative Information Portal
and Viz. The Collaborative Information Portal is a Java application
that allows users to view data generated by the various rover instruments.
Viz is a C++ application that allows users to view and rotate
three-dimensionalimages taken by the rovers' stereo cameras. Besides data, the
middleware layer also provides event and personnel schedules and the current time
in various Earth and Mars time zones, while the message service enables
mission managers to broadcast messages. The Collaborative Information
Portal and BEA WebLogic Server have important roles in mission operations in
that the portal displays these schedules, times and messages.

NASA chose BEA WebLogic Server for its reliability and scalability in
handling the massive number of page views and volume of data throughout the
90-day mission. In fact, BEA WebLogic Server stood up to an immense load when
Spirit touched down on Jan. 3, 2004, and began transmitting data. The
portal continues to regularly deliver images taken by each rover's nine
cameras and processed data from soil and atmospheric samples taken with robotic
arms, giving scientists greater insight into the planet's history.