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AMMAN — The Lower House Legal Committee on Wednesday continued its deliberations over the draft drugs and psychotropic substances law for 2015.

Deputy Abdul Munim Odat, chair of the committee, said the bill is aimed at addressing the issue of drugs in a more comprehensive manner, banning the import of chemical substances used in the illegal synthesis of narcotics.

The lawmaker added that the draft law also stiffens penalties of drug-related crimes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

AMMAN — The Environment Ministry closed 49 facilities for violating environmental regulations in 2015, Minister Taher Shakhshir said Wednesday.

The ministry warned 213 institutions for violating environmental standards, Shakhshir noted, adding that the ministry dealt with 351 complaints this year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — The Lower House Agriculture and Water Committee, chaired by MP Ibrahim Shahadeh, was briefed on Wednesday on  the agreement for Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project (Red-Dead).

At the meeting, Water Minister Hazem Nasser said the government has developed several projects over the past few years to deal with the acute shortage in water, including the Red-Dead project.

Shahadeh asked why the agreement for the project, which involves Jordan, Palestine and Israel, was not put forward before Parliament. The committee asked the Water Ministry to provide it with a translated copy of the project agreement.

AMMAN — Social Security Corporation Director General Nadia Rawabdah on Wednesday voiced the corporation’s readiness to place its expertise and technical capabilities at the disposal of the Palestinian government, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

At a meeting with Palestinian Labour Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla, Rawabdah said an agreement will be signed soon to provide the Palestinians with expertise needed in this regard. She added that the corporation has cooperated with the Palestinians over the past two years and briefed them on the reforms it has carried out.

AMMAN — The Energy Ministry said on Wednesday that work is under way to complete projects to generate power from solar and wind energy at a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

The ventures are in line with a national strategy aimed at increasing the contribution of renewable energy resources to the total energy mix to 10 per cent by 2020, the ministry said, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Haidar Gammaz, told Petra that the ministry works to attract the capital needed for investments in the energy sector.

AMMAN — The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) said on Wednesday it is preparing a report on the professionalism of Jordanian media outlets.

The report, expected to be released next April, will adopt the standards set by the JMI-run Akeed observatory (akeed.jo), an online platform that monitors the credibility of local media outlets, to measure local outlets’ credibility and trustworthiness, a JMI statement said.

JMI Dean Basim Tweissi said the report will be aimed at enhancing media performance and restoring public confidence in the press.

AMMAN — The Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday urged farmers to take the necessary precautions to protect crops from possible frost over the next two days, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Ministry Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin also urged cattle breeders to protect livestock from the cold weather.

Farmers in the Jordan Valley should warm up greenhouses during the day and close them at night to preserve the heat, he said, adding that when temperatures dip to around zero, farmers should also burn dry grass near the crops. Cattle breeders should keep animals inside the barns and secure water and fodder for them.

AMMAN — Mobile surveillance cameras roaming the capital's streets registered a 13 per cent drop in the number of littering violations this year compared to 2014, a municipality official said on Wednesday.

"The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) registered during this year 49,000 littering violations, while the number stood at 56,306 environmental violations during the past year," head of GAM’s electronic monitoring department, Ali Marafi, told The Jordan Times.

Teams from GAM record the environmental violations via surveillance cameras installed in cars that tour the city’s streets, Marafi said, noting that they are distributed every morning to cover Amman's 22 districts.

"Applying the electronic monitoring system seeks to alter people’s environmental behaviour, reduce violations and raise awareness of the need to keep the city clean. The fact that the number of littering violations has dropped is a sign that people are responding," he noted.

GAM started applying the electronic monitoring system in 2007 to maintain the cleanliness of the city and address double parking on the streets. 

The vehicles’ dashboards are equipped with a camera and a control board connected to a computer, where all images of the breaches are saved then transmitted to the Central Traffic Department and the municipality, according to GAM.

Motorists and passengers are fined JD20 for littering, according to GAM.

Marafi noted that a campaign that was launched in 2012 to end littering on Amman’s streets and discourage drivers and motorists from throwing trash from the windows of their vehicles is still ongoing.

Under the “Amman Baituna” (Amman is our home) campaign, GAM is giving out trash bags that are leak-proof and made of recyclable materials. Messages urging people to stop littering are printed on the bag, as well as the fine for littering under the law.

The bags are handed out at GAM’s departments, intersections and congested traffic lights, in addition to parks and bus stations.

"A new phase of the campaign was launched two weeks ago, under which a total of 100,000 bags are being distributed to motorists." Marafi highlighted.

AMMAN — Police have arrested a 22-year-old man who reportedly killed his sister, Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said Wednesday.

The man, who claimed he killed his sister over a family feud at dawn, resides in the Southern Badia’s Muhammadiyya area, said Sartawi.

The official told The Jordan Times the 19-year-old victim was strangled with a rope.

Maan police patrols were deployed to the crime scene in the early morning hours to investigate the murder, the spokesperson said.

“Police officers from Maan immediately arrived at the scene and started investigation,” he added.

The suspect turned himself in to police and the victim’s body was transferred to the Forensic Medicine Centre in Karak, 140kme south of Amman, to identify the cause of death, according to Sartawi.

He said the case was referred to the prosecutor for an extensive investigation.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday approved measures to computerise procedures at eight municipalities as a first step in a project to computerise all 100 municipalities’ work, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Also on Wednesday, the Council of Ministers decided to appoint Montaser Oklah as an ambassador at the Foreign Ministry, moving him from his position as president of the Jordan Investment Commission, according to Petra.