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Jordanian coming-of-age tale "Theeb" made history on Thursday, becoming the first film from Jordan to receive an Oscar nomination.

Director Naji Abu Nowar's "bedouin-Western" is nominated for the foreign-language Academy Award alongside Danish Afghan-conflict drama "A War", Hungarian Holocaust story "Son of Saul" and Colombia's "Embrace of the Serpent".

"Theeb" producer and co-writer Bassel Ghandour told The Associated Press the crew members were "ecstatic, many in tears of joy" at the news.

"The bedouins are firing their rifles into the air, which is a traditional celebration," he said.

"We are so happy. This is a win for everyone in Jordan. It's a dream for everyone who worked on the film."

Set in the Arabian Desert of 1916, the feature follows Theeb (Jacir Eid), a young bedouin boy, and his brother Hussein as they leave the safety of their tribe to venture on a treacherous journey at the dawn of the Great Arab Revolt.

In other categories, pioneer-era drama "The Revenant" led the nominations with 12 nods, including best picture, according to Reuters.

George Miller's post-apocalyptic sequel "Mad Max: Fury Road" followed with 10 nominations, including best picture and best director for Miller. 

Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic "The Martian", which was partly shot in Jordan's Wadi Rum, landed seven nominations, including best picture and best actor for Matt Damon, AP reported.

"The Revenant", "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Martian", will vie with "The Big Short", "Bridge of Spies", "Brooklyn", "Room" and "Spotlight" for best picture, the highest honour in the film industry, Reuters reported.

"The Revenant" also landed nominations for lead actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, supporting actor for Tom Hardy and director for Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Inarritu, whose "Birdman" won the best picture Oscar a year ago.

Inarritu also won last year’s best director Oscar.

“We gave it our all on this film, and this appreciation from the Academy means a lot to me and my colleagues who made it possible,” Inarritu said in a statement. “Champagne and Mezcal will run tonight!”

The Oscars, voted on by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, can have up to 10 best picture nominees, but voters selected just eight this year. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and hip-hop movie “Straight Outta Compton” were among those not making the cut, Reuters reported.

Will Smith, who stars in football head-injury drama “Concussion,” and Idris Elba from “Beasts of No Nation” were among the black actors who were not nominated, as the acting categories were again filled entirely by white performers a year after the Oscars came under withering criticism over its lack of diversity..

“In a year with an extraordinary number of great performances by black actors that were embraced by audiences and embraced by critics, for them all to get ignored is tragic,” said Reginald Hudlin, who will produce the February 28 ceremony where the winners are announced. Comedian Chris Rock will host it.

The 2015 hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was quickly revived on Twitter on Thursday.

“Action needs to be taken to make sure that the industry as a whole is more inclusive with the hiring and the mentoring and the promoting of diverse product and diversity among filmmakers,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is black.

DiCaprio and Damon will compete with Bryan Cranston in Hollywood blacklist tale “Trumbo,” Michael Fassbender as technology visionary “Steve Jobs” and Eddie Redmayne as transgender artist Lili Elbe in “The Danish Girl”.

In the best actress category, previous Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence return to the race this year.

Blanchett was nominated for her role in lesbian romance “Carol,” and Lawrence for playing the Miracle Mop inventor in “Joy”. They will compete against rising star Brie Larson for psychological thriller “Room”, Charlotte Rampling for British drama “45 Years” and Saoirse Ronan for Irish immigrant tale “Brooklyn”.

The best supporting actress nominees are Rooney Mara (“Carol”), Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”), Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”), Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”) and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”), her seventh nod.

Sylvester Stallone, reprising his role as Rocky Balboa in “Creed”, looms large in the supporting actor category, according to AP. 

His stiffest competition is seen as Mark Rylance, best known for his stage work, for “Bridge of Spies”. Also nominated were Tom Hardy (“The Revenant”), Mark Ruffalo (“Spotlight ”) and Christian Bale (“The Big Short”).

Director Inarritu will face off with George Miller for “Mad Max”; Adam McKay for “The Big Short,” about the 2007 US financial collapse; Lenny Abrahamson for “Room”; and Tom McCarthy for “Spotlight”, about the Boston Globe’s probe into child abuse by Catholic priests.

AMMAN — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury on Thursday discussed with UK Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening and her accompanying delegation, cooperation to prepare for the donor conference to be held in London in February, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The conference aims at supporting countries affected by the Syrian crisis.

Fakhoury voiced hope that the conference’s outcome would reflect positively on Jordan, which suffers from economic, security and social repercussions as a result of hosting too many Syrian refugees. 

Fakhoury and Greening also discussed bilateral relations and challenges facing the region.

Fakhoury briefed Greening on the ways the Kingdom handles the repercussions of the crisis through developing programmes that enable the Kingdom to receive aid and attract investments.

He stressed the importance of continuous aid from the international community through direct support to the government in order to address the effects of the Syrian crisis on the country. 

Under the Jordan Response Plan (JRP) for 2016-2018, Jordan has designed interventions, programmes and projects worth a total of $7.99 billion, according to the planning minister. 

For her part, Greening stressed the depth of bilateral relations and voiced willingness to continue supporting the Kingdom, especially when it comes to receiving and hosting Syrian refugees. 

During her visit to the Kingdom on Thursday, Greening also met with Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat and discussed with him education and development, according to a UK embassy statement. 

Thneibat told the UK official that 145,000 Syrian students are enrolled in Jordan’s schools, Petra reported.

Greening also visited Irbid and toured a factory owned by Syrians and staffed by Jordanians and Syrians, the embassy said. 

She also visited a programme affiliated with CARE International and funded by the UK, which offers vocational training for Jordanians to be prepared to enter the job market.

AMMAN — As part of efforts to reduce energy consumption, the government on Thursday launched a project to distribute LED (light emitting diode) power-saving bulbs to households at no charge.

Under the first phase of the project, the distribution of 42,000 power saving bulbs will start soon in different areas of the Kingdom, Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif said, adding that this is the first batch of 1 million bulbs that will be distributed to households across Jordan.

The project, funded by a JD6 million grant from the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund, will be implemented by the country's three power distribution companies, the minister said after signing an agreement with the directors of the Irbid District Electricity Company, the Jordanian Electric Power Company and the Electricity Distribution Company.

"This project will help reduce households' electricity bill and reduce energy consumption in Jordan," Saif noted.

The fund, he added, will implement a series of other initiatives to conserve energy.

Jordan imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually at about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product.

AMMAN — Jordan has taken to the small screen in Russia to promote tourist attractions in the Kingdom with the help of celebrity singer Sati Kazanova.  

Tohama Nabulsi, media and communications director at the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), said a 30-second video promoting Jordan’s historical and tourist sites has been shown on TV channels in Russia, adding that the JTB has also launched commercials on radio stations and advertisements on billboard in several cities. 

“She [Kazanova] shot a video clip for one of her songs in Petra and Wadi Rum last year. She fell in love with Jordan and wanted to be a tourism face for the Kingdom in her country,” Nabulsi told The Jordan Times on Thursday. 

The JTB has been focusing on the Russian market, she said, describing it as important, indicating that a number of charter flights landed to Aqaba over the past few months carried hundreds of holidaymakers from Russia. 

Nabulsi pointed out that Russians love the sea and warm weather, both of which they found in other regional destinations such as Sharm El Sheikh and Turkey, adding that they became aware of the diversity of the tourism product Jordan offers, such as the Baptism Site, Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea.

“Tourist arrivals from Russia are picking up, but we still hope for more,” the JTB official said. 

Nabulsi said the JTB is still carrying out promotion campaigns in France, Germany and Britain, under which ads featuring key tourist attractions in the Kingdom are placed on taxis, buses and trains.

This year, the JTB will also launch promotional campaigns in other markets, including Italy, Spain, China and Scandinavian countries. 

‘Calm Jordan in troubled region’

Nabulsi explained the JTB is trying to prevent a decline in the number of tourists amid unrest in neighbouring countries.

“What we are doing is more of convincing tourists that Jordan is a trouble-free country,” she added. 

The JTB official said it is challenging to promote the Kingdom amidst regional chaos, as international media outlets tend to refer to the entire region as unrest-ridden.

“When potential visitors see reports on turmoil in the Middle East, they become afraid to head to the region. What we are trying to do is reach them with a message that Jordan is different. It is a calm country despite conflicts in the region,” Nabulsi said.

AMMAN — The Airport International Group (AIG) — the Jordanian company responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) — is planning to implement a project to generate electricity from solar energy at the airport.

The AIG has published a request for expression of interest, inviting companies to submit proposals to build a photovoltaic (PV) solar farm at the airport with a total capacity of up to 10 megawatts.

The company plans to establish a PV solar farm to supply the airport’s electricity needs, according to the expression of interest document published in local media outlets.

The qualified firm or consortium of firms will finance, design and build the PV farm, in addition to obtaining all necessary permits and permissions to operate and maintain the facility for around 16 years, the advertisement said.

Officials at AIG and the airport were not available for comment on the projects.

In Jordan, the annual daily average of solar irradiance ranges from 5-7 kilowatt hours per square metre.

Meanwhile, the wind speed in Jordan is around 10 metres per second in some places in the country, which makes it a favourable location for wind farms.

However, renewable energy projects in Jordan only contribute 3-4 per cent to the national electricity grid. 

The Kingdom’s energy strategy entails increasing renewable resources’ contribution to the national energy mix to reach 10 per cent by 2020.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Thursday stressed that pavements are for pedestrians, not for shopkeepers to display their goods.

Ahmad Ebbini, director of the GAM department to monitor street vendors, said restaurants and cafés are also not allowed to use the sidewalk as an outdoor space for their clients to drink coffee or smoke argileh. 

“The pavement is for people to walk on,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

But Ayman Taqatqa, who owns a café in Jabal Luwebideh, believes that the pavement is wide enough to accommodate both pedestrians and his clients. 

“I bought the business because it is located in an eastern venue and I wanted my clients to enjoy the sun and warm atmosphere,” he told The Jordan Times recently.

However, Omar Faouri, the mukhtar (unpaid community leader) of Jabal Luweibdeh, said pedestrians do not have enough space to walk. 

Ebbini said even if the pavement is wide, it belongs to pedestrians.

In their campaign to crack down on street stalls, GAM teams seized sharp weapons and referred two vendors to court. 

“We are focusing on all of Amman. Wadi Al Seer area is among the black spots we are focusing on,” Ebbini added. 

AMMAN — The family of Turki Sarairah, who was shot dead at his shop in Karak’s Mutah town last week, demanded that the suspected killer’s father execute him in public.

In a statement that was made available to The Jordan Times, the Sarairah family said it expects an atwa that will occur on Friday to result in the “father of the suspect taking the law into his own hands and killing his son in the same place that their son was killed, using the same weapon”.

“The suspect’s father and his family are expected to comply with the demands of our family,” the statement added.

Atwa, a truce that entails acknowledging the wrongdoing on the part of the perpetrators, is usually headed by dignitaries who visit the victim’s family to agree on all clauses.

Sarairah, 40, the father of two children, was shot to death by the 34-year-old suspect at his shop in Mutah, Karak, some 140km south of Amman, last Friday.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Tayseer Bani Khalid charged the suspect with premeditated murder and possession of an unlicensed gun.

Bani Khalid told The Jordan Times on Thursday that justice will be served once the suspect is indicted through legal channels.

“The family’s statement and the atwa is something that does not concern us. We abide by the law and will proceed to try the suspect as stipulated by the law,” the prosecutor stressed.

In his initial testimony to the police and Bani Khalid, the suspect confessed to killing Sarairah “because the victim and his father owed him money”. 

Limited riots took place in Mutah on Tuesday night, shortly after the police announced the arrest of the suspect, but Gendarmerie Department forces contained the situation, according to official sources.

AMMAN — Social media outlets could function as catalysts for positive attitudes and tools to curb online hate speech, particularly among young users, sociologist Majd Adeen Khamash said on Thursday.

Trends that encourage positive behaviour among social media users are "important and need to be encouraged and sustained", added Khamash, a professor at the University of Jordan.

Under the slogan "Be like Bilal" Jordanian social media users have been sharing sketches of the imaginary character Bilal with remarks about his positive qualities, inviting others to "be like him".

"Bilal could be seen as an influential good citizen who abides by the law and rules of conduct, an attractive character and possibly a desired role model for youth," Khamash told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Instead of aggressively criticising "inappropriate" real life or virtual behaviour, such trends could be a more appealing, polite and efficient methods for constructive criticism, he noted.

In a couple of days, the "Bilal" trend has spread widely, promoting positive social behaviour and discouraging negative attitudes.

An example of shared Bilal memes is "Bilal admits his mistakes and tries to fix them instead of claiming there was a plot against him; Bilal is smart; be like Bilal."

Another one is "Bilal is sitting with his friend; the friend gives Bilal his phone to see a picture; Bilal does not scroll to see other pictures; Bilal is smart; be like Bilal."

Other social media behaviour such as excessively posting photos of meals and "checking in" restaurants and cafés also came in for criticism.

Facebook user Nour Moustafa expressed her admiration of the trend as an "intelligent" way to express sarcasm and dismay over some practices.

Ironically, some users have totally missed the point behind the trend and used it to create divisions.

An example is praising supporters of one football team, while offending supporters of its rival.

"There will always be individuals who misuse such tools and employ them to spread negative thoughts," Khamash said.

Some private companies and institutions have also used the meme to market their products and services.

The concept of Bilal has been circulating around the world under other names like Bill, John and Jaafar in social media.

AMMAN — Members of the “Kalouti Group” cancelled a protest planned for Thursday due to the heavy security presence near the Rabiah neighbourhood mosque, which is close to the Israeli embassy.

The protesters, who are against normalisation with Israel, stayed in their cars parked around the Kalouti Mosque and the demonstration was cancelled 

“We ended the protest due to the large number of gendarmerie officers surrounding the mosque,” Ibrahim Alloush, a university professor and activist at the Kalouti Group told The Jordan Times.

Amman Governor Khaled Abu Zaid on Thursday said that the group’s members are only allowed to protest in front of their headquarters in Jabal Luweibdeh to prevent traffic jams and other problems with Rabiah residents.

“Any organisation or group that holds activities on streets and creates chaos in neighbourhoods is banned from arranging marches and demonstrations across the Kingdom,” Abu Zaid told The Jordan Times.

When demonstrating in Jabal Luweibdeh, protesters must not block the streets or cause traffic jams, he added.

In November, the authorities fenced a plot of land close to Kalouti Mosque, where the protesters used to gather on a weekly basis to show solidarity with Palestinians under occupation.

Alloush said group members were first notified about the ban on protests in mid-September 2015. 

“After five years of demonstrations and organised marches, we were surprised by the decision”.

Alloush added that authorities allowed the group members only to demonstrate in front of and next to the Anti-Zionism and Racism Association in Jabal Luweibdeh.

The group held its first demonstration in May 2010, and organised 303 protests since then, according to the activist, who noted that the group requests permission from the governor every Tuesday to hold a sit-in.

“The law states that if the request is not rejected, the protest is permitted.”  

AMMAN — The health condition of Abdullah Abu Jaber, a Jordanian prisoner in Israel, has recently worsened because of a hunger strike he started 65 days ago, an activist said on Thursday.

Abu Jaber was arrested in 2000 for “resisting the occupation forces”, and is serving a 20-year prison term, according to the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa.

"His health condition is now critical and he is vomiting blood," Fedaa member Shireen Nafe told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that the Jordanian consul in Israel recently visited Abu Jaber in Afouleh Hospital to convince him to end the strike.

But he insisted on continuing with it and was transferred to Ramlah Hospital, Nafe said, described the move as a means of placing more pressure on Abu Jaber to end his hunger strike.

The 40-year-old prisoner wants the Jordanian authorities to work on his release or transport him to the Kingdom to spend the last third of his prison term, in addition to arranging a visit for his family, Nafe said in previous remarks.

"His family went to the Foreign Ministry more than once in the past week, and officials told them to either visit him or wait until he is relocated to the Kingdom," the activist noted.

Mohammad, Abdullah's brother, said in a Fedaa statement that the prisoner has stopped taking salt and water and has refused treatment.

Dozens of Jordanians participated in a sit-in near the Foreign Ministry on December 29 to express solidarity with Abu Jaber's family, where Mohammad said that ministry officials received protesters and promised to follow up on requests to arrange visits to prisoners’ families.

The Jordan Times contacted the Foreign Ministry, and officials said they would provide information on Abu Jaber's case soon.

Nafe also noted that Israeli authorities were scheduled on Thursday to release Jordanian prisoner Akram Abu Zahrah, who has served a 14-year prison term.

Abu Zahrah was arrested on February 14, 2002 for protesting against former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Al Aqsa Mosque, which sparked the second Intifada, according to a Fedaa statement.