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AMMAN — The Senate and Al Rai Centre for Studies on Monday organised a workshop on practical approaches in fighting terrorist ideologies.

The workshop, attended by senators and experts aimed at coming up with plans and practical steps to protect the Kingdom from extremism and terrorist acts.

Senate President Abdur-Ra’uf S. Rawabdeh stressed the importance of coming up with recommendations and practical procedures for the Senate to refer to His Majesty King Abdullah.

Senator Faisal Fayez called for focusing efforts to create an awareness discourse that addresses targeted segments of society, especially young people.

AMMAN — Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents recently seized 5 kilogrammes of heroin and 55,000 narcotic pills in two separate smuggling attempts, according to a Public Security Department (PSD) statement.

The first case involved four suspects in Aqaba hiding heroin in a truck with plans to smuggle it into a neighbouring country.

The suspects were referred to the State Security Court (SSC) prosecutor general, according to PSD.

The other case involved a suspect travelling by bus to a neighbouring country with 55,000 narcotic pills hidden in his luggage, but the bus was stopped and searched.

The suspect was arrested and referred to the SSC prosecutor.

AMMAN — The Municipal Affairs Ministry on Monday launched the national strategy for solid waste management in municipalities.

Municipal Affairs Ministry Secretary General Waleed Otoum said the strategy is the outcome of a regional and local development project funded by the World Bank and the French Agency for Development.

Imad Abdallat, project director at the ministry, said the strategy includes a short-term plan to address the situation at municipalities hit hardest by the refugee crisis, a work plan for projects such as improving landfills and establishing new ones, and implementing strategic projects in partnership with the private sector.

AMMAN — A recently published book by Jordan Press Foundation (JPF) Chairman Samih Maaytah offers an analytical reading of Jordan’s approach and ways of dealing with several domestic and regional issues.

Titled “Jordan… the years of worry, blood and radicalisation”, the book  highlights how the Kingdom has dealt with popular movements, the Syrian crisis, and the developments in Egypt and Iraq, among other issues.

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel have reached a breakthrough in a case involving the theft of $400,000 from a Jordanian airline.

The airline had said a bag containing $400,000 was stolen from its employee after he received it at Queen Alia International Airport, according to a Public Security Department (PSD) statement.

PSD said CID investigators suspected the employee himself due to discrepancies in his testimony.

The suspect confessed to the theft upon further questioning and said he hid the money at his house and pretended it was stolen.

The money was returned to the airline, and the investigation is still ongoing, the PSD said.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Ghida Talal, chairperson of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), on Sunday called for joining the Cancer Care Programme launched by King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) to guarantee receiving treatment at the centre.

On the sidelines of the “Breast cancer in the Arab world” conference, Princess Ghida said it is hard for those diagnosed with cancer to afford treatment, due to its high costs and the improbability of having  medical insurance that covers the disease, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

HH Princess Dina Mired, KHCF director general, said that 45 per cent of 1 million women diagnosed with the disease are in developing countries, with their chances for survival estimated at 20 per cent.

On Monday, KHCF issued a statement saying Princess Dina and Azzam Fakhreddin, chief financial officer of ATICO Fakhreldin Group, have signed an agreement subscribing ATICO Fakhreldin Group employees to the Cancer Care Programme.

AMMAN — A total of 192 telemetric hydro-geological and meteorological monitoring stations will be operating by 2017 to prepare the Kingdom for climate change, officials said on Monday.

Under the Hydrometeorological System Support Project, the network of stations will cover groundwater, weather and rainfall, surface run-off and dams among other applications, Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) Director Mohammad Samawi said.

The project, financed by the German Development Bank (KfW) and implemented by Dornier Consulting, will monitor and provide data on the weather, rain, groundwater, surface water run-off, dams and abstraction of wells, Samawi added during a ceremony marking World Meteorological Day.

He highlighted that the theme for this year’s World Meteorological Day is “Climate knowledge for climate action”.

“Climate change is a source of concern because it affects all socio-economic sectors. In addition, data on the changing weather indicate that climate change is already affecting our lives,” Samawi noted.

Having sufficient climate knowledge will lead to informed actions to reduce losses resulting from meteorological phenomena; therefore, it is essential for meteorological departments to issue highly accurate weather forecasts, acquire early warning systems for extreme weather and issue climate predictions for months or seasons, he added.

Samawi underscored the importance of providing JMD with support to obtain state-of-the-art technology, training its staff and acquainting it with the expertise of developed countries in meteorological sciences.

The government is currently drafting new regulations to further develop and support JMD, according to Transport Ministry Secretary General Ghaith Dababneh.

Dababneh said the new regulations will allow JMD to charge institutions benefiting from its services and regulate the process of weather forecasting in the Kingdom.

AMMAN — A UN official on Monday urged local civil society organisations and young Jordanians to participate in designing and implementing the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda.

UNESCO Representative to Jordan and Chair of the Post-2015 Focus Group Costanza Farina said UN member states are scheduled to gather for a summit in September this year to prepare a transformative agenda that seeks to “improve lives and bring prosperity, while protecting the planet”.

“Change cannot be made to people; it has to be made with people if a lasting impact is to be achieved,” Farina noted at a meeting organised by the UN for stakeholders, calling for developing effective ways to mobilise young people and boost their contribution to social progress.

The post-2015 agenda will build on what has been achieved of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were set at the beginning of this century and expire at the end of this year, and to locally engage a larger set of stakeholders to ensure further commitment to creating a future the people want, according to the UN.

Since 2012, the Post-2015 Focus Group in Jordan has facilitated some 60 events directly, involving around 3,000 people from a wide range of backgrounds, Farina said.

“The messages from the first round of national consultations… confirm the urgency of addressing quality education to establish robust ties with the labour market, the need for a more inclusive approach to address economic and social disparities, and the critical importance of environmental protection, while water scarcity was recognised as alarming.”

Farina added that consultations witnessed a call for expanding the role of stakeholders in the implementation of the agenda, and not to be exclusive to participating in designing it.

Ziad Obeidat, director of the Planning Ministry’s Development Department, said the ministry looks forward to the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

“We will continue working with the same level of stamina towards ensuring that all involved stakeholders carry their responsibilities, with the participation of civil society, the private sector, the public sector and youth,” he said at the meeting.

Obeidat noted that Jordan was quick to achieve success in implementing the MDGs over the early years of the century, a performance that regressed later due to the influx of refugees as well as the global financial crisis.

According to the Planning Ministry, which is the governmental body to adopt the local Post-2015 Agenda once set, the committee currently drafting Jordan’s “2025 Vision” will incorporate articles and goals from the agenda.

“We will work on the local level, not only the national [one],” Obeidat said, highlighting the need for an entity to represent young Jordanians in such deliberations and to engage them in planning and implementing the agenda.

UN member states are currently negotiating the details of the Post-2015 Development Agenda that will likely present a set of 17 goals in New York, according to the UN. 

In 2013, a Post-2015 coalition of NGOs was formed in Jordan under the leadership of the Sisterhood is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J).

SIGI/J Chairwoman Asma Khader called on all NGOs to join the coalition to condense efforts in setting the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

“The coalition aims at becoming part of a national comprehensive tool to implement and monitor the developments of the post-2015 agenda,” she said at Monday’s meeting, adding that participation in the coalition is open to all civil society organisations and independent institutions to achieve “sustainable and just development”.

AMMAN — The Criminal Court on Monday sentenced a 23-year-old man to death for robbing and murdering a female university student in Zarqa in December 2013, judicial sources said.

The defendant was convicted of stabbing the victim, a Sharia student at Al al Bayt University, 37 times on different parts of her body with a knife in a bus in a terminal in Zarqa Governorate, 22km east of Amman, on December 3, 2013.

The court acquitted the defendant of attempted rape and molestation charges that were pressed against him by the Criminal Court prosecutor, “for lack of evidence”, a senior official source said.

The defendant fainted when presiding Judge Talal Aqrabawi read the verdict, according to his lawyer, Zahra Sharabati, and the judicial source.

“The defendant shouted that he was innocent and did not kill her and then fainted,” Sharabati told The Jordan Times.

Sharabati added that she plans to appeal the verdict at the Cassation Court.

Court papers said the defendant, who was employed at the National Electricity Power Company, wanted to develop an “innocent relationship to become an affair or marriage but she refused”. 

“The man was enraged that she rejected him and decided to take revenge, so he lured the victim to the bus and stabbed her repeatedly, took her mobile and fled,” a second judicial source told The Jordan Times.

However, the defendant retracted his confessions during court proceedings and claimed that he went to the bus to meet the victim and found her murdered, according to Sharabati.

He became confused, took her mobile and left, the lawyer added. 

The bus driver found the victim in the early morning hours of December 3.

Investigators traced the phone and calls made on it, which led them to the defendant.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ramzi Nawayeseh had asked the tribunal, which also comprised judges Ayman Ghazawi and Ashraf Abdullah, to inflict the maximum punishment on the suspect.

Monday’s verdict will automatically be reviewed by the Cassation Court within the next 30 days.

AMMAN — Apartments offered by the housing sector are expected to drop by 15 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a sector leader said Monday.

The Greater Amman Municipality’s (GAM) procedures in issuing licences for housing companies take five to six months, and issuing construction permits needs another six months, Jordan Housing Developers Association President Kamal Awamleh said, blaming GAM for taking a long time to provide the necessary documents.

Awamleh noted that it takes only 10 days to obtain these papers in Irbid, 80km north of Amman, and Balqa, 35km northwest of the capital.

“This slow pace in issuing these documents will contribute to raising the prices of apartments in Amman by almost 8 per cent in 2015,” Awamleh argued, adding that housing companies need 12 months for permission and another 10 to build these units.

He said companies usually make a 15 per cent profit in selling their apartments, but with these slow procedures it takes them two years, instead of one, to sell their products, which means a 50 per cent drop in their profits.

“The Department of Lands and Survey [DLS] announced that apartment sales dropped by 14 per cent and land sales also went down by 26 per cent during the first two months of 2015,” Awamleh noted.

Real estate trading last year registered a record JD7.76 billion, 22 per cent higher than in 2013 when it stood at JD6.34 billion, according to the DLS annual report issued earlier this year.

Awamleh said land sales to housing companies recently declined by 90 per cent, attributing the decrease to the fact that many companies stopped their investments and moved to other sectors, or moved abroad to destinations like the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, where it is more profitable.

“The local market needs 40,000 to 45,000 apartments annually, with housing companies producing 95 to 97 per cent of them,” he said, noting that the sector includes 2,500 companies most of which are based in the capital and Irbid.

Awamleh called for increasing the pace of issuing the required documents and opening an investment window for the sector, due to its important role in the national economy.