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AMMAN — HRH Prince Asem on Tuesday inaugurated the second scientific forum on autism spectrum disorder, which is being organised by the Awj Centre for Autism and Mental Disability in cooperation with the Yarmouk University.

Mohammad Bataineh, head of the higher organising committee, said that the two-day event seeks to enhance public and private institutions’ efforts in finding the best scientific practices to deal with this disorder, and enrich the knowledge of families of autistic people on how to integrate them in the community.

Ihsan Khaldi, head of the scientific committee of the forum, said that this disease is a growth disorder that can be spotted through individuals’ behaviours, noting that infection rate stands at one for each 150 births and is more common among males, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

AMMAN — Traffic Police on Tuesday confiscated a 23 passenger- bus belonging to a private school in east Amman, carrying 65 students, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

According to a Public Security Department (PSD) statement, the students were taken by other buses to their school, and the bus has been confiscated until legal action is taken against the driver, who does not hold the specific licence to drive a fifth-class vehicle.

PSD said that the Ministry of Education will be contacted to take necessary measures for that school. The PSD called on all parents to check the validity of school buses in order to ensure the safety of their children.

AMMAN — Anti-Narcotics Department personnel have seized 300,000 drug pills during a raid in Northern Badia and arrested four suspects involved, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

According to a security source, information was received about four people storing narcotics in a house, and after it was affirmed security personnel raided the place and seized 300,000 narcotic pills and arrested the suspects.

AMMAN — HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, on Monday met with President of the Bundesrat (German Federal Council) Michael Muller, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, the prince and Muller discussed the strategic Amman-Berlin relations in all fields, as well as the latest regional developments.

The prince expressed Jordan's appreciation for the German assistance to implement development programmes and address various challenges facing the Kingdom. 

The meeting, attended by acting Senate President Marouf Bakhit, covered efforts to resume peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis on the basis of the two-state solution that can lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

For his part, Muller stressed his country's respect for Jordanian efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East and the resource-limited Kingdom's humanitarian role in hosting Syrian refugees, Petra reported.

Bundesrat is a legislative body that is involved in the enactment of legislations and represents Germany’s 16 states.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Jamal Sarayreh met with Muller and the accompanying delegation.

During the meeting, attended by German Ambassador to Jordan, Birgitta Maria Siefker-Eberle, Sarayreh outlined the challenges facing Jordan due to regional turmoil.

The minister stressed that hosting several waves of refugees, the last of which stood at 1.3 million Syrians, has aggravated those challenges, especially with regards to the economy.

For his part, the German official stressed that a solution to Syria’s ongoing war requires involvement from the world’s great powers, emphasising the urgency to end the large-scale suffering of the Syrian people. 

Meanwhile, Muller met with Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury over collaboration to keep up the momentum of the international support to the Kingdom.

Fakhoury and Muller agreed to “unify” the two countries’ positions during the upcoming Brussels conference on refugees to be held April 24-25, a Planning Ministry statement said.

The minister stressed the importance of revisiting the EU’s decision to simplify the rules of origin for Jordanian exports to EU countries in line, with the Kingdom’s plans to support Jordanian industrialists, attract investments and create jobs.

He briefed Muller on progress made in implementing the Jordan Compact adopted, during the 2016 London conference to support refugee hosting countries.

AMMAN — Jordan on Monday condemned the chemical attack on a rebel-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta that killed dozens of people, and called for an immediate investigation.

Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani expressed the Kingdom's strong denouncement of "this crime" and voiced Jordan’s support for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to start a comprehensive investigation and take proper action against the perpetrator, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Momani, who is also the government spokesperson, reiterated Jordan’s stance on the Syrian war which advocates a political solution that can end the large-scale suffering of the Syrian people and safeguards the territorial unity of their country.

The minister added that the warring parties in Syria are now required more than ever to stop the war and embark on serious negotiations to end the seven-year conflict through an agreed-upon political solution. 

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Jafar Hassan on Monday met with a World Bank (WB) delegation headed by the dean of the board of executive directors Merza Hassan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The meeting covered bilateral relations, the bank’s role in supporting   the Kingdom’s development efforts and the Economic Growth Plan (EGP) for the next five years, which aims to double the growth rate by 2022.

The minister noted that the efforts of the government’s economic team in charge of implementing the EGP aim at achieving sustainable growth “which is the number one factor to achieving the sought-after self-sufficiency”.  

For his part, the WB official stressed the bank’s keenness on enhancing Jordan’s capabilities to implement the plan through various programmes, outlining the bank’s existing measures to support the Kingdom’s economy.

He noted that the WB and the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry are preparing a matrix for the reform of policies related to growth and job creation for the next five years.

The EGP was prepared last year by the Economic Policies Council, with the aim of doubling the country’s growth rates within a five year timeframe.

AMMAN — Police in a Monday said a man, who allegedly robbed a bank in a busy street in Amman earlier in the day by claiming he was carrying explosives, turned himself few hours after escaping with JD16, 000.

The suspect, who was hooded and carrying a bag, reportedly entered the Arab Bank branch at Mecca street around 8:40am and demanded cash, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The suspect claimed the bag he was carrying contained explosives and threatened to detonate them if the bank failed to give him money,” the police official told The Jordan Times. 

The police official said the bag was retrieved and the contents were examined and “it was proven that it was not dangerous”.

The suspect then fled on foot, and crossed an empty lot and escaped with a vehicle, official sources added, according to witnesses.

“The police had a good description of the suspect’s vehicle and, after locating where he lived, a force moved to arrest him,” the police official said.

However, the suspect was heading to the police station at the same time, where he turned himself in, Sartawi added.

A shop owner who is 20 metres away from the bank said that police reviewed his surveillance cameras following the robbery.

“My cameras showed a hooded man carrying a bag in his hand and running quickly towards the bank,” the shop owner, who preferred not to be identified, told The Jordan Times.

Another shop owner said he heard screaming coming from the bank’s direction around 8:40am, and thought they were school children.

But the screaming became louder, the 34-year-old told The Jordan Times.  “When I went to check it out, I saw a group of bank employees standing outside screaming about explosives... we were robbed”.

“The employees were terrified and looked very worried and tensed,” the witness added.

The bank manager refused to comment on the incident. The bank was operating normally a few hours following the incident.

Four banks were robbed in various parts of Amman in January and February. Two of the three robbers were arrested and one, who escaped with JD98,000 in cash, remains at large.

Following the third robbery in February, police announced that new security measures had been adopted in cooperation with the bank and other financial institutions, which include strengthening their security measures.

The police official added that “special police forces were tasked with examining all banks and studying the weak spots to ensure there are no security breaches”. 

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Monday approved financing a project for energy rationalisation for underprivileged families to be covered by the 2018 budget of the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry and disbursed to the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund.

The project aims at alleviating financial burdens of underprivileged families’ energy bills by using alternative energy sources, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, adding that it also seeks to contribute to national efforts to reduce power consumption and raise awareness on the benefits of solar energy.

The project will be implemented in cooperation between the ministries of planning and international cooperation, social development and energy, and will target 8,232 families across the Kingdom.

The Planning and International Cooperation Ministry will help families cover 50 per cent of the cost of solar cells provided by JREEEF.

The scheme will be implemented through charity organisations, which will be picked by the Social Development Ministry, while beneficiary families will be chosen focusing on households that receive assistance from the National Aid Fund.

Other mechanisms will be adopted to guarantee targeting various areas in all governorates. 

Earlier this month, the government launched the second national plan to rationalise energy, which aims at lowering electricity consumption by 2,000 gigawatts between 2018 and 2020, with a cost of JD700 million.

The Energy Ministry implemented the first national plan on energy efficiency in 2014, under which it has lowered electric power consumption by 7.6 per cent, equivalent to 806 gigawatts.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Haya, chairperson of the board of directors for Tkiyet Um Ali and Dar Abu Abdallah, has officially appointed the board of directors for the next four-year term, a statement by Tkiyet Um Ali said.

Taher Al Masri was appointed as the vice-chairman and Ala’ Khalifeh as second vice chairman, while the board’s new members also includes Abdullah Toukan, Ali Kenj Shukri, Laith Marwan Al Qasem, Nasif Khoury, Khaled Zakariya, and Amjad Al Aryan.

HRH stated her pride to have the new board lead the mission of Tkiyet Um Ali and Dar Abu Abdallah, noting that “during the last decade, we have changed the lives of thousands of families through Tkiyet Um Ali’s Sustainable Feeding Programme and today, by having this synergy with Dar Abu Abdullah, we are supporting 30,000 families, enabling them to become self-sufficient”.

The board of directors held their first meeting on March 31, where they discussed the directives of Princess Haya on the importance of continuing the development of programmes targeted to support citizens living in extreme poverty. 

AMMAN — Car ownership in Jordan is expected to witness a significant increase in the upcoming years, a research paper issued by the Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF) said on Saturday. 

Based on information available from EuroStat, the study showed that, during the period from 2009 to 2016, Jordan came second regionally in terms of the annual growth rate in the number of owned vehicles, which stood at 6.54 per cent, right after Turkey. 

Despite the sustained growth, the number of owned cars in Jordan still appeared small when compared to the ratio per capita, with one vehicle for every five persons. 

The JSF research paper determined that “if the Jordanian experience in the near future reflects what has happened in countries such as Finland, Germany, France or even Slovakia, one can only predict the number of owned vehicles per capita to increase in Jordan”, adding that “the growth might be even faster given the lack of good public transportation in the Kingdom”.

Founder of the public transportation advocacy campaign Maan Nasel, Hazem Zureiqat said: “It is not surprising that car ownership has been on the rise in Jordan, as the lack of an effective, reliable public transport system leaves very few mobility options for people,” stressing that “most find themselves forced into buying a car in order to gain access to employment or to be able to get to their university classes on time — and this comes at a hefty price to the individual, the household, the environment and the economy as a whole”.

“Curbing car ownership and use requires a paradigm shift in the way we plan for transport,” Zureiqat told The Jordan Times, adding that “we need a system that is more balanced and multimodal, providing people with viable options that are reliable and affordable”.

For his part, economist Wajdi Makhamreh said: “The unorganised transport scheme and the inability of the government to install a top notch transport system made many Jordanians prefer to own a car,” stressing that “this has made the traffic in Amman unbearable and costly”.

The JSF paper pointed out that “all stakeholders must realise the critical importance of investing sufficiently and efficiently in our infrastructure in general, and in our road network in particular”, adding that “the fact that more than half of the Jordanians live in Amman makes this argument much more critical”.

A previous report by the World Bank assessing the quality of roads in 140 countries highlighted a deterioration of the roads across the Kingdom, with a score falling from 4.85 in 2006 to 3.87 in 2015. 

“Again, this reinforces the importance of investing sufficiently and efficiently in our road network,” the JSF said pointed out, predicting that investments would minimise the existing traffic jams and improve the quality of public transport in general.

Makhamreh stressed the need for “a huge project for roads’ maintenance”, calling for an investment fund from the government and aiding countries “to focus on roads and implementing systems that is feasible for Amman and other cities within Jordan”.