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AMMAN — The King Abdullah II Fund for Development and the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organisation (TAG-Org) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in programmes the We are All Jordan Youth Commission to equip young people with employability skills.

Saeb Al Hassan, the fund’s director, said young people will benefit from specialised training programmes in small project administration and the English language, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

AMMAN — The Border Guards in 2015 received a total of 16,997 Syrian refugees, offering them the necessary assistance and transporting them to camps, according to an official source at the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF). 

Also last year, JAF personnel stationed on the borders confiscated huge amounts of weapons, ammunition and narcotics of different kinds and foiled many infiltration attempts, the source said Monday.

According to the statement, the troops seized 1,473 pieces of various weapons, and 6,659 bullets. 

The army also highlighted its contribution to anti-narcotic efforts, announcing that it responded to trafficking attempts that resulted in the confiscation of 16,768,684 Captagon pills, 893,060 palm-sized sheets of hashish and 20,000 Tramadol pills.

The source added that the army recorded 85 cases of infiltration attempts involving 132 people.

The source reiterated that JAF “will use all available means to deter anyone who attempts to mess with the Kingdom's national security, despite intentions”.

The border units announce all actions taken against infiltrators, who are reportedly either smugglers or terrorists trying to sneak into Syria or into Jordan from the northern neighbour.

Army statements customarily stress that troops deal with the situation in accordance with the rules of engagement and stress that JAF would use the necessary force to protect the country’s borders. 

AMMAN – Jordan on Monday reiterated its support for Saudi Arabia, which broke off its diplomatic ties with Iran over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite cleric.

Asked whether the Kingdom would follow in the steps of Riyadh and other Arab countries and sever its ties with Tehran, an official source renewed the country’s stand, saying in remarks to The Jordan Times that Jordan backs Saudi Arabia and all pan-Arab causes.

Jordan is against meddling in internal affairs of other states, the official source said, calling for respecting the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which stipulates that a host country must protect the mission from intrusion or damage. 

He was referring to the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad, which Amman condemned immediately Saturday. 

Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia broke off its ties with Iran, giving Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Bahrain and Sudan followed suit on Monday, while Moscow offered to act as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran and reducing the number of its diplomats in the Islamic republic.

The row that erupted between Riyadh and Tehran started following Saudi Arabia’s execution Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr. He was executed along with 46 others. Saudi Arabia said they were charged with terrorism.   

AMMAN — Deputy overall leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Zaki Bani Rsheid was released from jail on Monday night after serving his sentence.

Murad Adayleh, spokesperson of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), said Bani Rsheid was released at 1:30am, charging that the late release was meant to prevent his supporters from organising a celebration.

The State Security Court sentenced Bani Rsheid to one-and-a-half years in prison last February on charges of harming Jordan’s ties with a friendly state under the Anti-Terrorism Law.

Making statements deemed harmful to Jordan’s ties with foreign states is a criminal offence under articles 3 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Law.

The Islamist leader was arrested in November 2014 over a statement posted on Facebook accusing the United Arab Emirates of promoting “Zionist” foreign policies and indirectly sponsoring “extremism” in the region.

“His release means a lot to us,” Adayleh told The Jordan Times over the phone, adding that Bani Rsheid is an influential figure both on the national level and for the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

“We hope that he will succeed in reuniting the movement again and help bring all parties of the group together,” he said, referring to recent dispute between members of the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Last Thursday, 400 members, including top leaders and founding members, tendered their resignation to the leadership of the IAF in an unprecedented mass move.

These members are planning to form their own political party after conducting studies on possibilities of its success.

The crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan started when a group of reformists led by Abdul Majid Thneibat re-registered the movement as a Jordanian society, severing its affiliation with its mother group in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood-Jordan was licensed in 1946 as a charity affiliated with Egypt group and relicensed in 1953 as an Islamic society.

AMMAN — Noor Jordan for Transport — Taxi Moumayaz will start operating hybrid vehicles in the capital driven by women by the end of this month, the company’s chairman, Eid Abu Al Haj, said Monday. 

He noted that the 20 taxis operated by female drivers will be among 30 hybrid vehicles to be included in the company’s fleet. 

“We are in the process of choosing women to train them and provide them with the necessary licences. They will not drive around the capital; their jobs will be assigned through our call centre,” Abu Al Haj told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

“Their working hours will run from the early morning until 8pm so that we respect our culture. The women drivers will receive the order and go to pick up the passenger,” he added. 

Jordanians interviewed by The Jordan Times commended the initiative. 

Nour Eid, a university student, said this move will make her family more comfortable with her using taxis.

“For my part, I don’t mind, but I think it [female-driven taxis] is much better because there can be a communication problem between the driver and the passenger. Any driver needs to be able to communicate with any segment of the society,” Eid told The Jordan Times. 

Shima Al Tal said although she is against gender segregation, the difficulties some women have faced in dealing with taxi drivers make this idea an attractive solution. 

“It would be much safer for women, especially for those who don’t have cars and need to use a taxi late in the evening to return home from work,” she added.  

Abu Al Haj said the company will also operate 100 electric vehicles in Amman that will be introduced into the market gradually. 

“The fare will be lower than those of regular taxis because their expenses are lower,” he added.

Ayman Smadi, executive director of the transport and traffic department at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), said the electric vehicles will be based at the Raghadan complex in downtown Amman, stressing that priority has been given to the city centre due to the lack of parking spaces. 

Smadi said the electric taxis, which are being introduced in cooperation with Taxi Moumayaz with the aim of alleviating traffic jams in the capital and encouraging people to use public transport, will be operated under the slogan “Tawseelah” (pick up), which was created by Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji.

GAM recently signed an agreement with the French firm Hyseo International to set up 10 electric car charging stations in Amman with the support of the French government, according to a GAM statement.

The municipality received a 430,000 euro grant from the French government under a memorandum of understanding to finance the establishment of the stations in the capital, the statement said.

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) pension fund has not failed, JEA President Majid Tabba said on Monday, stressing that its profits from 2000 to 2014 stood at some JD143.6 million.

"The association invested in numerous real estate, industrial and educational projects, and if the fund incurred losses in some investments, it does not mean it has failed," Tabba told reporters.

"Over the past 30 years, the fund increased the book value of its assets from JD3.4 million in 1985 to JD203.5 million in 2014, achieving a growth rate of 5,885 per cent," the JEA president highlighted.

Fund data showed the total revenues — pension subscriptions and profits — over the past 15 years reached some JD331.4 million compared to JD152.06 million in expenditure on pensions and administrative spending during the same period.

Tabba also noted that the market value of the fund's assets in 2014 reached some JD335.9 million.

On Sunday, some JEA members refused to attend a meeting to announce results of a study on the fund, which was established in 1973, criticising the association's council for investing in "losing projects".

Raed Haddadin, vice president of the civil engineering unit at the JEA, told The Jordan Times that syndicate members were not part of the study and were not informed about it. 

"There was no discussion with members even about proposed solutions to address what the council claims are challenges [facing the fund]," Haddadin said, criticising suggestions to raise the retirement age.

The JEA's seventh actuarial study of the pension fund, released at the press conference on Monday, revealed that the fund reached a break-even point of equal pension subscriptions and pensions in 2014 instead of the expected year of 2017.

The fund will also reach a second break-even point — where pension subscriptions and investment profits would equal its expenditure — in 2019 instead of 2021 as concluded in the sixth actuarial study, according to the JEA.

The study also expected a third break-even point — where the total revenues would be equal to total expenditures — to be reached in 2028 instead of 2031 unlike what the sixth study forecast.

To avoid such early break-even points, the study recommended raising subscriptions gradually to achieve a balance between what beneficiaries pay and what the fund pays.

Another recommendation is raising the pension age, which the study supported by the rise in life expectancy — 77 years instead of 72 for men and 80 years for women instead of 73.

A third proposal is achieving higher revenues through finding new investment opportunities that could generate more permanent and continuous profits.

The JEA has 130,000 members, 40,000 of whom work abroad, Tabba said earlier this week. 

AMMAN — Social media activist Omar Zorba was referred to the prosecutor general on Monday over a lawsuit filed against him for reportedly ridiculing, in a video posted on several websites, the host of a Jordan Television show that broadcast a song about the national census.

The video shows Zorba and two other comedians who share different opinions on the song performed by Jordanian singer Omar Saqqar, with the activist criticising the singer and the host.

In the video, posted in November, Zorba jokingly says: “If the host hadn't nodded his head as the song went on, the singer wouldn’t have continued singing.” 

Saqqar appears to be lip-synching to a pre-recorded song in the live TV show as the presenter, Mijhem Adwan, sits on a couch opposite him. 

Ali Sulibe, Zorba’s lawyer, said Adwan filed a lawsuit against his client, accusing him of libel and slander under the Electronic Crimes Law.

“The law in Jordan states that unless the accused knows the other in person, the act cannot be considered libel. Zorba does not personally know the presenter and did not mean to offend him as a person,” Sulibe told The Jordan Times.

When the 31-year-old activist was referred to the prosecutor, he was not detained for a week, as the law states, according to his lawyer.

“The prosecutor said the ‘crime’ committed does not merit detention,” he added.

Sulibe explained that if a citizen insults another in person, the law does not apply to him, but if the insult was broadcast to a wide audience on social media outlets, for example, there are legal consequences.

The Jordan Press Association and the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists have criticised a decision issued by the Law Interpretation Bureau in November 2015, ruling that slander on news websites and social networking sites is listed under the Electronic Crimes Law, opening the door for the detention of media practitioners.

Zorba, who has more than 435,700 followers on Facebook, told The Jordan Times this is not the first lawsuit he faces for "expressing his opinion on social media".

Jordan Television Director Mohammad Raggad said the song was “an individual initiative” by Saqqar.

The news of the lawsuit sparked the anger of many of Zorba's followers on social media.

“I’m not his fan, but they want to do anything to silence him,” Abood Al Balaawe commented on Facebook.

“He is a young Jordanian who loves his country and gives constructive criticism. My King and Constitution gave me the right of freedom of expression, who are you to deny me this right?” 

Eman Mahadeen wrote: “So what? Everyone made fun of that song. Why Omar Zorba?”

AMMAN – The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on Monday closed down a currency exchange company in Amman over financial violations, an informed source told The Jordan Times. 

The source, who requested to remain unnamed, said CBJ officials, accompanied by police officers, closed down the Baghdad Exchange Company after a surprise visit to its sole branch in the capital's Shmeisani area and sealed the several-storey premises. 

The exchange firm is owned by Iraqi businessman Hassan Nasser and other partners from Iraq, according to the source, who said the Baghdad Exchange Company has only one branch in Jordan and was established in Amman some six years ago. 

"There has been some talk about violations by the company but hopefully the violations will not be that large," the source said. 

The closure is the second in around a year, as the CBJ closed down Samhouri Exchange in December 2014 over administrative and financial violations committed by the management.  

The CBJ liquidated Samhouri Exchange in June 2015. 

Dozens of clients still have pending money transfers by the firm, and CBJ officials are still verifying client documents to ensure they are paid back. 

AMMAN — French oil company Total, Jordan’s Manaseer Oil & Gas and the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) will start floating tenders as of the end of January to buy diesel from international markets, putting an end to the JPRC monopoly over diesel imports.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the three companies and the Energy Ministry, the companies will float a tender to buy 45,000 metric tonnes of diesel each month for the next six months.

"This is a very important agreement that will last for six months as a trial period. Then companies will be allowed to import other types of oil derivatives gradually," Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif said at a press conference on Monday.

The finance and energy ministries will be part of the process by monitoring the floating of tenders and studying the results, according to the minister.

"The prices of fuel derivatives will continue to be set by the government committee that sets prices at the end of each month," he noted.

The tenders will be floated jointly by the three companies, Saif said, adding that Total and Manaseer plan to expand their storage capacity.

Economist Hosam Ayesh said the move is an important measure to end the JPRC's monopoly and develop the energy sector in Jordan.

"This is a major step towards liberalisation of prices in the future, which will increase competition between the three companies," Ayesh told The Jordan Times.

"The three companies will be engaged in improving services and competing — a matter that will reflect positively on citizens," he said.

Distribution of oil derivatives will be equally divided between Total, Manaseer Oil & Gas and JPRC, according to the ministry. 

The JPRC currently refines 75 per cent of Jordan’s fuel product needs, according to the latest available figures, with the government sourcing the remainder by importing already refined fuel from abroad. 

Jordan imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually.  

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat on Monday  checked on the progress of the General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) as 55,000 students were sitting for the exam on the fourth day of the winter session. 

During a visit to the Jubeiha Secondary School for Boys, Thneibat listened to some of the students’ remarks and inquiries, noting that all feedback are carefully examined and taken into account.