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AMMAN — The criminal court prosecutor on Wednesday charged a 25-year-old man with manslaughter in connection with the stabbing death of his older, divorced sister for reasons related to family honour late Monday night, according to official sources.

The 27-year-old mother of two children reportedly received around 20 stab wounds to different parts of her body, reportedly inflicted by her brother at her home in Balqa Governorate, a senior judicial source said.

The suspect then headed to the nearest police station, turned himself in and handed the knife that was allegedly used in the stabbing incident to the officer on duty, the source told The Jordan Times.

In his initial confessions to the police and Criminal Court Prosecutor Salah Taleb, the suspect claimed that his sister had gone missing from home after being divorced from her husband.

The suspect claimed that his sister showed up at his house on Saturday and informed him that she "had reunited with her husband in the West Bank and was living there during the past four years".

"The suspect asked to see her passport to make sure she was telling the truth, but she said it was confiscated by the authorities," the source said, quoting the brother's initial testimony.

On the day of the incident, the suspect returned home from work and "questioned his sister again about her whereabouts and she told him a different story, which angered him so he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her to death", the source added.

A second source told The Jordan Times that coroners detected several defence wounds on the victim.

"The victim had around 15 stab wounds on different parts of her body and five more on her arms, which coroners determined were defence wounds," the source said.

Taleb issued orders for the suspect to be detained at Salt Detention Centre for 15 days pending further investigation and questioning.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Wednesday stressed the importance of issuing high quality smart ID cards that guarantee the security of information. Chairing a meeting of the smart ID project steering committee, Ensour said it has to be a multi-purpose card in line with the highest technical standards used in developed countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

ICT Minister Majd Shweikeh said the committee will meet monthly until August 31, 2016, the scheduled date for completing the project. Some 5 million cards will be issued between May and August next year for citizens over 18, she said. 

AMMAN — Three workers from the Irbid District Electricity Company have been attacked by a property owner in Jerash after they discovered that the electricity meter at his building was tampered with, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

The incident is the second this month. In Irbid, a similar attack took place when a house owner forced company workers to reconnect his power supply after beating them severely. Eight people were arrested in the incident.

The Electricity Workers Union denounced attacks on workers and urged the Interior Ministry to stiffen penalties against assailants, Petra reported.

AMMAN — Senate President Faisal Fayez on Wednesday met with Dutch Ambassador to Jordan Paul van den IJssel and discussed bilateral ties and the latest regional developments.

Fayez said resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the key to solving the region’s problems, adding that failure to address the conflict will leave the door open for radical groups, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He also reiterated Jordan’s unaltered stance on the Syrian crisis which advocates for a comprehensive political solution. The Dutch ambassador praised the Jordanian role in safeguarding Syrian refugees.

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Wednesday received head of the Civil Retirees Association Mohammad Odeinat, who urged the House to intervene in addressing the gap in pensions between new and old retirees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Tarawneh said the pension gap is a national burden, urging the House’s Finance Committee to include the association’s demands within its recommendations on the draft budget law. Also on Wednesday, Tarawneh met with a delegation from the Jordan Teachers Association and discussed issues related to education.

AMMAN — Mafraq Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel have arrested a suspect reportedly involved in a currency scam, according to a Public Security Department (PSD) statement released Wednesday.

An Arab resident filed a complaint with police saying he met several citizens who pretended to have $1 million that they wanted to sell for $659,000. He said he gave them $65,000 in return for $100,000.

The suspects said they would send him the money he bought later to avoid police detection, but he received nothing.

Mafraq CID agents arrested a wanted suspect that the Arab identified as one of the alleged scammers and investigation is still under way, the PSD said.

AMMAN — UN Women Jordan, in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP) and Search for Common Ground, is holding a series of community football activities targeting girls in Jordan, according to an AFDP statement released Wednesday.

The project aims to bring Syrian refugees and host communities together while also empowering girls and developing their skills for peaceful conflict resolution through physical education and football.

Throughout the 12-month collaboration, there will be three-day football camps and one-day football tournaments to be carried out in Mafraq, Irbid and Ramtha, providing safe spaces for young Syrians and Jordanians to interact.

AMMAN — The formation of the Saudi-led military coalition of 34 Muslim countries to fight terrorism sends a strong message on how Muslims and Arabs in their countries and abroad are the main victims of terrorism, which seeks to hijack Islam and tarnish its image, experts said Tuesday.

The military coalition will play a decisive role in the war on all terrorist organisations that seek to put Arabs and Muslims at war with the West and cause a clash of civilisations, pitting Islam against the West, the experts said, adding that the coalition’s main task should focus on sending ground troops to uproot terrorists wherever they existed in the region.

“This war against terrorism is the war of Arabs and Muslims to defend themselves,” analyst and columnist Nabil Ghishan told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“It seems that the Muslim countries have lost hope that the international coalition against Daesh is capable of making progress in the war on terror. They want to do the job themselves. They are not only the most capable, but it is also their duty to rise to repel terrorists,” said Ghishan.

The formation of the coalition reduces pressure on Muslims in the region and those living abroad, he added.

However, the analyst said that the Arabs and Muslims, along with the rest of the world, should not overlook the fact that Israel is also a terror state, whose aggressions against the Palestinians should be brought to an end.

For Fayez Dwairi, a strategic analyst and retired general, the coalition is “the first actual unified effort by the Muslim countries to fight terrorism and it groups very strategic and important military powers including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf states”.

The announcement of the coalition should be followed by tangible steps on the ground to form a joint command and military units to fight terrorist organisations on the ground wherever they are in the region, said the expert.

“From Morocco to Indonesia, Muslim countries are demonstrating a firm unified position in fighting those that tarnish the image of Islam,” he said.

The task ahead is not an easy one, Dwairi acknowledged, “but it is a good start that should be built on”.

On Jordan’s joining the coalition, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said the country is always willing to actively participate in any effort to fight terrorism.

“We have been the first to emphasise  that this war is our war and Muslims’ war because these terrorist murderers are committing these atrocities in the name of Islam,” Momani told The Jordan Times.

“Terrorism is an immediate and direct threat to the stability and security of our societies,” he added.

The Saudi-led alliance, which does not include the kingdom’s Shiite regional rival Iran, Syria or Iraq, will be based in Riyadh “to coordinate and support military operations to fight terrorism”, with participation from Middle Eastern, African and Asian states, the SPA state news agency said.

The coalition will tackle “the Islamic world’s problem with terrorism and will be a partner in the worldwide fight against this scourge” said Saudi Defence Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman at a press conference in Riyadh, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Arrangements would be made for “coordination with friendly peace-loving nations and international bodies for the sake of supporting international efforts to combat terrorism and to save international peace and security”, SPA added according to AFP.

The 34 members belong to the Jeddah-based 57-member of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The coalition will fight “any terrorist organisation that appears”, said Bin Salman when asked if the alliance would concentrate on fighting Daesh only, according to AFP.   

AMMAN — The first credit information bureau in Jordan is prone to enhance the country's performance in international doing-business reports and, subsequently, improve Jordan’s image in creditor circles, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said.

Speaking at the launch of the bureau on Tuesday, Ensour highlighted the body's role in providing "trusted" information for creditors on the track records of applicants for credit facilities, a matter that will particularly facilitate access to finance for small- and medium-sized businesses.

He cited the bureau, established by the private Italy-based CRIF company and overseen by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), as a "pioneering" institution to provide credit information. However, he noted, it will be open for competition in the future.

The premier said the development is part of the government's efforts to render Jordan an attractive environment for investment and to support entrepreneurial ventures.

Improving the business environment is a "top priority" for Jordan, he added, underscoring the government's "aggressive" drive towards economic reforms, which entail revisiting business-related legislation.

Although the government passed the law endorsing the bureau in 2010, it took stakeholders “this long” to negotiate what the company should look like and how it can be overseen by the CBJ in a proper and legal way, said CBJ Governor Ziad Fariz.

He said the private bureau emerged as the fruit of cooperation between a committee comprising representatives of commercial banks and the CBJ and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as strategic partner.

"The bureau was licensed to work under the supervision of the CBJ, and is hoped to provide more financing opportunities to small businesses, provide accurate information on credit flow and ensure banks access to a comprehensive database for inquires," he said.

Besides its duty to sustain the country’s fiscal stability, the CBJ contributes to the country’s economic development through policies that facilitate liquidity for the private sector and by providing the necessary tools and infrastructure, he said. 

Fariz cited a number of CBJ projects that aim to enhance the efficiency of Jordan’s banking system, including eFAWATEERcom, an electronic bill payment system that processed some 450,000 transactions for bills with the value of JD38 million during its first year of operation. 

CRIF Jordan General Manager Ahmad Amoudi said the credit bureau platform will gather positive and negative credit information concerning individuals and businesses, including banks, microfinance organisations, as well as institutions working in the fields of insurance, telecommunications and services.

Meanwhile, diversifying “quality” sources of information will enrich the content of the reports that the platform will provide, he noted, adding that the bureau will later develop other features, including a credit scoring system.

The newly born agency is a “qualitative addition” to Jordan’s efforts towards developing its financial and business environment, said IFC country manager in Jordan and Iraq, Ahmad Atiqa.

He said that the platform is the first in the Arab region that is completely owned by the private sector, and added that Jordanian regulations ensure that all sectors and institutions provide the bureau with the information required.

“Easiness of doing business is as important as encouraging investments,” he said, noting that IFC investments in Jordan are worth $1.3 billion, a figure that has grown significantly from $50 million in 2008.

He noted that Jordan comes second, after Egypt, in terms of the volume of IFC’s investments in the region, indicating that the bulk of its projects in the Kingdom is concentrated in the renewable energy sector.

AMMAN — Israel is committed to Jordan’s water rights as stipulated in the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty the two sides signed in 1994, a senior official confirmed during Tuesday’s Lower House session.

In response to a question by MP Rula Hroub, Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem Nasser said the potable water supplied to the Amman, Balqa and Zarqa governorates comes from Lake Tiberias, the same source Israel uses for its drinking water. 

Hroub’s question to the government was on whether Israel has the right to divert water from the Jordan River under international law and the peace deal with Jordan, and also on the Israeli responsibility for the Dead Sea’s dramatic shrinkage.

Also during the session, Transport Minister Ayman Hatahet responded to a question by MP Abdul Jaleel Zyoud on the value of Royal Jordanian’s aircraft leasing agreements.

He explained that that the national carrier has four passenger planes and two cargo planes on lease, and has leased out 20 aircrafts for six to 12 years at a total cost of $829 million.

Unconvinced with the minister’s answer, Zyoud converted his question into an inquiry. 

For his part, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani answered a question posed by Deputy Tareq Khouri who asked why the government does not shut down Web pages which, he said, ignite sedition.

Momani said that the government is keen on safeguarding freedom of expression, adding that the Press and Publication Department does not censor social media networks.

Noting that the level of freedom of expression in Jordan is high, something the government is keen on maintaining, he said the government has referred to the judiciary individuals who used the Internet to promote the deviant ideology of radical organisations.