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AMMAN — Starting March 25, a supplement featuring a wide array of articles on lifestyle, health, women and all family-related issues will be distributed each Friday along with Al Rai newspaper.

The 16-page free of charge supplement will include articles that are tailored for all family members and people from all walks of life with a great emphasis on the “simplicity of the language” and entertaining writing to attract the readers, Khalil Shobaki, assistant chief editor at Al Rai, told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

“Friday editions of all newspapers in general tend to lack rich content, with weak articles and issues that are not really attractive to readers…We conducted a study that indicated that all family members would prefer a rich content to read on Fridays,” Shobaki added.

The supplement will include features on lifestyle, house decorations, cooking and recipes, tourism and health, offering informative articles that enrich general knowledge, he said.

“We will also allocate some space for initiatives by individuals seeking to revive old tourism sites for example, or others doing some activities to revive old traditions…There will be a section on old meals and dishes and how to make them,” Shobaki explained.

The supplement will also be posted online and shared on social networking sites.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania visited the northern border city of Ramtha on Wednesday, where she met with Syrian refugees and heads of local charity organisations working in the area, some 90km north of the capital. 

Her Majesty began her visit at the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Centre, run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). 

At a meeting with IRC staff, Country Director Wendy Taeuber briefed the Queen on the services the organisation provides, and how it deals with gender-based violence emergencies among female Syrian refugees, according to a statement from Her Majesty's office.

Taeuber explained that based on a study conducted by IRC in Jordan, the organisation’s cash assistance programme has been successful in alleviating cases of domestic and gender-based violence.

Her Majesty then attended a group counselling session for Syrian women, who opened up to her about the challenges and pressures they have faced after fleeing to Jordan, the statement said. 

Um Qusai, a Syrian refugee who fled from Daraa three years ago, told Queen Rania that poverty, displacement, and uncertainty about her family’s future have left her in a bad psychological state.

The counselling sessions allow the women to discuss any abuse they face, and receive emotional support and advice on how to overcome psychological trauma. They help women obtain a sense of routine and normalcy, while building social support networks with other women.

“We came here to find that we have to start our lives from scratch," Um Qusai explained.

"The stress was more than I could tolerate, so my husband and I started having problems at home, and even my children started developing psychological issues because life all of a sudden became too difficult,” she added. 

The counselling sessions, however, have helped her deal with her negative feelings, she added.

But the Syrian refugee crisis has not only taken a toll on displaced Syrians, it has also put an immense amount of pressure on Jordanian communities that host them, the statement said.

That is why while in Ramtha, Her Majesty also met with the heads of five Jordanian charity organisations working in the area to support local residents. 

The charity directors told the Queen that the closures of two border crossings and the free trade zone with Syria have led to skyrocketing unemployment among Jordanians.

The refugee crisis has also pushed house rents up in Ramtha and other towns and cities.

The charity directors added that severe pressure on Jordan’s infrastructure has exhausted public services in Ramtha. 

Nearly a third of the border town's residents are Syrian refugees, and its schools and only public hospital have become extremely overcrowded, they added. 

Some schools in Ramtha have as many as 60 students in a classroom, according to one charity header.

The town's population has gone up from 80,000 four years ago to over 150,000, its mayor, Ibrahim Saqqar has said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.

The local charity directors called for more international support to build additional schools and public health facilities in Ramtha, in order to improve living conditions for both Jordanians and Syrians.

Queen Rania’s second stop in Ramtha was a visit to an IRC health clinic. 

Her Majesty toured the facility and checked on Syrian and Jordanian patients with IRC Health Programme Manager Muhammad Fawad, and IRC Health Coordinator Caroline Boustany. 

The Queen also stopped at an IRC mobile clinic, which treats refugees in remote locations who cannot afford transportation to health facilities in the city.

IRC’s mobile health clinics offer primary, reproductive, and community healthcare to vulnerable Jordanians and Syrian refugees. The IRC says its health outreach programme in Jordan is the largest and most comprehensive in the country.

In addition to health, counselling and protection services, IRC also leads humanitarian efforts in dealing with unaccompanied and separated Syrian children, who are forced to flee to Jordan without their primary caregivers. 

To date, IRC has helped around 3,000 Syrian children reunite with their families or find foster families in Jordan to care for them, the statement said.

AMMAN — Gas stations workers receive low wages because of the low commission ratio set by the government and the high operation costs at stations, an association leader said Wednesday.

Gas Stations Owners Association (GSOA) President Nahar Seidat told The Jordan Times in an e-mail interview that this problem is most evident at stations owned by individuals.

Gas stations affiliated with companies pay somewhat higher wages, especially since they are located in areas frequented by customers, which in turn attracts Jordanian workers who feel more secure in a job that has overtime pay and other benefits, Seidat explained.

The GSOA president said there are 450 gas stations around the Kingdom, where three main fuel distribution companies operate — Manaseer Oil & Gas, Total Jordan and Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, through its subsidiary, the Jordan Petroleum Products Marketing Company (Jo Petrol) — supplying gas stations under contracts. 

At the Manaseer Oil & Gas, 75 per cent of the workers are Jordanians, whereas the rest are guest workers. Total Jordan has 90 per cent Jordanian workers, as is the case with the Jo Petrol, according to Seidat. 

As for stations owned by individuals, he said Jordanian workers make up 65 per cent of their employees and the rest are guest workers, but only a few are covered by health and social security insurances. 

Manaseer Oil & Gas pays employees at its stations a starting salary of JD220. Afterwards, the salary could increase up to JD350, based on the years of experience, according to Seidat.

He added that Manaseer employees have health and social insurance as well as an additional month's bonus salary, whereas Total Jordan offers the same privileges but salaries at its stations could rise up to JD450 after workers gain experience. 

Jo Petrol follows two hiring systems — one is the regular direct employment and the other is hiring through a company, Seidat said, noting that the company is experimenting with both systems to choose the most suitable. 

Recently, Khaled Zyoud, president of the General Trade Union of Workers in Petrochemicals, accused Total Jordan of violating the job security of its employees as it hires them via a third party.

“Total Jordan employees do not have contracts with the company directly, but they deal with a third company and abide by the conditions set by the third party without the ability to take legal action against the oil company if needed,” Zyoud charged in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Dismissing the accusations as groundless, Seidat told The Jordan Times earlier this week that Total Jordan hires employees and deals with them in line with the Labour Law. 

"Hiring employees via another company that signs agreements with them is legal and Total Jordan follows this practice wherever it operates around the world,” he said at the time, charging that "the statement by the general trade union is meant to settle scores and is for personal motives”.

AMMAN — The shared value among all humans is ethics, while extremism, which is not limited to a certain religion, is an unethical phenomenon, according to HRH Prince Hassan.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the academic programme "Islam, Diversity and Peace Building" on Tuesday evening, the prince expressed his solidarity with the victims of the terror blasts in Brussels.

Prince Hassan said such an academic programme moves in the right direction since it focuses on high values and morals, advising the graduates to strive to be productive in their communities. 

The ceremony was organised by the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS) in cooperation with Adyan Foundation in Lebanon, and supported by the British embassy there.

RIIFS Director Majeda Omar said the programme is part of the cooperation with Adyan Foundation, which started in 2006, and that the event is perceived as a new path of cooperation between the two institutes.

Participants from 14 countries, including Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Indonesia, Egypt and Palestine joined the programme, which aimed to develop critical thinking, build young people's capacity to create peace and enable them to spread religious diversity in their societies. 

Fadia Alibraheem, a participant from Jordan, told The Jordan Times that her experience in the programme enabled her to witness diversity at its core.

“The group of 28 participants was diverse in religion, ethnic background, culture, and education. I learned that although there are many urgent issues around us, they seem so small and partially insignificant to the issue of interreligious dialogue, since it is the path to combat terrorism through understanding and respecting humanity,” she said.

Adyan Foundation Director Nayla Tabbara said the project comes in response to the need to have an objective approach to understanding religion, and develop cultural awareness in order to stand against extremism.

Adyan was founded in 2006 by members from Christian and Muslim denominations. 

Hadi Abdulhadi, programme director at Adyan, told The Jordan Times that such programmes teach participants how to use critical thinking to counter extremism.

“The main idea is to know that we cannot defeat extremism in a short term plan; the process is long and there is always a need to empower the young generation, academics, activists and journalists to fight against radical thinking.”

British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden said his country is committed to supporting stability and a harmonious society in the Middle East, especially in Jordan and Lebanon. 

AMMAN — The army said on Wednesday that Border Guards received 105 Syrian refugees during the previous 24 hours.

The troops transferred the refugees to shelters and camps, and Royal Medical Services personnel treated the injured, according to an army statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — A 34-year-old woman died and another person suffered a nervous breakdown on Wednesday when their vehicle overturned in Irbid, according to a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement.

Also on Wednesday, seven people were injured in a two-vehicle collision in Thughret Asfour, Jerash, according to the CDD.

The injured were taken to Jerash Public Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition. In another accident, five people were injured in a two-vehicle collision in Irbid.

CDD personnel took them to Prince Rashid Military Hospital where they were listed in fair condition.

AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Wednesday delivered a speech at the opening of the sixth ministerial meeting to discuss smuggling and human trafficking in Bali, Indonesia, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hammad stressed the importance of respecting human rights, noting that traffickers take advantage of poverty, instability and loss of security to lure victims.

He said Jordanian laws that deal with this issue include the Penal Code, the Anti-Human Trafficking Law, the Labour Law and the Residency and Foreigner Affairs Law. Hammad added that in 2013, a specialised unit was established to combat human trafficking.

AMMAN –  A Jordanian trade and economy delegation starts a working visit to Georgia next week to promote Jordanian products and reach out to new markets, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

The visit, organised by the Jordan Exporters Association in cooperation with the Georgian embassy, also aims at giving the chance to businesspeople from both countries to share information about investment, trade, potential joint projects and obstacles that would face developing economic relations.

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association’s (JEA) council has tasked the syndicate’s legal department to file lawsuits against municipalities granting building licences based on preliminary blueprints rather than engineering blueprints accredited by the JEA, which relies on the Kingdom’s building codes and standards, JEA President Majid Tabaa said Wednesday.

Relying on preliminary blueprints threatens public safety, Tabaa said in a JEA statement.

AMMAN — The Belgian embassy on Wednesday opened a book of condolences at its premises over the Tuesday terror attacks in Brussels, which killed dozens and left scores others injured.

The book will continue to be available for signature on Thursday from 9am to 4pm, the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy thanked the government and people of Jordan "for the many messages of condolences received, and for the support they offer" to Belgium.