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AMMAN –– Authorities will soon launch a promotion campaign to encourage more Jordanians across the country to apply for small business loans, which, according to officials, has become easier.

At a press conference on Monday, Planning Minister Ibrahim Saif said the campaign will mainly target residents of poverty pockets and remote areas, in addition to Jordanians outside the capital who have business ideas.

The lending scheme will be implemented by the Planning Ministry’s Enhanced Productivity Centres project (IRADA), the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) and the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC).

Loans with low interest rates will be extended by the DEF, while IRADA will act as a helping arm for entrepreneurs by conducting feasibility studies on their business ideas and offering technical and marketing services throughout the project.

The JLGC will cover nearly 70 per cent of the guarantees needed by the lending institution to make loans easier and more accessible, Saif explained.

In a bid to encourage more people to apply for credit facilities, the minister said the DEF has cut down its interest rates from 5 per cent to 4 per cent for potential beneficiaries in poverty pockets, adding that interest rates can go down to 3 per cent for entrepreneurs in Maan.

The maturity period was also extended from six years to seven years for projects in poverty areas, while it will be eight years for entrepreneurial projects.

The grace period will be 12 months instead of six months, Saif noted, adding that loans worth JD18 million have been extended to beneficiaries.

Over the past, more than 4,500 projects received financing from the lending scheme, creating over 7,500 permanent employment opportunities, the minister said.

JLGC Director Mohammad Jafari said interest rates for projects outside Amman are always lower than for those implemented in the capital, but demand on loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises is still higher in Amman.

“There are many people across the country who have good business ideas, but are in need of soft loans,” Saif said, adding that the promotion programme seeks to increase the awareness of governorates’ residents about the credit facilities extended by the initiative. 

AMMAN — Four people were injured during a brawl in the town of Barha in Irbid Governorate on Monday, according to a police official.

“The brawl was between individuals from the same family who differed on where to bury a dead woman,” Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The argument became heated and weapons were used resulting in four injuries, Sartawi said, adding that several houses were also set ablaze.

Gendarmerie forces were dispatched to the area and brought the situation under control, according to the PSD spokesperson.

Police are questioning dozens of people to find out more about the incident and who was involved, he said.

AMMAN — A wanted man, who reportedly sought treatment at a hospital after being shot at by police following a car chase in Maan late Sunday night, died as a result of his wounds on Monday, according to an official source.

Three policemen who were involved in the chase were also injured and treated, Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The suspect was in a pickup truck with another man and refused to pull over when a traffic patrol tried to stop them because they were wanted on several charges, according to Sartawi.

“The two suspects fired at the patrol car and several police vehicles started chasing the pickup truck,” the police official said.

Police had to respond to the shooting and it “seems they managed to injure the two men in the pickup truck,” he added.

The pickup slammed into other police vehicles and the suspects drove to Maan Public Hospital after both of them were injured, Sartawi noted.

The main suspect, who underwent surgery, died early Monday morning, while the second is listed in stable condition, he said.

AMMAN — Jordan is still receiving huge numbers of Syrian refugees on a daily basis, Interior Minister Hussein Majali said on Monday, underlining the pressure this places on vital sectors, such as education, health, water and energy.

During a meeting with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, Majali cited Jordan’s dire need for more international assistance to enable it to continue providing humanitarian services to the refugees.

The interior minister highlighted the Kingdom’s stance in supporting efforts to come up with a comprehensive solution for the crisis that would end the bloodshed, and preserve the cohesion and unity of the Syrian people.

For his part, Asselborn called on the international community to provide more support to Jordan, voicing hope that the Syrian crisis would be resolved soon.

Discussions also covered means to develop bilateral ties, by expanding cooperation in security, economy and political spheres.

During a separate meeting with Assistant US Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Anne C. Richard on Monday, talks also focused on the security, economic, political and humanitarian consequences of the Syrian crisis on Jordan.

Richard voiced her country’s appreciation for Jordan’s humanitarian role towards the Syrian refugees despite its economic woes.

Moreover, Majali delivered a lecture on Monday that focused on the negative impact of the Syrian crisis on the Kingdom,

Speaking at the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy, he noted that Jordan is the only country in the region that has received huge numbers of refugees to a degree that exceeds its capacity.

Also on Monday, Majali met with British Ambassador to Jordan Peter Millett and underlined the importance of the UK-Jordanian partnership, calling for exchanging expertise and information in the security field to combat crime and restore stability in light of the turbulence the region is going through.

AMMAN — Thousands of saplings will be planted across the country on Wednesday to compensate for the trees destroyed in December’s snowstorm, which was a “strong blow” to Jordan’s forestry sector, an official said on Monday.

More than 10,000 saplings will be planted in celebration of Arbour Day and also to replace thousands of trees that were damaged late last year, Agriculture Ministry Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin said.

“During this time every year, the ministry’s forestry department plants saplings on hundreds of dunums to expand the green cover. This year, however, will be different, as the new saplings will replace thousands of uprooted trees,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times over the phone.

A nationwide campaign to plant trees across the country will be launched from a forest in Deir Alla in the central Jordan Valley, where over 10,000 saplings will be planted on 200 dunums, he added.

“The ministry started planting trees in the 70,000-dunum Deir Alla forest in 2009. The step seeks to create more green spaces in the country, especially in areas that lack forests,” Haddadin noted.

The spokesperson said the forestry department’s 13 nurseries across the country will provide the saplings, noting that they produce 3 million saplings of 80 different kinds every year.

“The department annually distributes 1.5 million saplings to the public free of charge, in addition to 500,000 saplings to public and private institutions. Another one million saplings are left at the nurseries to produce more,” Haddadin highlighted.

The tradition of Arbour Day in the Kingdom began in 1939 with a ceremony held in the Jabal Al Qalaa neighbourhood.

Since then, it has been an annual celebration, with the Agriculture Ministry choosing a different location each year to plant various saplings.

Illegal logging during winter, wild fires in summer and insufficient rain due to climate change are the main threats to Jordan's shrinking green cover, which stands at less than 1 per cent of the country's total landscape, according to experts.

Several projects were launched over the past years to increase forest terrain in Jordan and create more green spaces, including the national forestry project, the forests protection project and the Green Belt project, under which trees are planted along the desert road, which links the country’s central and southern regions.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Monday started deliberations over the draft 2014 state budget amid expectations that voting on the bill will take place by end of this week.

The House will need more than 25 hours to conclude its debate over the bill, as each deputy has 10 minutes to address the Chamber.

On the first day of the debate, most of the speakers who took the podium expressed their opposition to the bill, with the majority blaming the government for the “bad” economic situation and the increasing budget deficit.

They called for looking into alternatives to finance the budget rather than relying on citizens’ pockets through more taxes and higher prices of basic commodities.

The first day also witnessed calls to divert the subsidies to target Jordanians who need them rather than maintaining the same blanket subsidy system that the rich and poor benefit from.

In their speeches, many deputies focused on demands for their own constituencies, urging the government to allocate funds to provide more services for local communities across the Kingdom.

Last week, the Lower House Financial Committee concluded its review of the bill and sent it to the Permanent Office.

Immediately, after receiving the committee’s recommendations on the draft, the Lower House dedicated this week’s meetings to discussing the bill to endorse it before a delegation of MPs leaves the country to participate in a regional activity in Kuwait next week.

After holding 60 meetings with various government entities over the past few weeks, the House panel submitted 25 recommendations to the government for examination during the discussions under the Dome.

The committee recommended that the government draft a deficit law to cover the next five years, starting in 2015 to reach self-sufficiency by 2020.

The panel urged the government to speed up its efforts to collect Treasury funds — estimated at JD2 billion — and conclude all lawsuits against tax evaders and others who owe money to the state, expected to generate JD1 billion, calling on the authorities to aggressively combat tax evasion.

The government should also accelerate the implementation of alternative energy projects, according to the panel’s recommendations, which were made available to The Jordan Times.

The government submitted the draft budget to the Lower House in November 2013, with a 12.8 per cent expansion in spending and a deficit of around JD1.1 billion.

AMMAN — Four people were killed and four others were injured, one critically, in a road accident near Madaba Bridge on Monday morning, official sources said.

The accident involved a trailer truck and five vehicles on a four-lane road that connects Amman with Madaba, Maj. Ziad Abdul Aziz, director of the Traffic Investigation Department, said.

Abdul Aziz told The Jordan Times that a white vehicle with five passengers heading to Amman from Madaba was speeding.

“Wrongful overtaking by the driver resulted in the vehicle slamming into the street divider, crossing to the other side and crashing head on with the trailer truck that was coming from the other direction,” the traffic official said.

The vehicle was pinned under the truck and was dragged for 30 metres, and the two entangled vehicles collided with four others on the same road, Abdul Aziz explained.

“The strong impact resulted in the immediate death of four of the five occupants of the white vehicle and the injury of three passengers in the trailer truck,” he added.

The driver of the white vehicle was the sole survivor and is listed in critical condition, according to Abdul Aziz.

The victims were aged 37, 24, 21 and 24.

The injured were rushed to Hamaideh and Bashir hospitals, a Civil Defence Department official told The Jordan Times.

The four other vehicles were heavily damaged as a result of the collision, he added.

According to Central Traffic Department figures, around 11,004 accidents associated with human injury were registered in 2012, with 816 road-related deaths.

In late 2012, the Public Security Department said road accidents over a decade had killed 7,869 people and injured 171,143 in the Kingdom.

In 2011, more than 142,000 accidents took place in Jordan, resulting in 694 fatalities and 18,122 injuries, while financial losses amounted to about $440 million. 

AMMAN — With Microsoft’s support for Windows XP ending in April, the international software giant recommended that users in Jordan upgrade to Windows 8 or 8.1 operating systems.

On April 8, support and updates for Windows XP will no longer be available.

In addition, anti-virus and software updates will eventually stop, Ayman Afaneh, Microsoft Jordan’s developer and platform evangelist lead, told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of a meeting Monday to launch Windows 8.1 in the Kingdom.

“I do recommend that those using Windows XP upgrade to Windows 8. When Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP, they can still use the software but are likely to face problems,” Afaneh said.

“When security and software updates stop... users of XP will be more vulnerable to cyber attacks and threats,” he added.

In a statement on its website, Microsoft said very few old computers will be able to run Windows 8.1, which is the latest version of Windows.

Citing studies by research firm Gartner, it indicated that most PC hardware manufacturers will stop supporting Windows XP on the majority of their new PC models.

“Microsoft has provided support for Windows XP for the past 11 years. But now the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences,” Microsoft said.

During Monday’s meeting with the press, Afaneh announced the launch of Windows 8.1, noting that it “offers many unique features, including a multi-tasking option that enables users to simultaneously display and run several applications on a single screen”.

Windows 8.1 offers a host of increased customisation refinements and functional improvements, including an enhanced and more adaptable start screen so that each Windows device is tailored to the individual, a Microsoft statement said.

Windows 8.1 brings back the start button as a familiar point of navigation.

The operating system also provides native support for 3-D printing, enabling apps to seamlessly print 3-D jobs and understand 3-D file formats.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday attended a ceremony held by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs at the King Abdullah I Mosque to mark Prophet Mohammad’s birthday.

At the event, attended by several Royal family members and senior officials and officers, Awqaf Minister Hayel Dawood said Prophet Mohammad had called for promoting the values of peace and tolerance and denouncing all forms of extremism.

He underlined the ministry’s commitment to continue spreading the true image of Islam, which seeks to ensure the well-being of all humans, according to a Royal Court statement.

Chief Islamic Justice Ahmad Hilayel highlighted the lessons to be learned from the prophet’s life in addressing current issues and working towards advancement and prosperity.

For her part, Senator Nawal Faouri stressed the importance of having Prophet Mohammad as a role model in his actions that sought to bring about justice and reforms.

On the occasion of the prophet’s birthday, marked on Rabi I 12 on the Islamic lunar calendar, King Abdullah tweeted his best wishes to Muslims on the Royal Court’s official Twitter account.”Extending my best wishes to all Jordanians, the Arab & Islamic world on AL MAWLID of our great Hashemite grandfather Prophet Mohammad PBUH [peace be upon him],” the King wrote.

His Majesty and HRH Crown Prince Hussein received cables of congratulations from senior officials and officers on the occasion.

The King also received similar cables from Arab leaders, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.