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AMMAN — Ibrahim Obeidat on Wednesday presented his credentials to the Governor General of Belize Sir Colville Norbert Young as Jordan’s first non-resident ambassador to Belize, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

At the ceremony, Obeidat conveyed greetings from His Majesty King Abdullah to the people of Belize. The governor general sent his greetings to King Abdullah and the Jordanian people, commending Jordan’s peace and stability. 

AMMAN — A 19-year-old woman was found in “critical condition” on Wednesday at the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid, according to an official source.

The young woman, who is a student at the university in the northern governorate, some 80km away from Amman, was found after being reportedly attacked by a relative for “yet to be known reasons”, Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

Sartawi told The Jordan Times the girl is currently in an unstable state, due to an alleged attempted murder, in which the prime suspect is her 23-year-old uncle. He added that the investigation is still under way to further question the victim and the suspect. 

AMMAN — The World Anti-Doping Agency's recently released report indicates that Jordan remains a corridor country — rather than a destination — for drug smuggling, Interior Minister Salameh Hammad said Wednesday.

Commenting on the report, the minister said government efforts to combat narcotics are in progress in accordance with set plans and strategies. 

Hammad said his ministry works around-the-clock to combat narcotics through regular awareness campaigns highlighting their dangers at mosques, schools, universities and civil society institutions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

He said the developments in the region and the dangers at the borders of neighbouring countries which are left uncontrolled, in addition to the influx of refugees into Jordan, all led to a 25 per cent increase this year in the Kingdom's efforts to combat drugs compared to 2015.

Efforts will continue through security raids, particularly on agriculture lands used for planting marijuana, to arrest those involved and refer them to court, Hammad said.

He added that anti-narcotics efforts helped eliminate many of these attempts, stressing the lack of awareness of the dangers of narcotics and highlighting the importance of the media's role in this regard.

On Wednesday, Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) personnel arrested eight suspected drug dealers in three raids in Mafraq, a Public Security Department (PSD) statement said.

The AND agents had been collecting information on the suspects for weeks before conducting the raid. 

A large amount of narcotic pills was found hidden inside food at the raided houses, according to the PSD. 

On Sunday, the army said Border Guards personnel seized 3,991 palm-sized sheets of hashish with a weight of 722kg and 3,592,000 Captagon pills which weighed 667.5kg in a foiled smuggling attempt.

During the second half of March, AND personnel arrested 122 suspects in drug dealing cases.

In that period, AND agents confiscated 17kg of hashish, 9kg of synthetic cannabis, 13,000 Captagon pills, and 105,000 illegal narcotic pills and medical products, in addition to 21 firearms and ammunition.

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday caught three minors over their suspected involvement in the vandalism of a mosque in Irbid, some 80km north of Amman, recently.

"Investigations led to three 12-year-old suspects who confessed to vandalising the mosque after escaping from school," a source from the Public Security Department (PSD) media centre told The Jordan Times. 

The minors will be referred to court, the source added on condition of anonymity. 

"We received a tip from a citizen informing us about the incident. Our team arrived at the scene to find that the mosque's facilities were in a complete mess," the PSD source said.

After the incident, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement that described the occurrence as "odd" and "dangerous".

"It violates the sanctity of the holy site… the perpetrators tampered with the mosque's belongings, including copies of the Koran," said the statement. 

The movement urged the authorities not to overlook such incidents, as this "encourages extremists and advocates of secularism and atheism to disrespect holy sites that represent the identity of Jordan". 

AMMAN — Facebook and WhatsApp are the most used social media channels in Jordan, according to the Arab Social Media Report.

Of the total social media users in Jordan, 89 per cent use Facebook, 71 per cent use WhatsApp, 66 per cent use YouTube, 43 per cent use Google Plus and 34 per cent Instagram, according to the 2015 report recently released by the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit.

It added that around 33 per cent of social media users in Jordan are on Twitter, 63 per cent of whom access it on daily basis. 

The report showed that of the total social media users, 2 per cent only prefer Twitter. 

Ninety-three per cent of Jordan’s Facebook users access the site on a daily basis. About 89 per cent access it via smartphones or tablet computers.

Regarding the types of activities users perform most of the time when using social media, 50 per cent said that they use social media mainly for “chatting”. 

The second most common activity is reading posts/blogs by other people, with around 18 per cent of users doing so. 

Nine per cent use social media outlets to connect with and search for family and friends and 6 per cent use them for posing pictures.

The majority of respondents, 83 per cent, access or use social media via their smartphones most of the time, compared to 11 per cent who use their laptops.

More than half of the users, or 52 per cent, are most active on social media during evening hours. 

Furthermore, one-fourth of social media users spend between 16 and 30 minutes per session when using social media, whereas around 12 per cent spend more than 2 hours per session using social media, according to the report, which covered a sample of more than 7,000 users of social media spread evenly across 18 Arab countries.

AMMAN — The USAID will grant Jordan $30 million under an agreement signed Wednesday to decrease water loss in Zarqa, Madaba and Aqaba, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Water Minister Hazem Nasser and USAID Mission Director Jim Barnhart signed the agreement.

Nasser said the governorates were chosen upon specific technical standards, including the number of complaints and previous projects.

He noted that the grant follows a similar one presented last year to the Jordan Water Company — Miyahuna to enhance efforts to reduce water loss, develop supply and improve the quality of services.

During the last few years, water loss reached record levels as a result of ageing infrastructure and violations on water networks and resources, the minister added. 

He said the ministry is working to implement the national water strategy, which aims at reducing water loss to 30 per cent by 2025 and raise the per capita share of drinking water to 105 litres per day.

Studies show that underground water will be depleted in 10 to 15 years if measures are not taken to stop water loss, illegal pumping and develop the use of treated water, Nasser added.

Some 10 per cent of drinking water is lost because of illegal water wells, and more than 75 million cubic metres of water is lost as a result of violations against water networks, which cost the treasury JD200 million, the minister noted.

He thanked the US for its continuous support for Jordan.

AMMAN — The Criminal Investigation Department’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit on Wednesday concluded its investigation into the case of the three Bangladeshi domestic workers who allegedly jumped from the second storey of a recruitment office last Thursday.

The case was referred to the specialised prosecutor general after the owner of the recruitment office and an employee were arrested on charges of human trafficking, illegal detention and making threats, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The three domestic workers said the agency owner abused them and locked them up in the bathroom, so they tried to escape by jumping from the window and were injured in the attempt. 

The workers were taken to Al Bashir Hospital for treatment. One of them was scheduled to be discharged on Wednesday and will be under the protection of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit until the case is closed. 

Another worker broke her leg and one broke her back in the attempt to escape, and are receiving treatment at the expense of the unit under the assumption that they are human trafficking victims.

Tamkeen Fields for Aid on Tuesday strongly denounced the incident, saying that the abuse the workers were subjected to prompted them to escape in a way that threatened their lives.

“A team from Tamkeen has visited the workers at the hospital, and two of them said they were abused by their employers and were returned to the recruitment office upon their request, while the other one was taken by her employer to the office,” according to a Tamkeen statement received at the time by The Jordan Times. 

The centre claimed that the workers were beaten by the office owner and were then locked up inside the bathroom while being deprived of food and water.

“A number of employees had given them food leftovers without the knowledge of the owner, who gave them the option to throw themselves from the window or be killed,” said Tamkeen.

The centre said there are hundreds of similar cases of abuse against domestic helpers in Jordan, a fact that constitutes a “flagrant” violation of international conventions the country is signatory to.

“We call on the concerned authorities to intensify their efforts to protect guest workers and hold abusers liable, while amending legislation governing workers’ well-being,” said Tamkeen. 

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Wednesday met with a Russian parliamentary delegation currently visiting the Kingdom and discussed means to combat extremism.

Tarawneh said terrorism is not tied to a religion, race or nationality, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The House speaker called for investing in the strong bilateral relations and improving them in economic, commercial and parliamentary fields.

For their part, the delegates stressed the strength of bilateral relations and voiced hope that more Russian tourists will visit the Kingdom, which enjoys stability and security.

Senator Marouf Bakhit, first deputy Senate president, also met with the delegates and highlighted Jordan’s burdens in light of receiving refugees. 

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed the 2016 draft by-law for post-care of juveniles. The draft by-law is aimed at rehabilitating juveniles and developing their skills through a comprehensive programme after they leave juvenile detention centres.

Post-care is meant to help released juveniles deal with the difficulties that hinder their integration into the society, and also to reduce the possibility of their return to committing felonies, through enhancing their positive behaviour towards family and society, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Also on Wednesday, the Cabinet approved a by-law on municipal waste collection. The Council of Ministers also endorsed a by-law on licensing advertisements within municipality borders, Petra reported. 

AMMAN — Firefighters in Tafileh extinguished a blaze on Wednesday that erupted in two adjacent houses in Shaitham village, Tafileh Civil Defence Department (CDD) Director Col. Nayef Nawaiseh said.

He confirmed that no one was harmed in the fire, and that the only damage was to the furniture of the houses.

CDD personnel also dealt with a collapsed staircase due to rainfall, and removed debris in to open a route for the house residents, according to a statement released by the department.