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AMMAN — HRH Princess Basma on Thursday attended the Goodwill Campaign’s launch of the ninth phase of the Tomoh Saad Abdul Latif Scholarships programme, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The campaign is implemented by the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development, whose higher committee is headed by Princess Basma.

The programme, which started in 2007 in cooperation with PepsiCo, aims at supporting excelling students whose living conditions do not allow them to continue their studies at university. Under the programme, PepsiCo offers $200,000 annually to cover tuition fees for underprivileged students.

AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Saturday said that administrative divisions in the Kingdom will be revised after the approval of the draft decentralisation law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hammad made the remarks during a visit to Jafer in Maan, where he met with representatives of popular movements, accompanied by Municipal Affairs Minister Walid Masri, Finance Minister Omar Malhas, Agriculture Ministry Secretary General Radi Tarawneh, Energy Ministry Secretary General Ghaleb Maabreh, UNHCR Representative to Jordan Andrew Harper and several officials.

During the visit, the ministerial team listened to the demands and needs of residents, who mostly called for supporting charity societies and the agriculture sector. 

AMMAN — Four people were injured on Friday in a four-vehicle collision on Abdullah Ghosheh Street, according to a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra. West Amman CDD staff administered first aid to the injured and took them to different hospitals.

Also on Friday, four people were injured in a two-vehicle collision near the Sports City Circle. West Amman CDD cadres administered first aid and took them to Ibn Al Haitham Hospital where they were listed in fair condition. 

AMMAN — Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Maha Ali on Friday met with several Canadian ministers and discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  Discussions, held on the sidelines of the Jordanian commercial delegation’s visit to Canada, also focused on benefiting from the free trade agreement signed by both countries, which entered into force in 2012.

Ali stressed the importance of using available opportunities to increase the volume of bilateral trade and establish investment projects. Representatives of 12 companies and the chambers of commerce and industry went on the visit, organised by the Jordanian-Canadian businessmen’s association in cooperation with the Canadian embassy in Jordan, Petra reported.

AMMAN — A march organised by the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona) started after Friday prayers from Al Husseini Mosque under the slogan “Universities are for the poor too,” the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The participants called for free university education for all Jordanians, criticising the rise in tuition fees and demanding increasing admissions at public universities. 

AMMAN — The government is scheduled to present to the Lower House on Sunday the draft budget law for the fiscal year 2016, with the recent government-imposed increases in the price of gas cylinders and car licensing fees expected to cause a commotion under the Dome.

The past four days have seen mounting criticism by individual MPs and parliamentary blocs of the government’s recent decision to increase the price of the 12-kilogramme gas cylinder, used for cooking and heating, to JD7.50 from JD7.

The new fees for car licencing and renewal of licenses went into effect last Tuesday. 

The licensing fee for cars with engines under 1,000cc is JD30.

Licences for cars with 1,001 to 1,500cc engines now cost JD45; while the rate rises to JD60 for engines with a capacity between 1,501 and 2,000cc.

The fee rises to JD173 and JD225 for vehicles whose engines are sized 2,001-2,500cc and 2,501-3,000cc, respectively. 

Owners of vehicles with 3,001-4,000cc engines have to pay JD450 for the licence under the new system, while the fee for engines larger than 4,000cc is JD600.

In letters and memoranda to the House speaker and Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, and in press remarks, several lawmakers and parliamentary coalitions called for cancelling the recent hikes, threatening to take escalating measures against the government if it continues to act as a “money collector”.

Informed parliamentary sources said around 75 MPs are expected to meet Sunday following the government’s presentation of the 2016 draft budget law to discuss a motion of no confidence against Ensour’s government.   

The government has recently unveiled what it described as a disciplined and growth-oriented budget bill for 2016 with spending estimated at JD8.496 billion and a deficit projected at 3.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 

In the 2016 draft general budget law, the growth projection for next year is put at 3.7 per cent, while inflation is forecast at 3.1 per cent.

Under the law, the Kingdom’s exports are predicted to expand by 5 per cent next year compared to an 8 per cent decline expected by the end of this year, and imports are expected to grow by 2.5 per cent. 

In remarks to The Jordan Times, former finance minister Umayya Toukan said domestic revenues are expected to grow by nearly 11 per cent to JD6.775 billion in 2016, from JD6.095 billion re-estimated for 2015, while grants are projected to reach JD814 million, up from the JD731 million re-estimated for the current year. 

He said the grants included in the spending bill were committed by donors, noting that the $1.25 billion grant Qatar was supposed to extend to Jordan as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council pledge in 2011 was not included in next year’s draft budget law. 

Overall revenues, domestic and grants, are estimated to be around JD7.589 billion and a JD907 million deficit is forecast as the government plans to spend JD8.496 billion — JD1.311 billion in capital expenditure and JD7.185 billion in current expenditure. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Friday discussed in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel current regional and international issues, especially in regard to the Syrian crisis. 

They discussed efforts to combat terrorism with Merkel commending Jordan’s efforts in the field,  a Royal Court statement said. 

The King and Merkel voiced their interest in continuing bilateral coordination to address regional developments. They also commended the bilateral political and economic cooperation, especially in regard to Germany’s support of the Kingdom’s development efforts and help to bear the burden of hosting Syrian refugees. 

Germany has stepped up its contribution to the fight against Daesh, with lawmakers overwhelmingly voting in favour of sending reconnaissance jets, a tanker plane and a frigate to provide broad noncombat support to the US-led coalition. 

AMMAN — The Jordanian-Tunisian Higher Committee on Saturday discussed ways to increase trade between the two countries, citing the “great potential” such ties have.  

During the opening of the two-day meeting, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply Yousef Shamali stressed the importance of the committee’s meetings and their role in strengthening the relations between the countries.  

“These meetings represent the deep-rooted relations between [both countries] and show the Kingdom’s interest in sustaining and developing good relations with Tunisia,” he added. 

In the eighth meeting of the joint panel, held at the Industry Ministry, officials from both sides were divided into groups to discuss ways to upgrade the level of cooperation in the economic, industrial, energy, services, political, trade, investment, educational, and agricultural fields.

“It is very important to evaluate bilateral cooperation between our countries and discuss ways to activate and enhance ties through concrete steps,” said Saeeda Hashisha, director of international trade at the Tunisian trade ministry.

Shamali noted that the volume of Jordan-Tunisia trade amounted to nearly $30 million in 2014, and in the third quarter of the current year, such a figure amounted to $18.5 million, where Jordan’s exports to Tunisia reached $12.3 million and its imports from the Arab country around $6.2 million. 

He emphasised the “urgent need” to increase trade volume, underlining a “joint responsibility” to develop workable mechanisms to enhance trade and investment between Jordan and Tunisia.

He cited commonalities between the two countries, noting that both enforce open trade policies and are members of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.

His Majesty King Abdullah and Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi held a meeting in Amman in October, where His Majesty underlined that Jordan and Tunisia face similar economic challenges, mainly poverty and unemployment, in addition to dealing with refugee issues.

The two sides signed agreements in the fields of civil defence and security, and military cooperation. 

AMMAN — Key members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) have recently resigned amidst concerns within the party’s mother group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that they intend to form a separate political party.

In their resignation letter, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times, signatories argued that their collective move has come as a response from the "moderate" leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood to the "radical and individual" policies of the group's "hawks".

The IAF is the political arm of the Brotherhood, the largest opposition group. 

The outgoing members also charged that the Brotherhood's hawkish leadership has been taking decisions on an individual basis to serve "narrow interests and personal agendas" at the expense of the group as a whole.

IAF Spokesperson Murad Adaileh said Saturday that the 28 resigning Islamists are all members in the newly licensed Muslim Brotherhood Society, founded by Abdul Majeed Thneibat, a former overall leader of the mother group.

"In fact, their membership in the Muslim Brotherhood group had been revoked before [after they joined the splinter group]. However, their resignation from the IAF has been accepted anyway," Adaileh said.

Adaileh claimed that the exiting members, historically labelled as "doves", met secretly on Saturday to discuss the possibility of forming a new political party. This was not confirmed by the departing leaders, but the move remains an unwelcome possibility as far as the old guard in the Brotherhood are concerned.

In an IAF statement to The Jordan Times Thursday, the old Muslim Brotherhood's overall leader Hammam Saeed was quoted as saying that the establishment of a new political party violates the group's by-laws, warning he would leave his post and the executive bureau if disagreements continue.

"I call on all my brothers to honour their allegiance [to the leaders of the old group] and refrain from holding meetings to establish a new political party or any entity outside the group," Saeed said.

Adaileh played down the impact of the move on the party.

"Their resignation will not affect the IAF. This year, membership in the IAF has increased by 20 per cent and its branches across the country have increased to 34 from 25. Even if another 100 members quit, the group's 'sole' political arm will remain intact."

The ongoing dispute within the Islamists started when a group of reformists led by Thneibat re-registered the Muslim Brotherhood in the Kingdom as a Jordanian society, severing its old affiliation with its mother group in Egypt.
The old group has repeatedly charged that the establishment of the new society is a “government conspiracy” against the Islamist movement, but authorities have brushed off the accusations. 

AMMAN — Maan Mayor Majed Sharari on Friday said the municipality received a JD550,000 grant from the World Bank (WB) for 2016, to be allocated for service and development projects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The municipality also received a JD0.5 million grant for 2015 from the WB, Sharari told Petra.