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AMMAN — The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder is due to visit Jordan on Thursday to examine first-hand the effects of the Syria refugee crisis on Jordan’s labour market.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times, the ILO said Ryder will also discuss the employment options for refugees and host communities, which form a key issue of debate amongst Syria donors.

During his first visit to the Kingdom, the ILO director will meet with senior government officials to discuss developments affecting labour issues in Jordan, with a focus on the global response to the Syria refugee crisis. 

He will also conduct field visits to Syrian refugee camps and local communities hosting refugees, which will be followed by a joint press conference with Minister of Labour Nidal Katamine.

Ryder’s visit to Jordan takes on added significance ahead of the Syria Donors Conference, slated to take place in London on February 4, according to the ILO statement.

The objective of the London conference is not only to raise funding for humanitarian efforts in Syria, but also to provide increased support for Syria's neighbouring countries with a focus on job opportunities and education for refugees and the local hosting populations.

AMMAN — A man in his 70s was found in Irbid’s Bani Kinanah living in an underground cave on Tuesday, prompting members of the Public Security Department (PSD) to offer him winter gear, money and an apartment, according to a security source.

The 72-year-old man refused to leave the cave despite being offered a place to live or a spot in a home for the elderly, a PSD official said on condition of anonymity. 

“The man is not married and doesn’t have children; he only has an income of JD45 from the Ministry of Social Development,” the official told The Jordan Times.  

The PSD northern region commander saw the news about the man's living circumstances in posts by residents and passers-by on social media sites.

“PSD members visited the man earlier today and offered him a rented apartment, JD200, clothes, heaters, and blankets. [The cave] is a very dangerous place to be — not suitable for humans,” the security source added. 

He said the cave belonged to a woman who rented it to the man for JD5 per month; after the owner died, the man continued living there.

“The condition of the cave is terrible. In winter, water pours inside, while in summer, snakes and dangerous insects enter the place.” 

After the initiative was announced, PSD members received many donations from citizens to help the 72-year-old.

“A Jordanian citizen living in the UAE offered the man a monthly salary of JD150 and another citizen offered him a trailer next to the place where he lives,” the officer told The Jordan Times. 

Another official said the department cannot “accept” such cases, so they have given the man a choice between moving to a home for the elderly or accepting the offer to live in an apartment. 

“It is important to make sure he has a safe place to live and provide him with the minimum requirements for life,” he said. 

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and a British parliamentary delegation on Tuesday discussed regional challenges and efforts to deal with them.

Judeh underscored the distinguished Jordanian-British relations and commitment to maintaining joint coordination, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He stressed the importance of restoring momentum to peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and arriving at a solution that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

All final-status issues, Judeh noted, are related to Jordanian key interests.

Judeh and the parliamentary delegation also discussed counterterrorism, reaffirming the need for coordination among all parties taking part in this effort.

They also discussed Syria, Libya, Iraq and Yemen, stressing the importance of arriving at political solutions for the crises in these countries.

Judeh highlighted the burdens borne by the Kingdom as a result of hosting Syrian refugees and the pressures placed on host communities and the country's infrastructure, noting the need to further assist Jordan in this regard, while expressing his appreciation of British support.

The UK delegates commended Jordan's efforts in support of Syrian refugees and regional peace.

Also on Tuesday, Senate President Faisal Fayez met with the visiting British delegation, chaired by Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, who is on an official visit to the Kingdom.

Fayez highlighted Jordan's position on various regional developments, especially with regard to the Palestinian issue and the crisis in Syria.

The parliamentary delegation lauded the Kingdom's reform efforts and its role in combating terrorism and working to secure regional peace.

AMMAN — Southern Military Zone personnel — in cooperation with other concerned public departments — have been assisting residents in the Kingdom’s southern region during the harsh weather conditions, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) said Tuesday.

JAF vehicles reopened roads which were blocked by snow in Tafileh, Karak, Maan and Shobak, in addition to aiding people who were stranded by snow, and transferred sick people to the Prince Zeid Bin Al Hussein Hospital, according to a JAF statement. 

AMMAN — The traffic department's measures to ensure driving safety helped Jordanian motorists handle rain, and snow and record "lower than average" numbers of road accidents this week, Central Traffic Department Director Col. Yaser Harahsheh said Tuesday.

“The traffic was normal [during the storm]. There were no roads blocked, except for roads in some governorates in the south today [Tuesday],” he said. 

Eight accidents were recorded in Amman between Monday and early Tuesday, with four injuries, which the official said was "below average", while 40 cars were impounded by the traffic department for skidding in several areas around the Kingdom.

“Everything is under control. The measures taken by the department and the municipality have caused fewer accidents to occur and brought order to the streets,” he said. 

Harahsheh added that the department “will take a serious action against those who go out without a purpose and endanger other people’s lives". 

The official told The Jordan Times that overpasses in the capital will be closed after midnight to avoid accidents, and the department will start creating detours on bridges and icy roads at 4pm.

He urged motorists to abide by traffic rules, stay in their lanes and keep a safe distance of at least 10m between vehicles so that they would be able to control their driving.

Harahsheh noted that 90 per cent of Jordanians are either not prepared to drive in this weather, or own a car that is not equipped to work in such conditions.

He said residents can decide accordingly whether they should go out or not, adding that if leaving their houses becomes necessary, they should be "cautious" and "responsible" while driving.

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a Criminal Court ruling in 2013 sentencing a service cab driver to death for the rape and murder of a minor in Ruseifeh.

The court found the defendant guilty of murdering a 17-year-old girl on April 13, 2013 and handed him the death penalty.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim, who lived in the same neighbourhood and knew each other, engaged in an affair.

The victim became pregnant and asked the defendant for JD500 to have an abortion, but he ignored her according to the court documents.

On April 13, the victim called the defendant, who picked her up with his vehicle, the court said.

"The defendant refused to pay her any money so she threatened to tell her family and his wife about the affair and the pregnancy," the court added.

The defendant banged the victim's head against the car door and she fainted, court transcripts said.

"The defendant took the victim to a deserted area, cut her throat with a knife, slit open her abdomen with a knife, then poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze," court papers said.

The defendant kept pouring more kerosene "to make sure" that she would be completely burnt along with the foetus "and his sexual assault would not be discovered", according to the court.

When the body was discovered and investigations were launched, police determined that the defendant was the biological father based on DNA tests, the court added.

The defendant's lawyer contested the verdict claiming that "his client's killed the victim to escape punishment for the sexual assault and he did not plot to murder her", the verdict said.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures and the punishment was appropriate.

In a second appeal provided by the attorney, he claimed that his client was subjected to "torture and duress and that the Criminal Court failed to hear witnesses that could testify to the torture”.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mahmoud Ababneh, Basel Abu Anzeh, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh and Bassem Mubeidin.

AMMAN — The number of satellite television channels broadcasting from Jordan reached 45 at the end of 2015, according to Jordan Media Commission Director Amjad Qadi.

Of these satellite channels, more than 20 are owned by Jordanian investors, while the rest are owned by Arab investors from different countries, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, Qadi told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Tuesday.

More than half of the channels broadcast all types of programmes, including news, entertainment, sports, drama series and talk shows, the official said.

Some of the channels are for broadcasting commercials only, he noted.

In 2015, the commission cancelled the licences of seven satellite channels upon their request, as they faced some financial problems and went out of business, Qadi said.

He added that five satellite channels are currently awaiting approval to receive licences to start operating, including a channel for the Public Security Department and Ain Jordan station.

The official said three new radio stations received licences in 2015, increasing the overall number of radio channels broadcasting from Jordan to 42.

Of these radio stations, around 35 are owned by Jordanian investors, while the rest are owned by investors from several Arab nationalities.

The majority of these channels are general radio stations, while some of them specialise in entertainment and sports news, he added.

AMMAN — The Jordanian Electric Power Company (JEPCO) dealt with 1,267 electricity disruptions since Saturday, a JEPCO official said on Tuesday. 

"We fixed most of them and there are only eight breakdowns remaining to be fixed. The longest breakdown took around two hours," Raed Khashman, who is in charge of JEPCO's call centre, told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

Khashman said the department received 9,313 phone calls from people residing in Amman, Zarqa, Madaba and Balqa governorates.

He noted that 1,700 employees worked during the recent weather conditions and eight main operation centres were operating, in addition to 40 sub-centres in the four governorates. 

"We took advantage of our past mistakes and we tried to avoid them. Though the number of breakdowns was higher than on normal days, we managed to deal with them thanks to an effective emergency plan to deal with the current weather conditions," he added. 

JEPCO covers Amman, Zarqa, Madaba and Balqa governorates. 

The Electricity Distribution Company (EDCO) said it has dealt with 468 power disruptions since the start of the polar front earlier this week and until noon on Tuesday.

EDCO's call centre received 1,707 calls during the same period, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The company covers the southern governorates of Karak, Tafileh, Maan and Aqaba as well as the eastern areas of the Jordan Valley.

AMMAN — Preparations of gas stations for the snowstorm this week prevented supply shortages despite the "over average" demand, said Gas Stations Owners Association President Fahed Al Fayez.

Precautionary measures entailed gas stations across the country to increase the volume of stored fuel products, Fayez said, noting that consumers' complaints were "individual" and did not become a "phenomenon".

In a phone interview with The Jordan Times on Tuesday, he said the demand on gas cylinders over the past five days reached around 10 million, while around 10,000 tonnes of kerosene were sold for heating purposes.

"All fuel products were available to address the ordinary and the extraordinary demand," Fayez said.

Meanwhile, he said conflicting forecasts of the depression, which started affecting the country earlier this week, confused buyers.

The Industry, Trade and Supply Ministry issued 52 tickets over the past three days, including one to a gas station for the lack of kerosene supplies, according to a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Seven other tickets were issued to bakeries for the lack of Arabic bread, with the remaining violations recorded at grocery stores for not declaring prices and hiking food prices.

The statement quoted the ministry's spokesperson, Yanal Barmawi, as saying that the ministry's inspection teams intensified field visits to guarantee the availability of goods, adding that the campaign will continue for the few coming days.

 He said the ministry receives complaints through its smartphone application and on 06/5661176. 

AMMAN — The polar front that started affecting the Kingdom this week was accompanied by contradictory weather forecasts that caused confusion among Jordanians, prompting the government to study ways to organise the work of meteorologists.

After decades of operating solely, the Jordan Metrological Department (JMD) is facing competition today from emerging professional and amateur forecasters.

Prior to the latest depression, 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 on Tuesday.

According to official sources, plans are under way to identify qualifications that forecasters should enjoy in order to practise the profession.

"This issue affects people's lives; therefore, there are plans to enact legislation that governs the sector," an official source told The Jordan Times on condition of anonymity.

While having multiple weather forecasting sources is a "positive" phenomenon for Waheed Qudah, the bank employee believes that people "should learn how to differentiate between amateur and professional forecasters".

"Arabiaweather.com, for example, is a very credible source, but there are other names that are intruders," he said, adding that "false headlines are usually used by news websites when reporting on weather-related issues".

In previous statements, JMD Director General Mohammad Samawi said people should follow the department's weather updates for accurate forecasts.

He added that unlike others who "claim to be weather-savvy, the JMD is fully equipped to give the most accurate readings".