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Heavy rain, hail in various parts of Amman

AMMAN — A bank was robbed at gun point in Amman's Abdoun area on Monday, according to a statement by the Public Security Department (PSD).

The suspect escaped with JD98,000 from the bank, according to the police.

The investigation and search are under way.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday held talks with US Vice President Mike Pence at Al Husseiniya Palace which focused on Jerusalem and the strategic partnership between Jordan and the US, according to a Royal Court statement. 

The meeting, which continued over a lunch banquet, was attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania, US second lady Karen Pence, and senior officials
from both countries.

The King voiced his appreciation of the US for its "historical friendship and support to Jordan throughout the years". 

"You have been a partner that has always stood with our country and our people through very difficult times, and I just wanted to express how much we appreciate the continuous support that we get from your country," His Majesty said.

“I am glad we are seeing you here today, especially when it comes at a very critical point in our region,” the King told the vice president.

“Our wide-ranging discussions today I believe are timely, and as always — as friends and partners — we will be candid and frank with each other,” His Majesty added.

The King noted that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a destabilising factor for Jordan and the entire region, adding, “that is why we were encouraged by the president’s early commitment to bring a solution to this decades-long conflict”.

The King noted that he had continuously voiced concerns regarding a US decision on Jerusalem that does not come as a result of a comprehensive settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over the past year in his meetings in Washington.

“Again, for us, Jerusalem is precious to Muslims and Christians, as it is to Jews, and key to region’s peace and stability,” the Monarch underlined.

His Majesty stressed the need to overcome “rising frustrations and rebuild the trust” especially on the mechanisms to move ahead with the two-state solution that can lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with a secure and recognised Israel in accordance with international laws and the Arab Peace Initiative.

“We understand the challenges and we hope the US will reach out and find the right way to move forward in these challenging circumstances. We believe that with all the right intentions and the support of the international community, this is extremely possible. And we will work very closely with our friends in this endeavour,” His Majesty said.

Addressing Pence, the King said: “Again, I want to reiterate our historic partnership; it has always been underpinned by the friendship between our two countries and our mutual interests in advancing peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”

His Majesty highlighted the solid bilateral relations and joint commitment and partnership in the fight against terrorism.

For his part, Pence expressed his gratitude for the warm hospitality and happiness for visiting Jordan.

“I bring greetings from your friend, President Donald Trump, who asked me to come to Jordan to talk about a broad range of issues in security and prosperity and regional issues with you, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to do that,” Pence said. 

The vice president also underlined the decades old strategic partnership between Washington and Amman.

“We are here to reaffirm our friendship and our partnership, and our great respect for you and for the role that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has played in this region and across the globe,” Pence said.

Pence expressed admiration for His Majesty’s leadership and the efforts of the Jordanian military in the fight against terrorism. 

“Together, with the American military and the Iraqi military and our coalition partners, we’ve made dramatic progress in the battle against ISIS [Daesh]; driving ISIS out of Iraq, and driving ISIS out of the capital of their so-called caliphate of Raqqa. And you can be assured that we will continue to work closely with you as we drive ISIS out of existence together.”  

The vice president voiced Washington’s commitment to “Syria and a presence in Syria not only to defeat ISIS, but to restrain the malign influence of Iran and other efforts in the region that would add to further destabilisation”.

Citing President Trump’s direction to allocate more than $110 million to rebuild Christian and religious minority communities in Iraq and Syria, Pence expressed US’ gratitude for His Majesty’s commitment to religious diversity and religious freedom.

“We look forward to working with you to ensure that all the peoples of all different faiths can find a way forward, and recover after these years of conflict.” 

Pence added: “President Trump made a historic decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but as he also made clear in that decision, that we are committed to continue to respect Jordan’s role as the Custodian of holy sites; that we take no position on boundaries and final status — those are subject to negotiation. And, as I’ve made clear to you and the president made clear to the world, the United States of America remains committed, if the parties agree, to a two-state solution.”

 “We are committed to restarting the peace process, and Jordan does now and has always played a central role in facilitating peace in the region, and we look forward to your counsel and to your direct and central involvement in that process in the days ahead,” the vice president said.

Also during the meeting, the King and Pence discussed the role of UNRWA in which His Majesty stressed the importance of maintaining continued support to the relief agency’s role in providing education, health and relief services to Palestinian refugees.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday discussed regional developments, especially those related to the Palestinian cause and Jerusalem, with a delegation from the Arab and International Relations Council (AIRC), a Royal Court statement said. 

The delegation, headed by AIRC Chairperson Mohammad Saqir, comprised Iyad Allawi, Tahir Al Masri, Fouad Siniora, Amr Moussa and Mohammed Al Salal.

During the meeting, held at Al Husseiniya Palace, the King reiterated the centrality of the Palestinian issue, renewing his call for more international efforts to resume the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process on the basis of the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

His Majesty underlined Jordan's continued support to the Palestinians in their efforts to protect their historic and legal rights in Jerusalem, noting that the Kingdom will continue protecting the Muslim and Christian holy places under the Hashemite Custodianship.

The King said that Jerusalem is key for the security and stability in the Middle East.

He underlined the significance of the holy city for Muslims and Christians, which he said was shared by Jerusalemite and Jordanian clerics he met last month at the Baptism Site.

His Majesty commended the role of AIRC in conveying the pan-Arab positions in international forums.

For their part, the chairperson and members of the council voiced their appreciation for Jordan's role, under His Majesty's leadership, to achieve security and stability in the region as well as his continuous efforts to defend the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem.

Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Director of the King’s Office Jafar Hassan attended the meeting.

Also on Sunday, His Majesty met with a delegation from the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre, and discussed regional developments and the Palestinian issue, according to the Royal Court statement.

During the meeting with the delegation, which included former global leaders, His Majesty reiterated Jordan’s stance calling for resuming the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis. 

The meeting also touched on the regional crises and the fight against terrorism, in addition to the burdens shouldered by the Kingdom in hosting the Syrian refugees.

The centre was established in Azerbaijan in 2012 aiming at enhancing learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding in the world.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania is overseeing final preparations ahead of the launch of Edraak’s new learning platform for school-aged children; the result of a collaborative effort between the Queen Rania Foundation (QRF) and Google.org , Google’s philanthropic arm, according to a statement from Her Majesty’s Office.

Developed with the support of a $3 million grant from Google.org and complemented with engagement from Googlers to provide product design expertise, the platform will be offering free online open educational resources in Arabic to students. 

Additionally, it will also enable them to search for specific concepts or skills without having to enroll in a predefined learning sequence, while providing sequential learning opportunities as well. 

Queen Rania met withthe Edraak.org team,who briefed her on the final steps ahead of launching the platform, which is in its pilot phase. 

The new platform for school-learners, which is an expansion of Edraak — the leading Arabic massive open online courses platform for adult learners — aims to generate much-needed Arabic digital educational content that meets the needs of Arab students from Kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) and their educators.

Designed to align with national curricula, Edraak for school-aged learners will provide key resources for use in and out of the classroom, reinforcing the crucial role teachers play in their students’ educational journey. 

The platform will also offer video lectures, assessments and interactive exercises developed through pedagogical methods that centre on fortifying learning concepts to help educators optimise content. 

Mathematics materials for grades 7 and 9, which will include more than 1,200 educational minutes of bite-sized video lectures, will be the first material available. The e-curricula and learning resources for all other major subjects and grades will be gradually introduced by 2020. 

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Sunday said that the government will intensively monitor bakeries to ensure their abidance with new bread prices. 

The premier said that stiffened penalties will be imposed on violators of bread prices, adding that labelling prices clearly leads to healthy competition in the market.

During a meeting with market inspection teams and directors of industry, trade and supply at the Prime Ministry, Mulki said that the government will "persistently" monitor the amounts, quality, weight and price of bread, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The premier said that the price limit on bread will be announced the day after subsidy is received by the military personnel, public employees, military and civil retirees and beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund.

The government had announced disbursing subsidy allocations to heads of families who applied electronically within one month of accepting their applications as one annual instalment. 

Mulki said that what matters is that the price limit is not exceeded and that the quality of the product is ensured.

Checking on the Salam and Ein Ghazal markets, which are respectively affiliated with the military and civil consumer corporations, the premier stressed that prices at these two corporations have remained stable during the 2015-2017 period, adding that the government is committed to maintaining the prices in 2018 as well.

In this regard, the prime minister noted that the government has allocated JD5 million for each of the corporations to ensure that prices of their commodities will not see any hikes, expressing the government’s readiness to increase the sum and incurring any price difference at these two corporations. 

Mulki called on market inspectors to intensify their tours, especially for merchants who repeatedly violate laws, noting that the government will announce the names of those who insist on violating laws. 

Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Yarub Qudah reviewed the efforts exerted by market inspectors to guarantee commitment to prices and fine violators.

Qudah stressed that the majority of business owners have not increased prices that saw a hike recently.

He noted that putting a price limit for bread should not, under any circumstances, affect the quality of the product, adding that the profit margin for bakeries is “good” and can contribute to healthy competition. 

During his visits to the Salam and Ein Ghazal markets, Mulki called on the two corporations to find proper methods to implement the decision in the best ways.

The premier also listened to citizens’ remarks on price levels, quality of commodities and their diversity, calling on them not to hesitate in referring complaints about the two corporations, in particular, or markets, in general.

Director General of the Military Consumer Corporation Brig. Gen. Mutasem Omari stressed that all items needed by citizens are available at the 110 corporation markets and two mobile markets that target remote areas.

Omari added that 70 per cent of the corporation’s items are national products, noting that the facility has laboratories to periodically check on the quality of products. 

Director General of the Civil Consumer Corporation Salman Qudah said that the facility, which provides some 7,000 items in 67 markets, is keen on supporting national industries for their role in enhancing the economy and employing Jordanians. 

Strategic reserves at the corporation are enough for more than four months, Qudah said, adding that the facility’s contracts with importers cover the needs for a year.

AMMAN — The Criminal Court on Sunday sentenced two brothers to death after convicting them of the premeditated murder of their pregnant sister and her husband’s other wife at a farm in Balqa Governorate in November 2014.

The two defendants, aged 22 and 28, were each charged with two counts of premeditated murder for the fatal shooting of their 27-year-old sister, who was three-month pregnant, and the second woman, 50, at a farm in Balqa, 35km northwest of Amman
on November 8.

The two siblings, a shepherd and a restaurant employee, were calm when the presiding judge was reading the verdict details, a senior judicial source said.

But when the brothers heard that they received the death sentence, they addressed the court saying that “they killed their sister to cleanse their family honour”, the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The victims’ husband refused to drop charges against the two defendants, and, therefore, the court handed them the maximum punishment, the judicial source explained.

Court documents said the defendant’s sister was “engaged in a relationship with a man three months before the incident and became pregnant”.

“The case was discovered and the two were married to avoid a scandal and resided in a farm some 20 kilometers away from where the defendants lived,” according to court transcripts.

Nevertheless, the court maintained, “the defendants were not pleased by the outcome and plotted to murder their sister to cleanse the family’s honour”.

On the day of the murder, the court stated, the two victims were in the backyard of their home picking olives when the two defendants “showed up from behind the trees and started shooting at their pregnant sister”.

“The two defendants stated that they only intended to kill their sister and that the second woman was accidentally struck by bullets and died,” the court added.

The two men fled the scene and were later arrested by the authorities, the court documents said.

The defendants’ sibling received six bullets to different parts of her body while the woman who was with her was struck and killed by a bullet that hit her back, according to court documents.

The court rejected the defendants’ claims that they “murdered their sister to claim family honour and that the fact that she lived close to them was provocative”.

“The court rejected such claims because the victim got married as stipulated in the Sharia [Islamic Law] and her residence was almost 20 kilometres from where the defendant lived. So there is no justification to their heinous murder,” the judicial source said. 

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ahmad Kanani had asked the court to hand the two defendants the maximum punishment.

Sunday’s death sentences that were handed by judges Majid Rafayeh, Anwar Abu Eid and Nawaf Samarat will automatically be reviewed by the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.

AMMAN — Almost six months into the country’s decentralisation experiment, members of the capital’s elected governorate council find themselves with a limited mission that, even when accomplished, would make little difference to a sprawling city overpowered by formidable challenges.

What makes matters worse, according to Amman Governorate Council’s President Ahmad Abdallat, is the “identity confusion”.

“We are 62 members; some of us think we are there as mukhtars [notables] just for the prestige, some act as MPs….The very concept of decentralistion is confused,” the 39-year-old engineer told The Jordan Times in an interview on Thursday. 

“In fact, there is nothing much we do other than endorsing budget allocations suggested by the Executive Council”, which practically serves as the executive branch, headed by the governor and comprising top officials representing government agencies. The Governorate Council, meanwhile, is a legislature concerned mainly with debating the development plans set by the executive body.

“After the funds are made available [by the end of March], our job is to oversee progress in implementation and wait for the following year’s budget; that’s all,” said Abdallat, who represents the east Amman Marka district and comes from a family of housing developers. 

In the 2018 budget law, the central government has allocated less than JD35 for Amman, where roughly 40 per cent of the population live, out of around JD222 million earmarked for development projects in the 12 governorates.

Under the same law, the executive council’s mandate, among others, is to prepare the governorate’s budget and draw up the development plans and then execute the decisions of the governorate council (a.k.a. decentralisation council), the majority of whose members are elected, including a women’s 10 per cent quota, while the government appoints 15 per cent of the makeup. 

Voicing understanding of the budgetary constraints and the restricted mandate, the Amman council’s chief said: “We are left with the choice between sitting back as mukhtars, or doing something about it: to think big and out of the box.” 

The first move the council members did, led by Abdallat, was to go to the field to have a first-hand look at the needs of the capital’s residents, especially in the underdeveloped peripheral districts.

“We talked to people and listened to complaints as well as ideas from average people. We came up with the conclusion that the focus should be on education and health: Building new schools if the geographical nature of the area allow horizontal expansion, and expand the existing schools horizontally in crowded inner-city neighbourhoods,” Abdallat said. 

As for the healthcare centres, the council chief noted that in some areas outside Amman, people have to travel for long distances to reach the nearest state-run medical facilities, while within the town, the rented buildings in particular are shabby. 

A good part of these woes have been responded to in the budget, but as the team travelled around the big city, they ran into an array of small and big problems and had to act on them.

“When we go into a school and see that girls are shivering from cold, there must be a solution out there. After all, many of us, including myself, have a wide network of contacts, so I called a friend from the private sector and we partnered to provide schools with stoves,” he recalled. 

Another initiative was Sanad (support), in which the council, with support from Governor Saad Shihab, joined efforts with the Business Development Centre to provide 1,000 unemployed youth with training to start their own small businesses. 

“What I am trying to say is that we, as elected council members, are virtually the closest to people and, at the same time, have access to decision makers, municipal authorities, corporate donors and even parties outside the country; we have our expertise in various fields as well, so the question is whether we want to serve or not,” Abdallat explained. 

In a bid to help council members do their job better, two initiatives have been implemented. The first is a programme involving workshops to educate the members on the decentralisation process and their mandate. Meanwhile, a deal was concluded with Middle East University, under which the latter’s academic staff would be preparing professional studies to be at the council members’ disposal.

What is left, according to Abdallat, is an amendment to the law in a way that allows the members to propose projects ahead of the allocation process and vote, rather than waiting for the executive council to do the job exclusively.

“We have been in contact with councils in all governorates and we are reading on the same page; In fact, we have sensed a positive response from the government in that regard,” he concluded.

AMMAN — Authorities on Sunday said that the cause of the death of a 43-year-old dentist and his four-month newborn daughter a day earlier in the Balqa Governorate was carbon monoxide inhalation.

The victim, Ashraf Khleifat, his wife and their four-month-old daughter, were sleeping in a room at their home in Zouhour suburb in Salt with a gas heater lit on, a Civil Defence Department (CDD) official said.

“Our investigations indicated that the room did not have any windows opened so the two suffocated in their sleep,” the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

The three were rushed to Salt Government Hospital where Dr Khleifat was declared dead on arrival, while the newborn died shortly after being admitted,” a second source told The Jordan Times. 

The wife survived and was treated before being released from hospital, the second source added.

The Salt National Institute of Forensic Medicine issued a preliminary report indicating that “the cause of death was carbon monoxide inhalation,” the second source said.

Attending pathologists sent blood and tissue samples to the criminal lab for further analysis, according to the second source.

Several social media users took to Facebook to offer their condolences over the deaths.

“Dr Ashraf was an honest, devoted and hardworking dentist and the news of the deaths comes as a shock to us,” read a post on a Facebook page titled Jordanians in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammad Hammad said on his Facebook page: “Dr Ashraf was a dear and loving friend. He was a hard worker and well-behaved individual. You will be missed”.

Last year, CDD officials said that accidents related to the misuse of heaters continue resulting in several deaths and injuries per year, despite repeated awareness campaigns on ways to safely use heaters at home.

Between November 2015 and January 2016, 75 accidents related to heaters resulted in the deaths of 17 people and caused 187 injuries, the CDD said.

CDD officials urged homeowners to perform periodic maintenance of heaters, ensure the proper ventilation of their homes, and not to fill heaters while they are on.

The public is also urged not to use heaters for cooking or heating water as the food and beverages might spill and cause burns. 

Moreover, homeowners should not leave heaters on while sleeping and should keep an eye on children when heaters are lit. 
The department noted the importance of checking the gas hose in the heater and the gas cylinder, warning against placing heaters in narrow aisles or near curtains or electricity cords.

AMMAN — The authorities on Sunday were questioning a farmer who reportedly beat his wife to death in Madaba following a domestic dispute, official sources said.

The 26-year-old victim was rushed to a hospital in Madaba, 30km southwest of Amman, but died shortly after admittance, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“Initial investigations indicated that the victim was hit by her husband with a blunt object following a domestic dispute and that she died as a result of the beating,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the couple had been wed for five years and do not have any children.

A post-mortem conducted by pathologists Issa Gheishan, Azzam Karaki and Seif Hamarneh indicated that the victim died of significant bruising with extensive subcutaneous haemorrhage, the second source said.

“Half of the victim’s body was bruised by blunt objects, a belt and electric cords.  There were no signs of resistance, which means that the victim might have been unconscious at the time of the beating because there were no traces of rope bounding on her hands,” the second source added.

 Most of the bruises were new, but there were old bruises as well, the source maintained, adding the “cause of her death was the new bruises”, according to the second source.

The Madaba prosecutor is currently questioning the suspect and has ordered his detention at a correctional facility for 15 days pending further investigation, the second source said.