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AMMAN — Patriarch Theophilos III, patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine and Jordan, and president of the council of church presidents in Jordan, on Saturday commended His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts to safeguard Christian holy sites.

The patriarch said Christians in the East are used to the Hashemite support throughout history, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The patriarch also praised what King Abdullah said during his meeting with Jerusalemites last week, where the Monarch stressed that Jordan’s role is safeguarding Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Petra added.

AMMAN — Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and chair of the UN Development Group (UNDG), arrived in Amman on Saturday on an official visit to the Kingdom.

Clark is scheduled to attend the Resilience Development Forum, which brings together key humanitarian and development stakeholders to collectively consider future directions of the response to the protracted crisis in Syria, a UNDP statement said.

Clark will also visit UNDP-supported projects in areas most affected by the Syria crisis and meet with project beneficiaries and representatives from local authorities and other UNDP development partners.

She and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh are also scheduled to inaugurate the new premises of UNDP’s Regional Hub for Arab States, recently established in Amman. Sima Bahous, the assistant administrator and regional director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States will be accompanying Clark.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Saturday chaired the meeting of the budget advisory council at the Budget Department.

Participants reviewed the draft laws on the state budget and the budgets of independent government units for 2016, endorsing them in principle ahead of referring them to the Cabinet in the next few days for endorsement and referral to Parliament.

At the meeting, which was part of a series of intensive meetings to discuss the draft laws, Ensour said the 2016 budget will provide accurate projected figures on revenues, expenditures and the deficit, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — Journalist Jihad Hdeib passed away at Al Hussein Cancer Centre on Thursday at the age of 47. Hdeib worked in the field of journalism in Jordan and Gulf countries, focusing on cultural issues. He worked at Ad-Dustour Arabic daily between 1998 and 2006.

He moved to the UAE in 2008 where he worked at Al Khaleej and Al Ittihad newspapers. He was a member of the Jordan Writers’ Union and the Jordan Press Association, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — The Central Traffic Department (CTD) on Friday started implementing a traffic safety plan in Amman and the rest of the governorates, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Amman CTD Director Col. Bassem Kharabsheh said the plan, which will continue during weather depressions, is aimed at protecting public and private properties by dealing with places where water accumulates.

It entails dispatching patrol units and stationing some of them at the entrances of tunnels in Amman in order to divert traffic immediately in case of floods.

AMMAN — The Seventh Conference on Scientific Research, organised by the Jordan Society for Scientific Research (JSSR), will open next Saturday, according to a society statement released Saturday. Scientists and researchers from around the world will take part in the conference, which will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan, said the statement, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Discussions at the conference will cover means to link scientific research to development and encourage communication among scientific and economic institutions, according to the statement. JSSR Chairman Anwar Batikhi said the results and recommendations of the conference will be sent to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and decision makers in Jordan.

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel in the central region have arrested a suspect wanted for several thefts, the Public Security Department (PSD) said Saturday. The CID received several complaints from owners and employees at commercial offices and medical clinics that a person would enter as a patient or customer then “stealthily” steal equipment, money, bags mobile phones and then escape.

The suspect is wanted for 58 criminal cases and when he was arrested, he confessed to committing 31 thefts, in addition to robbing a medicine warehouse in northern Amman, the statement said, adding that victims identified the suspect; part of the stolen objects were retrieved; and the investigation is still under way. Meanwhile, Ruseifa CID personnel have arrested a suspect wanted for 138 criminal cases, including thefts, drug-related issues and armed robbery. The PSD urged the public to call 911 in case of emergencies.

AMMAN — HRHPrincess Haya on Friday received the 2015 Gigliod’Oro Award for her outstanding contributions in the humanitarian field at a ceremony held in Florence, Italy. 

The Gigliod’Oro is awarded annually by the Italy-based Galileo 2000 Foundation to individuals who make significant contributions to peace, music and art, according to a Dubai government media office statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Saturday. 

In her acceptance speech, Princess Haya paid tribute to her husband, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.

“The recipient should have been my husband, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed — without his loving support and generosity, I would not have been able to do nearly so much,” the statement quoted the princess as saying.

“I am deeply honoured by this recognition of my humanitarian work I do on behalf of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the United Nations. I will treasure this award, not as a reminder of all that has been done, but as a reminder of all there is still to do,” she added.

Princess Haya has been widely recognised for her contributions to global humanitarian causes, the statement said. She is a UN Messenger of Peace, chairwoman of the International Humanitarian City in Dubai, and a former World Food Programme (WFP) Ambassador Against Hunger.

Dubai and the UAE, she said, are at the forefront of the global humanitarian effort. 

“Few people know this, but the UAE has moved into the number one position among the world’s donors, giving 1.2 per cent of GNI every year to foreign aid in more than 100 countries — nearly $5 billion from a country of only 8 million people,” she said in her speech.

The princess highlighted the recently established Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, which will launch the largest and most comprehensive development programme in the Arab region, according to the statement.

Speaking about the global humanitarian effort, she said though impressive progress has been made, more needs to be done:“The question is not, what have we done well, but how can we do more as we race the hourglass of poverty, of hunger, of disease.” 

During her visit to Florence, Princess Haya also delivered an address at the Global Mayor’s Summit last Thursday under the theme “Unity in Diversity”. Stressing that the notion is critical for cities to progress, Princess Haya shared with the audience the story of how Dubai’s rulers made their vision of connecting people in an environment that embraces “Unity in Diversity” as a reality.

“Dubai’s vision of connecting people dates back to the early 1800s and although recent years have seen its transformation from a fishing village into one of the most dynamic metropolises in the world, some things have not changed in two centuries of the Maktoum family’s rule,” she said.

In the UAE, Emiratis work alongside an incredible mix of expatriates from almost 200 nationalities. Religious, racial and ethnic tolerance enrich the city and allow it to attract talent from all over the world, working in harmony, the princess added. 

“The Maktoum family realised early on that the future depended greatly on the people who passed through and stayed in Dubai; people who needed to feel that they were free to flourish and prosper without risk,” Princess Haya noted.

“We have the world represented in Dubai, and in many ways, I believe, Dubai is also a microcosm of the modern world.”

AMMAN – US First Lady Michelle Obama has called off plans to travel to Jordan on her Middle East tour due to bad weather, an official travelling with her said.

After 36 hours of standing by in Qatar’s Doha, the official said the decision was made to return to Washington, DC, adding Michelle Obama was extremely disappointed at not being able to travel to Jordan during her visit to the region.

“Due to a weather call, the first lady’s plane has been grounded in Doha and unable to travel to Amman,” the official was quoted as saying in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times by the US embassy in Amman Friday.

She left Doha on Friday.

The US first lady was supposed to arrive in Amman on Wednesday afternoon as part of her tour of the region.

She was scheduled to tour a school that was built with US development funds and meet with students.

While in Jordan, she was also supposed to visit the ancient city of Petra.

AMMAN — The tender for the new Princess Basma Educational Hospital will be floated in the next two days, at a value of JD53 million, Public Works Minister Sami Halaseh told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Saturday.

Halaseh said the hospital, which is being constructed under a Royal initiative, will be built in the southern area of Irbid Governorate, where the population is more than 1.25 million.

The hospital’s capacity will stand at 500 beds. Health Minister Ali Hiasat said in a statement carried by Petra that the hospital will include all medical specialisations except for paediatrics, gynaecology and obstetrics because those are available at the nearby Princess Rahma and Princess Badiya hospitals.