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AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) on Wednesday charged two Jordanians with attempting to incite violence.

SSC Prosecutor General Ali Mubaideen charged two Zarqa residents with “intention to incite violent acts, and the destruction of public and private property” for their involvement in protests in the city in February.

According to defence attorney Taher Nassar, the two men, both members of the Al Zawahreh and Khalaileh Tribal Moment for Reform, were detained for over three weeks before the charges were filed.

The defendants, who requested to remain unnamed, are expected to issue a not-guilty plea at their opening trial, slated for April 28.

According to activists and attorneys, 60 supporters of the pro-reform protest movement currently face charges at the State Security Court.

AMMAN — Experts in the education and ICT sectors will convene in Amman on Tuesday to look into ways to boost e-education in Jordan, where a lack of financial resources has hampered progress in integrating technology in classrooms.

Participants at the three-day Education Technology Conference and Fair will come up with suggestions on how to go forward and implement projects that will give a boost to online education in the country and address challenges in this regard, according to organisers.

“Jordan has been lagging behind several Arab states... when it comes to online education and integration of technology in the education sector,” Omar Jarrah, the conference’s spokesperson, said at a press conference Wednesday.

“Jordan’s decline in such reports even affected the country’s ranking in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study,” Jarrah said.

“The drop in financial allocations in the Ministry of Education’s budget to support e-education projects and a lack of financial resources had a negative impact on Jordan as far as e-education is concerned,” Jarrah added.

Representatives from the ICT sector and academia from several Arab states are taking part in the event. 

International firms with solutions in the field of e-education such as IBM and the Integrated Technology Group, will take part in the event, held by the Jordan Computer Society with USAID as the implementing partner.

Azzam Shweihat, chairman of the Jordan Computer Society board of directors, stressed the importance of the event.

“Private sector firms can play a big role in addressing challenges when it comes to e-education, especially in securing the needed finance for such projects,” Shweihat told reporters.

He also called for public-private partnerships to address the gap in this regard.

Several issues will be discussed during the event including e-education in the Arab world, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the future of education.

AMMAN — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a fresh contribution of 500,000 euros ($684,000) from the government of France towards its emergency food assistance programmes supporting thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled to Jordan. 

WFP is assisting more than half-a-million Syrian refugees in camps and communities in Jordan, mainly through monthly food vouchers valued at JD24 (24 euros) per person, the agency said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times on Wednesday. 

With food vouchers, refugee families are able to purchase the food items of their choice at local shops across the country, including dairy, meat and produce, which are not usually included in food rations, the WFP statement said.  

“France is very concerned by the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis related to Syria and its impact on neighbouring countries, especially Jordan,” French Ambassador to Jordan Caroline Dumas said. 

“France commends the immense efforts of the Jordanian government and of the Jordanian people in welcoming into the Kingdom hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing a country at war. To bring some help, France has decided to confirm its support to the excellent WFP programmes supporting the Syrian refugees in Jordan,” the statement quoted Dumas as saying.

WFP is working to ensure that its food assistance for Syrian refugees in Jordan provides families with the food and nutrition they need while also giving back to the host country. 

“In the face of severe funding constraints, WFP relies on the generous contributions of donors like France to continue responding to the food needs of Syrian refugees in Jordan,” said Jonathan Campbell, WFP’s emergency coordinator for Syria refugees in Jordan. “Thanks to France, WFP will be able to provide food vouchers to more than 20,350 Syrian refugees in Jordan this month,” he noted.

The voucher programme helps to promote local production and employment as well as giving a much-needed boost to local markets and the Jordanian economy, the statement said. 

Food vouchers also provide families with a sense of normality and dignity when they shop in local markets among local Jordanians, according to the agency.

As the conflict in Syria enters its fourth year, on average some 150 families are fleeing to Jordan each day. WFP still needs to raise 175 million euros ($240 million) to meet the food needs of an expected 710,000 refugees who will need food assistance in Jordan in 2014. This would not be possible without the commitment and support of all donors, the WFP statement said.

To date, France has contributed a total of 5 million euros ($6,651,583) to WFP’s programme assisting Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, including 1.5 million euros for Jordan.  

The world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, WFP reached more than 97 million people in 80 countries with food assistance last year.

AMMAN — Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents have apprehended 35 suspected drug dealers over the past few weeks in Amman, according to official sources.

The arrests are part of a comprehensive ongoing campaign by AND against drug dealers in Amman, a police official said.

“AND agents received information about several individuals who were selling drugs in the capital and they were monitored and arrested,” the police official added.

AND agents seized 6,000 narcotic pills and three kilogrammes of hashish that were found in the possession of the 35 suspects, according to a Public Security Department (PSD) statement.

The suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecutor for further questioning and indictment, the statement said.

The PSD called on citizens to inform police about any suspicious or illegal activities related to drug trafficking.

“We urge the public to report such individuals who are threatening our young people by distributing these dangerous illegal drugs in return for a quick profit,” the PSD statement said.

Last year, 8,945 suspects were involved in around 6,504 drug cases, according to AND officials.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday met with a number of Rosary Sisters during a visit to the Rosary Sisters Visitation Home. 

The Queen toured the facility and checked on the various services it provides to elderly resident nuns, according to a statement from her office. 

Upon her arrival, Queen Rania spoke with a group of elderly nuns living at the home, most of whom have spent their entire lives doing humanitarian work in different fields, including education, health and social services.  

To express their appreciation of the Queen’s visit, the nuns presented Her Majesty with two gifts: a Holy Koran and a piece of hand embroidery that the nuns had made themselves. 

After the meeting, Queen Rania toured the Visitation Home, which was established by the Rosary Sisters in 1996, and checked on one of its rooms. 

The home is comprised of several bedrooms and different facilities that aim to bring comfort to the residing nuns as well as the sisters supervising the home, the statement said.

Her Majesty also had the chance to meet with a group of Rosary nuns who work in different fields in Jordan outside the home. 

The Queen praised them all for their efforts and achievements in giving back to society through their humanitarian work. 

Mother Ines Yaqoub, president of the Sisters Congregation, thanked the Queen for her visit and briefed her on the activities carried out by the congregation to help develop local communities.

Sister Madeleine Dababneh, director of the Rosary Sisters Visitation Home, told the Queen about events and activities that take place at the facility which include religious and educational meetings, as well as training sessions for staff working at the congregation’s schools and organisations.

The order, which has been offering educational and health services to the community since 1949, has established six schools.

It has been working to empower local communities through the launch of vocational training centres to teach girls skills that help them become financially independent members of society, according to the statement. 

The Rosary Sisters also aim to help the disadvantaged by establishing hospitals as well as elderly and orphan care centres.

AMMAN — The Dana Biosphere Reserve’s Rummanah campsite has reopened for tourists with the advent of spring, according to its director, Amer Rfou.

The Rummanah Campsite opens for tourists in spring and closes in November every year when temperatures at the reserve, which features steep mountains, deep valleys and plains, dip, Rfou said on Wednesday.

The Dana Biosphere Reserve houses a range of tourist facilities, including a guesthouse and an eco-lodge, Rfou said, underscoring that only the campsite is shut down during winter.

Regional turmoil and the lack of security in many neighbouring countries caused a drop in the number of visitors to the reserve, especially since tourists used to come to Jordan as part of a package that included Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

“Figures indicate that the number of tourists to the reserve is improving. Last year was a good season, and we expect it to continue this year,” Rfou told The Jordan Times.

Spread over 300 square kilometres, the reserve is located in Tafileh Governorate, 180km southwest of the capital. 

Dana is Jordan’s largest and most diverse nature reserve with 833 types of vegetation constituting 50 per cent of the total flora in the country.

Established in 1989, the nature reserve is globally important for being the southernmost remaining forest community of pencil pine and for containing three rare plants that exist only in Dana and are named after the area: Silene danansis, Micromeria danaensis and Rubia danaeansis.

Dana is also an important bird-watching site as it is home to 216 kinds of birds, many of which are globally threatened, and 38 mammals, mainly the Nubian ibex, Eurasian lynx, hyenas and Blanford’s fox.

AMMAN –– Downtown Amman’s Hashemite Square and the Roman Theatre will host a reading festival this month that aims to instil a culture of reading in the capital. 

The three-day festival, titled “Our Mother Amman… A City that Reads", is scheduled to open on April 24. 

Co-organised by the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and Uzbakiyet Amman, the festival will exhibit around 40,000 new and used books.

In addition, cultural and artistic events will be held at the nearby Roman Theatre, according to Samer Kheir, GAM’s Cultural Department director. 

Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji and representatives from Uzbakiyet Amman met earlier this week to discuss arrangements for the festival, Uzbakiyeh Director General Hussein Yassein told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The festival will be open for book lovers between 9am and 9pm throughout the three days.

“Used books will be sold for between JD0.10 to JD2 after a discount of up to 70 per cent, while the maximum price of new books will be around JD7, which is 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than market prices,” Yassein added.

There will be Arabic and English books covering various fields such as culture, geography and philosophy.

Yassein said the cultural and artistic events include traditional storytelling, better known as Al Hakawati, poetry recitals and street theatre.

“The festival will try to form a huge human chain of at least 1,000 people reading books, titled ‘Each Carries a Book,’” he added.

AMMAN — The Lower House on Wednesday endorsed the draft amendments to the Jordan Press Association (JPA) Law after deliberating the bill for four sessions, during which MPs added new provisions and changed others.

The draft amendments stipulate certain new methods for electing members of the JPA council, under which the president’s deputy henceforth will be elected directly from the general assembly.

Previously, the person for this post was selected from members of the JPA council.

The changes to the JPA law come just two weeks before the association is to hold elections to select new members for its council. 

However, these amendments will not affect these polls as the bill must first go to the Senate to be discussed and approved before being sent to His Majesty King Abdullah for ratification, after which it will be published in the Official Gazette, when it will go into effect. 

The JPA elections are slated for April 25, hence the old version of the law will remain in effect and govern the polls, according to parliamentarians.

The new bill regulated several issues relating to the elections of the JPA council and the means to protect the profession from anyone who tries to damage its reputation, in addition to investing the association’s funds.

The draft amendments also detailed the activities the association will carry out, including training and educational events.

In Tuesday’s session, the Lower House defined the eligibility of any individual aspiring to become a member of the Jordan Press Association, limiting the journalism profession to holders of bachelor’s degrees.

MPs endorsed a provision in the legislation under which holders of high school diplomas can no longer become JPA members. 

Excluded from this stipulation are journalists who have been practising the profession for at least eight years and can prove it, as well as photojournalists.

Under the new amendments, MPs also decided to extend the training period for holders of media and journalism diplomas to three years from two years in the current version of the bill.

According to the endorsed draft, spokespersons in government agencies will not have the right to join the JPA at all.

At the end of the session, some MPs called for reopening for further discussions provisions that focus on the definition of a journalist and of a press institution, but the majority of deputies voted against the motion.

AMMAN – Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat on Wednesday said the ministry is going to prepare a classification system for private schools, dividing them into categories in accordance with specific criteria related to the learning environment, resources, teaching staff and performance levels.

During a meeting with principals of private schools, he said the new system will be drawn up in cooperation with education specialists from the private sector.

AMMAN – Border guards received 727 Syrians over the past 24 hours who entered Jordan through various crossing points.

Children, women and the elderly represented the majority of the arrivals, several of whom were injured and unwell.

First aid was administered for those who needed immediate assistance, while patients with critical medical conditions were taken to the nearest hospitals.

Arrangements were made to transfer the refugees to the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq.