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AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Tuesday met in Tunisia with his Iraqi counterpart Mohammad Al Ghaban and discussed means to boost bilateral ties in the security, political and police fields.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of Hammad’s visit to Tunisia, where he is taking part in the 33rd session of the meetings of Arab interior ministers scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The minister voiced the Kingdom’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Iraq in counterterrorism efforts, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Iraqi minister praised the “advanced level” of bilateral relations, highlighting the importance of developing them to serve both peoples, Petra added.

AMMAN — Aqaba Civil Defence Department (CDD) personnel on Tuesday night extinguished a fire that erupted in a two-storey car spare parts shop in Aqaba, according to the CDD.

Firefighters controlled the blaze in the 800-square-metre shop, according to a CDD statement.

No one was injured, the CDD said, adding that a committee was formed to investigate the incident.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Labour on Tuesday said its employment campaigns secured job opportunities for 15,972 Jordanians last year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Khatib said of these Jordanians, 6,128 are women, adding that the ministry also secured jobs for 310 people with disabilities, including 70 women.

AMMAN — Some 30,000 people visited the tombs of Prophet Mohammad’s companions in the Northern Ghor District in February, the area’s awqaf director, Abed Smeirat, said Tuesday.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Smeirat as saying that the number of visitors rose substantially, compared with 10,000 tourists in January.

Muslim tourists from Jordan and other Arab and Islamic countries visit the tombs of Muath Bin Jabal, Amer Bin Abi Waqqas and Sharhabeel Bin Hasna in the Northern Ghor.

AMMAN — A French tourist, 64, died on Tuesday night after her vehicle overturned on the Jordan Valley-Aqaba road, Ghor Al Safi Hospital Director Mahmoud Oneh told the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The tourist arrived dead at the hospital and the body was sent to Amman forensic department to identify the cause of death, Oneh added to Petra.

AMMAN — The army said on Monday that Border Guards received 72 Syrian refugees during the previous 24 hours. 

Border troops transferred the refugees to shelters and camps, and Royal Medical Services cadres treated the injured, according to a military statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.  

AMMAN — Tens of thousands of tourists visited Aqaba in February to enjoy winter in the warm Red Sea resort, an official at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) said Monday. 

ASEZA Commissioner for Economic Development and Investment Affairs Sharhabeel Madi told The Jordan Times over the phone that between 60,000 and 70,000 vacationers visited the southern city — 330km south of Amman — during February, which used to be a low season for tourism. 

Madi said the majority of the visitors were Jordanian vacationers from across the Kingdom. 

The increased tourism activity, he noted, was due to the month-long Aqaba Carnival that included discount rates by three-, four- and five-star hotels, and land and air transport companies. 

The promotional campaign, from January 31 until February 29, was launched under the slogan “Come to warm weather” for the second year, targeting local tourists to escape the cold weather in Amman and other governorates. 

It aimed at increasing the number of visitors to the port city in February, which usually sees the lowest number of tourists during the year, Madi added. 

Mustafa Al Kaylani wrote on his Facebook page that he went to Aqaba during this year’s and last year’s carnivals, and he will go every year, describing the trip there as “exciting”. 

Madi said the festival will be organised every year, with ASEZA having gained more experience in launching promotional campaigns. 

The carnival included several artistic and musical activities, he added. 

In comparison with February last year, the ASEZA official said turnout was higher, as hotels registered a 25 to 30 per cent rise in occupancy rates. 

“The good thing about this year’s event is that tourists from various parts of the Kingdom and from various walks of life came to Aqaba,” he noted. 

Madi said the authority plans to launch a number of initiatives this year to attract more local and international tourists to the port city but declined to give further details. 

AMMAN — A new test will be added to the pre-marital medical examination in Jordan, addressing the sickle-cell anaemia genetic blood disorder, according to officials at the Health Ministry.

The Pre-Marital Blood Test By-law, which obliges couples wishing to get married to carry out blood tests to ensure they are not afflicted with thalassemia, will be amended to include this additional condition.

“The prevalence rate of sickle-cell anaemia among Jordanians is 1 per cent. We are in the process of preparing the amendment of the by-law, which will most probably be ready in June,” Aktham Hadaddin, director of the ministry’s laboratories, told The Jordan Times on Monday.

He noted that the regulations will include specific laboratory techniques to ensure better accuracy.

Thalassemia is a genetically determined defect in haemoglobin synthesis that leads to stunted growth and can in some cases be fatal.

Hadaddin noted that the prevalence rate of thalassemia among Jordanians stands at 4 per cent.

Asia Odwan, a specialist in blood diseases at the Health Ministry, praised the decision to include sickle-cell anaemia in the pre-marital examination.

“This is a fatal heredity disease that cannot be detected without tests. It is true that its prevalence rate is around 1 per cent in Jordan, but it increases in the Jordan Valley region,” she told The Jordan Times.

The doctor explained that in this type of anaemia, a mutated form of haemoglobin distorts the red blood cell into a crescent shape, blocking blood flow.

However, Odwan noted that the ministry cannot stop couples from getting married even when the tests show that they are carriers of thalassemia or sickle-cell anaemia.

“We explain to them the nature of the diseases and show them the condition of children who contracted them and how this could have been prevented if the marriage was not consummated. However, some of them insist on getting married,” Odwan noted.

AMMAN — Majd Abu Dalou, who has a visual disability, did not have any clue about robotics and would have never thought he would be making a robot one day.

But an annual two-day robotics competition, held by the Jubilee Centre for Excellence in Education (JCEE) affiliated with the King Hussein Foundation (KHF), offered Abu Dalou, representing Basaer team and his colleagues who suffer from visual disability, a chance to learn more about the world of robotics and create their own robot. 

"We faced many hardships but we conquered them with our team spirit.  I did not give up because I am blind, I believed in myself and managed to create a robot," the 16-year-old student told The Jordan Times in an interview this week. 

With great passion and pride, Abu Dalou showed HRH Prince Hamzah, who attended the closing ceremony of the competition to honour the winners, the robot he and his colleagues created and talked animatedly about the project.

"In the past I did not have the courage to talk in public, but now I can talk to others and express myself," he said.

Forty-nine teams representing 29 education institutions from across Jordan participated in the 11th National Robotics Competition.

This year’s theme was “Trash Treks”, which explores robotic solutions for trash collection, sorting, smart production and reuse, according to a KHF statement. 

JCEE Director Ismail Hasan said science and education are for all segments of society from all over the kingdom.  

"Around 250 students between the ages of nine and 16 with their coaches took part in the competition," Hasan told The Jordan Times. 

He noted that these projects and competitions help put the students at the right scientific path and encourage them to invest their free time in a beneficial activity.

"These competitions help them be creative in bringing about solutions that resolve daily life problems," Hasan added. 

Mahmoud Hammash, the leader of the eight-member Basaer team, said theirs is the first team of students with visual disability that takes part in a robotics competition in the Arab world.

"We wanted to prove that we can design a robot and make it walk on the track.  In the beginning we faced all kinds of difficulties and we did not receive any kind of support except from the Jubilee centre," he told The Jordan Times 

Tharwat Shara, a trainer at the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Centre in Irbid affiliated with JCEE, said there are many talented students in the governorates but their schools do not discover them. 

"We urge public schools to implement similar activities to boost the skills of students in these areas and we hope that the government facilitates holding these activities as well," Shara told The Jordan Times. 

Sireena Shafaai, a STEM Centre student from Irbid, said the centre helped students in programming software and designing the robots.

"I wanted to take part in these contests in the past but did not find any kind of support. Workshops are available in Amman but the distance is too far for me. Now, thanks to the centre, I can participate in such workshops in my hometown," she added.  

Abu Dalou expressed hope that he can work in software programming in the future.

"I want to enhance my skills to join Google when I grow up."

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Monday said it has started a campaign to close abandoned buildings in Zahran area in Jabal Amman, as some old properties have become places for “negative practices and health hazards”.

A GAM statement quoted Zahran area manager Khaled Kassad as saying that municipality cadres have closed several deserted properties after receiving complaints from residents, adding that there are 33 abandoned buildings in the area. 

He said GAM has coordinated with the concerned authorities — the Department of Land and Survey and security agencies — to contact the landlords, who have been warned and urged to repair and close their vacant properties, adding that some buildings were closed after the owners did not respond. 

“Such properties have become health hazards due to garbage accumulation, while others are used by people at night for negative practices,” Kassad said in the statement. 

In November 2014, The Jordan Times published a report on abandoned buildings in the capital after a reported rape attempt at such a building between the 4th and 5th circles in Jabal Amman. 

In the report, officials from the municipality and police described deserted buildings as a “headache” for both agencies as they have become crime sites and health hazards filled with garbage. 

There are over 1,000 abandoned buildings in the capital, some of which provide shelter to drug dealers and users, and have been reported as scenes of sexual assaults and even murders, Raed Haddadin, director of the building control department at GAM, told The Jordan Times at the time.

He said the reason most of these abandoned buildings are neglected is mainly because they were inherited by a number of heirs, indicating that the majority of the properties were built some 70 to 80 years ago.