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AMMAN — A personal online initiative to promote Jordan as a "safe and diverse" tourist destination has succeeded in attracting thousands of visitors, according to its creator.

Since it was launched in 2010, the "Welcome to Jordan, from the depths of my heart" Facebook page aimed at highlighting the diversity of destinations in Jordan, said creator Hosni Mayoof.

The "non-commercial" page seeks to clarify misconceptions among Americans and Europeans regarding Jordan's safety, he said, explaining that the political unrest in the region is often thought to be affecting all Middle East countries.

"I have visited many countries, but have not found the diversity of destinations that Jordan offers," the 34-year-old told The Jordan Times on Thursday over the phone, pointing out a lack of "organised, long-term" marketing strategies at the national level. 

The page, created with a JD1,000 budget, motivated travel agencies to arrange regular visits to Jordan, bringing in tens of thousands of visitors, according to Mayoof's account.

The page creator said he has employed his past experience in the tourism sector and his passion for photography in taking professional photographs that depict the beauty of several tourist destinations, as well as the daily life activities of Jordanians.

"Westerners often do not have the time to click links to read articles,  therefore, the images are key tools to attract their attention," Mayoof said, noting that those who visited Jordan also share their photographs on the page.

Most of the page's some 47,000 followers are mainly from the United States, Sweden, Austria and Hungary, as well as Jordanian expatriates around the world, said Mayoof, who works as a film location manager in Jordan and Hungary.

He cited Jordan's capability to attract more opportunities as a location for international film production, in addition to historical and medical tourism.

"My target is a million followers, and I hope my photos would be distributed as gifts for visitors to Jordan's official booths at international tourism exhibitions."

AMMAN — With the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) using 17 salt-spreading trucks to melt ice on roads, water officials and car mechanics warned on Thursday that sodium chloride pollutes water and damages vehicles.

Sub-zero temperatures during this week in the capital prompted the municipality to start spreading salt as of Tuesday to melt ice on main roads, bridges, tunnel entrances and steep roads.

But the move was not welcomed by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, which said sprinkling salt on the streets will increase the salinity of rainwater that reaches the dams.

“The rainwater, which eventually finds its way to King Talal Dam, will become saline. The wet season is usually anticipated because the rainwater improves the quality of the dam’s water and reduces salinity levels,” the ministry’s assistant secretary general, Adnan Zu’bi, told The Jordan Times.

Zu’bi underscored that increasing salinity levels at the 75-million-cubic-metre King Talal Dam will damage crops in the Jordan Valley, as certain crops are irrigated from the dam.

“Saline rainwater will also directly impact the soil and the crops and affect the agricultural sector,” Zu’bi said.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Ghazawi, owner of an auto repair shop in Naour, said that spreading salt on the streets during winter damages vehicles in the long run.

“Salt causes corrosion and shortens the life of cars. It embeds itself in the undercarriage, causing it to rust over time. In addition, it can eat away the paint,” Ghazawi told The Jordan Times.

He advised motorists to head to car wash stations and clean salt and dirt off their cars to prevent corrosion.

“Also, spraying car oil on the undercarriage is a good idea to create an isolating layer,” Ghazawi said.

 The municipality announced at the start of winter that it has increased its fleet of salt spreaders from two to 17 trucks, noting that most of the salt sprinkling on the capital’s roads was previously done manually.

The salt is mixed with sand to ensure it sticks to the snow or ice and to make the de-icing process faster, according to GAM.

AMMAN — The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) has launched a winter promotional campaign to lure Jordanians to the warm seaside city. 

ASEZA Commissioner for Economic Development and Investment Affairs Sharhabeel Madi told The Jordan Times Thursday that the month-long Aqaba Carnival, launched for the second year, seeks to increase the number of visitors by encouraging local tourists to make the southern city their getaway from the cold weather. 

He indicated that three-, four- and five-star hotels and land and air transport companies are offering discount prices that have so far tempted hundreds of vacationers. 

“Our transportation partners are recording increasing reservations to head to the city in February,” Madi added, adding that the campaign is also targeting Arab Israeli, Lebanese and Saudi Arabian tourists.

The official said the winter campaign is expected to raise hotel occupancy rates in Aqaba, some 330km south of Amman, in the coming month, which he described as a dead season in terms of the number of tourists. 

ASEZA has launched a promotional campaign through newspaper advertisements and through digital media, he added.

“This festival is part of crisis management efforts for the tourism sector, as the number of tourists usually drops sharply at this time of the year,” the commissioner said, while in spring, tourism typically flourishes due to demand from visitors from Scandinavian and European countries seeking warm weather. 

Madi said several five-star hotels slashed their prices by more than 50 per cent as part of their cooperation with ASEZA, noting for example that the price of a room at a prestigious hotel would fall from JD200 a night to around JD175 for three nights, including transport by air. 

The tag line of the Aqaba Carnival, which runs from January 31 until February 29, is the same as last year: “Come to warm weather.” 

AMMAN — After the government located a boy seen selling magazines to support his family in a video circulated on social media sites, many citizens made donations to help him through the Public Security Department’s (PSD) radio channel Amen FM on Thursday, according to the department officials.

Officials from the PSD said the department will pay the rent on the apartment where the 9-year-old boy lives with his nine siblings in Kamaliyeh area near Sweileh.

“His parents are divorced; his father abandoned him and his siblings, so he arrives at the location where he works to sell magazines in the morning hours,” Captain Hazem Mistarehi of the PSD told The Jordan Times. 

Mistarehi, who is also a correspondent of Amen FM, said the station received several calls from citizens listening to the channel’s morning show, who offered financial and in-kind assistance to help the child.

The donations included JD500 from a Jordanian woman, as well as clothes, winter gear and other necessities of life. 

In the short video, originally posted on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com watch?v=zdYNXqb
pHZI) photojournalist Firas Khalifa offered the child JD5, but the boy refused to take the money without giving Khalifa magazines worth the amount paid.

At the end of the video, the child said he is in a hurry and wants to sell what is left of the magazines and go home, since his feet are cold from walking on the snow.

On Wednesday, the boy was found at a café in West Amman by the Ministry of Social Development, which stated that he is in good condition and that it is looking into his case. 

Articles 73, 74, 75 and 76 of the Labour Law ban the employment of children under the age of 16 and set limits on the employment of minors between the ages of 16 and 18.

According to the International Labour Organisation, the Kingdom in 2011 also adopted a National Framework to Combat Child Labour to improve the nation’s legislative environment.

This framework lays out the various roles and responsibilities of ministries to identify child labourers, remove them from work, and provide them with appropriate education and social services. 

AMMAN — Abdullah Abu Jaber, a Jordanian prisoner in Israel, suspended his hunger strike on Tuesday after 78 consecutive days, following promises to meet some of his demands, an activist said Thursday.

"Abu Jaber and the Palestinian Prisoner Club's lawyer, Hanan Khatib, reached an agreement with the Israeli prison administration to allow his family to visit him," said Shireen Nafe, a member of the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa.

They also agreed to allow the relatives of the 41-year old who reside in the West Bank to regularly visit him, the Fedaa member added.

Abu Jaber was arrested in 2000 for “resisting the occupation forces”, and is serving a 20-year prison term, Nafe said in previous remarks.

"The prison administration also promised to consider Abu Jaber's demands regarding his release after serving two thirds of the sentence or transferring him to spend the remainder of his term in Jordan," the activist told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The prisoner is currently in hospital and is in critical health condition, Nafe said, noting that he lost much of his weight and needs time to recover.

"He did not completely stop his hunger strike he just suspended it until his demands are fulfilled," the Fedaa member noted.

She added that there are some 25 Jordanian prisoners in Israel.

AMMAN — The Jordan Press Association (JPA) said on Thursday it has not received any information about the whereabouts of journalist Tayseer Al Najjar, who was detained in Dubai in December.

"We sent a letter to the UAE Journalists Association, but we have not received a response yet," JPA President Tareq Momani told The Jordan Times over the phone.

"The Foreign Ministry in Jordan informed us that it was following up on the issue and I hope we will hear positive news soon," Momani said.

"Hopefully we will know the reason behind his detention and secure his release," he added.

The Foreign Ministry was not available for comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times.

According to the JPA, Najjar was detained at the airport in Dubai as he headed back to Amman recently.

In a post on his Facebook timeline last week, journalist Walid Husni said Najjar, a member of the JPA and the Jordan Writers Association, was detained on December 13 last year in Dubai.

The detained journalist was not allowed to contact his family, Husni said, citing Najjar’s wife. 

Najjar’s family tried to contact the authorities in Dubai several times but to no avail, he added.

The detained journalist covers cultural news and has published several studies and research papers.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft meteorology law, seeking to regulate meteorological activities and services such as weather forecasts.

The bill also seeks to provide a single main point of reference that gives weather and climate-related data and information, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Thursday.   

Under the draft law, a licensing committee is to be formed at the Transport Ministry to draw up necessary requirements and conditions for licensing and to specify the equipment deemed necessary to provide meteorological services. 

The committee, to be chaired by the minister of transport, will also decide on the qualifications that meteorologists and weather forecasters must have to provide these services. 

The bill imposes punitive measures against anyone who damages meteorology department equipment and penalises unlicensed parties that issue weather warnings to the public.

Violators face a jail sentence between six months and one year, in addition to a fine no less than JD1,000 and no more than JD20,000, under the draft law.

The bill seeks to regulate weather and climate predictions due to the effect of this information on people’s lives and property, in addition to aviation, Petra said.

The licensing process will also channel revenues to the Treasury and enable the government reduce its support for the Jordan Meteorology Department (JMD), according to Petra.

In remarks during a visit to the JMD on Wednesday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said weather forecast bulletins issued by the department should be accurate and credible as much as possible, stressing that inaccuracies result in large losses to the economy.

During the visit, the premier warned that inaccurate forecasts disrupt the work of various sectors, calling on all meteorology websites to be extra careful in this regard. 

Ensour also stressed the government’s readiness to provide the JMD with the latest weather forecasting technology.

The polar front that affected the Kingdom this week was accompanied by contradictory weather forecasts that caused confusion among Jordanians.

After decades of operating solely, the JMD is facing competition today from emerging professional and amateur forecasters.

Prior to the latest depression, which brought snow and heavy rain, social media and news websites were inundated with contradictory weather bulletins that puzzled Jordanians.

“You read somewhere that the snowstorm is going to be nothing like we have ever witnessed before, and then you open another website that says that the blizzard will not be strong. We don’t know who to believe anymore,” Lama Al Jarrah, a private sector employee, said in remarks The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“This issue affects people’s lives; therefore, there are plans to enact legislation that governs the sector,” an official source had told The Jordan Times at the time. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah and Spain’s King Felipe VI on Thursday discussed the latest regional and global developments.

In a telephone conversation, the two leaders discussed counterterrorism efforts and the repercussions of the crisis in Syria, according to a Royal Court statement.

King Abdullah and King Felipe stressed the importance of the donor conference that will be held in London next week, especially in terms of supporting Syrian refugee host countries.

AMMAN – Department of Statistics (DoS) Director General Qasim Zu’bi is scheduled to hold a press conference on Saturday to announce the preliminary results of the national census that the government carried out late last year.

The press conference is set be held at DoS headquarters in Jubeiha at noon, according to a statement from the department.

AMMAN — The Finance Ministry on Thursday signed a $40 million automatic loan agreement with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) to support the payment balance of the Kingdom’s AMF subscription of transferrable paid currencies.

The agreement also aims at enabling the Kingdom to continue its financial and economic reforms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Finance Minister Omar Malhas, who signed the agreement on behalf of the government, said the deal has soft repayment conditions over four years with an interest rate of 1.3 per cent.

The Finance Ministry said the loan will be withdrawn in two batches of $32.12 million and $7.88 million, with the government paying back the loan over four equal instalments every six months after a grace period of 18 months of the withdrawal date.