Local

AMMAN — Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani on Monday stressed the importance of media outlets in promoting the U17 Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Jordan from September 20 to October 21.

During a visit to the local organising committee, Momani said major efforts are expected from all, especially the media and civil society organisations, calling for comprehensive press coverage of the event.

The minister noted that Jordan has demonstrated success in hosting international events, citing papal visits to the Kingdom as an example.

AMMAN — Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif is scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday on an official visit to hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart Tareq Mulla and Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Saif will discuss the memorandum of understanding on trilateral joint cooperation in the field of oil and gas which was signed in Amman in November 2015 to install an oil pipeline from Iraq to Aqaba to export it to other countries, according to a ministry statement.

AMMAN — One man died and four people were injured on Monday in road accidents across the Kingdom, according to the Civil Defence Department (CDD).

A 55-year-old man died in a hit-and-run incident in Amman’s Muqabalein area, the CDD statement said.

Three people were injured in another accident on Amman-Zarqa Highway, and CDD cadres administered first aid to the injured before transferring them to Bashir Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition.

Karak CDD dealt with an accident involving a truck that overturned in Abyad area, which resulted in an internal bleeding for the driver who was transferred to Karak Hospital and reported to be in critical condition, the CDD added.

AMMAN — A group of students on Monday reportedly damaged three vehicles that belong to teachers at the Hittin Camp School affiliated with UNRWA, a source at the Ruseifa Police Department told the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Police personnel, including Hittin Police Station Director Lt. Col. Rafat Matarneh, headed to the school and apprehended some students who confessed to damaging the cars. The suspects were referred to court to proceed with legal action against them, the source added.

AMMAN — The Royal Scientific Society of Jordan (RSS) and Gryphon Scientific, in cooperation with Metabiota Inc., are currently hosting the “Middle East and South Asia Conference on Epigenetics and Genomics of Infectious Diseases” in Amman.

The two-day conference, held under the patronage of HRH Princess Sumaya, president of RSS, is open to junior and senior scientists from the region and the United States.

Presenters and attendees include health experts; research scientists working in the fields of epigenetics, genetics and pathogen infection; and policymakers, an RSS statement said Monday.

“In this challenged global environment... we are indeed fortunate that so many Middle East and South Asia countries possess the skills and the necessary infrastructure to carry out both genomic and epigenetic studies,” the statement quoted Princess Sumaya as saying. 

SALT — The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding a programme to promote tourism in Balqa's Salt city, some 35km northwest of Amman, by focusing on the daily life and traditions of residents through the concept of the “eco-museum”.

JICA, in cooperation with Salt Development Corporation, the Tourism Ministry and Salt Municipality is implementing the project to replicate the experience of the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hagi. 

Motoaki Jo, from JICA’s tourism marketing department, said during a tour of Salt on Sunday that by utilising the city’s local resources, the eco-museum promotes other places like the mosque and church and also popular shops in the area.

Eco-museums are open-air museums that enable visitors to visit houses that represent certain traditions or eras, with residents dressed in costumes reflecting that and serving food typical of the era or tradition in question.

The concept was introduced to Japan in the 1980s, focusing on depicting rural life, according to web sources.

The JICA official told The Jordan Times that local residents are involved in organising the home-visit experience, where the mother cooks traditional food for visitors, who can also enrich their experience by wearing traditional clothes.

The next steps entail involving travel agencies and the shops in the old souk in the project. "Those kinds of shops have a unique history,” he said.

Salt, the official said, is beautiful with its historical buildings, and it offers many stories and traditions.

Authorities in Salt are seeking a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List, selecting 25 buildings that illustrate the "golden age" of the city between 1865 and 1920.

Kayo Murakami, assistant professor at Hokkaido University and a member of JICA’s eco-museum cultural department, said the daily life of Salt residents is highlighted through this project.

“We focus on [showcasing] buildings, agriculture [and] daily life. We visit the souk and houses and we ask them what kind of things you want to explain to tourists in your city,” Murakami told The Jordan Times.  

She said 140 people were asked which aspects they would like to be highlighted, and the residents said they wanted to talk more about the harmony between Muslims and Christians, the first school in Salt and the souk.

Salt Development Corporation Director Khaldoun Khreisat said the idea for the project came from JICA, whose officials saw Salt as a similar model to the Japanese city of Hagi.

The assistance from JICA includes technical support and holding training programmes for Jordanians. Eight Jordanian tour guides were given English language courses and history classes to promote the city. 

Khreisat said the programme, since 2012, has helped the corporation raise local community awareness by holding several workshops and offering historical, coexistence and educational courses. 

He told The Jordan Times that a Japanese grant to the city was utilised to renovate sites before launching the eco-museum. “The Japanese grant is currently used to train tour guides and residents on how to receive tourists and promote their city’s sites and local products.” 

“With this programme ... many women living here host groups during their tour around the city and make them lunch," Khreisat noted.

Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Shuichi Sakurai told reporters that the city of Salt reminds him of an old city in Japan.

“I feel nostalgic to Nagasaki when I visit Salt city,” he said. “The Buddhist temples, churches, and Japanese temples coexist just like churches and mosques do in Salt. The atmosphere is very similar in general.” 

The press tour included a visit to Zai Water Treatment Plant, “where JICA supported Jordan with water infrastructure projects and capacity development projects for water engineers”, Shokichi Sakata, chief representative at JICA, said. 

“The first phase dealt with renewing four deteriorated pumping stations and the second phase expanded four others in [the] Zai conveyance system and increased the capacity of the water supply from 45 million cubic metres to around 90 million cubic metres,” Sakata said. 

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel have recently arrested a number of "wanted suspects" and seized stolen vehicles in recent security operations, the Public Security Department's (PSD) media centre announced on Monday.

The northern region CID dealt with a theft case in Irbid that targeted shops, pharmacies and vehicles. 

A special investigation team collected information that led to identifying the main suspect, according to a PSD statement.

The suspect, who has a criminal record for theft, was apprehended and confessed to committing 27 thefts by breaking locks and doors, in addition to stealing car licence plates with an accomplice who was also apprehended, the PSD said, adding that investigation is still under way.

In Amman, CID agents arrested a suspect whose criminal record includes 40 thefts, after concluding investigation in several theft cases, which confirmed his involvement, the PSD said, adding that the suspect was in possession of "many counterfeit keys".

He confessed to robbing 10 houses, one of which belonged to a foreign resident and included a safe with two kilogrammes of jewellery and JD30,000.

Based on information provided by the suspect, CID agents retrieved the safe and its contents, which were hidden in his house's garden along with other stolen items whose owners recognised.

The PSD also said that the central region CID agents apprehended two wanted people who confessed to committing 13 shop thefts and stealing two cars in Amman and Balqa.

In another case, east Amman CID personnel arrested a suspect who confessed, with the help of other accomplices, his involvement in 20 thefts targeting houses, shops and companies, the PSD said, adding that the investigation is still ongoing.

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, HRH Prince Hassan attended the 5th Extraordinary Islamic Summit on Palestine and Jerusalem, which kicked off on Sunday in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

In an address at the summit delivered by Prince Hassan, His Majesty said: "In Jordan, as part of our commitment to the Hashemite Custodianship of the Holy City's sites, we have addressed and will continue addressing the Israeli violations," adding: "We have succeeded in halting and aborting some of these assaults and we will relentlessly perform our duties until the liberation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites."

The Monarch also noted that Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) summit in Jakarta was held to discuss the Israeli occupation forces violations and assaults in occupied Jerusalem which, he stressed, aim at imposing new realities by changing the Holy City's demography, Islamic and Arab identity and its legal status as a city under the Israeli occupation, the statement said.

The King continued that the Israeli assaults are globally condemned as they constitute a clear violation of the international law and the international humanitarian law as well as the international community's resolutions which, since 1967, have rejected Israel’s entire unilateral measures in East Jerusalem as legally and politically illegitimate, simply because they are carried out by an occupying force.

The King also explained that the international law stipulates Jordan's right to manage Jerusalem's religious affairs of all their deeply-rooted historic, cultural, humanitarian, organisational, institutional and archeological aspects.

"When we talk about Al Aqsa Mosque (Al Haram Al Sharif), we mean the entire 144,000sq.m.-compound which consists of the roofed mosque, the underground Al Musalla Al Marwani in addition to all historic and sacred yards and archaeological buildings inside the compound.”

Through its membership in the Security Council, the King noted, Jordan has succeeded in passing a document that clearly uses the term “Al Haram Al Sharif” after long years of absence from the council’s literature. The statement, he said, strongly denounced the rising tension in the Old City, especially in and around the mosque complex. The King added that Jordan has also worked with UNESCO, in cooperation with the Palestinians, to achieve considerable gains for the Jerusalem cause.

The King re-emphasised the centrality of the Palestinian cause among regional issues, reiterating that the absence of a just and lasting solution to the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies at the heart of the region’s woes, especially with terrorist and radical groups dominating large parts of neighbouring states.

He explained that resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital will help in weakening radical groups and curbing their recruitment efforts.

“On this basis and for other considerations, achieving the two-state solution is a national Jordanian interest in addition to being a Palestinian and an international interest,” the King said.

The Monarch also called on Arab and Islamic countries to contribute by all possible means to international efforts aiming at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, adding that the Israeli violations against Jerusalem’s holy sites cannot be addressed comprehensively and effectively without combined Islamic efforts. 

On the sidelines of the summit, Prince Hassan met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and conveyed to him His Majesty’s keenness on enhancing Amman-Jakarta relations.

The prince also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed with him Jordanian efforts to end the Israeli violations in Jerusalem.

Prince Hassan also met with the OIC’s Iyad Ameen Madani and the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.  

AMMAN – Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Monday said intensive efforts and continuous vigilance are needed to prevent a spillover of regional instability to Jordan as the current challenges in the region have put a "heavy" burden on the Kingdom's security, political and economic system.

Hammad, who was speaking at a meeting of the security council in Irbid, said the internal front should remain strong to protect Jordan's national interests, adding that security is the Kingdom's biggest asset, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

The visit of the interior minister to the northern city of Irbid came a few days after clashes between special security units and a Daesh-affiliated group that resulted in the killing of seven terrorists and the death of Major Rashed Zyoud, who was shot during the operation, while five of his colleagues were injured.  

Hammad said that all government agencies and Jordanians appreciate the quality work of Jordan Armed Forces – Arab Army and security apparatuses in protecting the security and stability of the country by responding to any threat to the safety of Jordanians or any one who seeks to disturb public order, Petra said. 

The minister cited the establishment of a directorate for combating radicalism and violence at the ministry in October last year, adding that setting up the unit is part of the efforts Jordan is making to eradicate "this disease". 

Security directors, who were attending the meeting, talked about a set of measures currently being implemented to face security challenges that include intensifying monitoring and inspection in some areas in addition to beefing up the presence of security cadres, Petra said.  

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Monday was briefed on the Department of Antiquities' (DoA) project to establish a centre to study and conserve artefacts in the capital.

Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez and DoA Director Munther Jamhawi briefed Ensour on the project's "important role" in ensuring the safe storage of antiquities, especially since many artefacts are vulnerable to the elements, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The centre will include halls to conserve antiquities, a library, labs to process and maintain artefacts, and an archive.

The premier also toured facilities where artefacts are currently stored and was briefed on the methodology used to catalogue and conserve them.

Ensour expressed the government's support for the project, issuing directives for its immediate implementation.

He noted that "these treasures" represent the historical eras that Jordan has witnessed over thousands of years.

"These archaeological treasures are keepsakes that we must all safeguard against tampering, loss or destruction," Petra quoted Ensour as saying, stressing the need for the centre to accommodate the large number of artefacts unearthed in Jordan.

In remarks to the press, Fayez said implementation of the project will start immediately.

For his part, Jamhawi said the projected centre is a major national project.

"We have hundreds of thousands of artefacts that require storing and conservation in a scientific manner under suitable environmental conditions and after necessary studies are conducted," he added, noting that the DoA is in possession of antiquities that date to 8,000 years BC.

He voiced hope that the project will "see the light of day soon", according to Petra.