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AMMAN — Parts of the University of Jordan (UJ) campus were flooded on Thursday as a result of a torrential early morning downpour that drenched several parts of the capital.

Many students could not attend their morning lectures due to the floods that reached their classrooms, while others were stuck inside campus buildings because of the bad weather.

Water levels at the faculty of arts reached as high as 60 centimetres, impeding students from entering or leaving the building.

Students from other faculties who also attend classes at the faculty of arts building were unable to do so on Thursday.

“I didn’t make it to the university this morning; the roads were closed and the traffic was crazy. I missed my first two lectures,” said Leen Abu Shamat, who studies at the faculty of foreign languages.

Areas like the clock tower and the main campus gate were also inundated, which made it difficult for students, professors, and other staff to enter or leave the university.

Students said the floods on campus prompted them to leave immediately, because they did not want to be stuck on the premises. 

“We couldn’t use the main gate to exit, so we walked to either the north gate or the south gate, depending on which was closer to our faculties,” fifth-year engineering student Hassan Shawabkeh told The Jordan Times. 

Several other universities across the Kingdom, such as Princess Sumaya University for Technology and Jordan University of Science and Technology, cancelled classes and postponed exams for safety reasons.

AMMAN — The capital’s downtown merchants on Thursday called for the “immediate” implementation of a comprehensive project to rehabilitate the area’s infrastructure and sanitation system after heavy rain inundated their stores.

The floods damaged commodities and assets of over 500 shops and warehouses containing textiles, clothing, shoes, accessories, electrical appliances and foodstuff, according to Garment Traders Association President Sultan Allan.

He noted that the problem has been around for some 30 years, but the changes in climate recently witnessed in the Kingdom necessitate the rehabilitation of infrastructure in downtown Amman as a priority, instead of “beautification” projects.

Downtown Amman is an area where water flowing from the capital’s seven hills ends up, he explained, adding that stores located in the area between Quraish and King Talal streets, as well as those between King Faisal Street and Al Husseini Mosque received the largest amount of water.

He estimated the value of damages to exceed JD5 million.

Some of the affected stores are covered by insurance, while others are not, and the insured ones will be compensated once the damage costs are calculated, Amman Chamber of Commerce President Issa Murad told The Jordan Times over phone.

“The merchants’ major complaint is that they were not warned against the sudden heavy downpour; therefore, they were not prepared for the incident,” Murad said, noting that some of these shops are the only assets of their owners.

The majority of affected stores are small- and medium-sized businesses, so their losses were “great”, he added.

Murad reiterated the need for rehabilitating the water and sanitation network, since this is still the beginning of the wet season, expecting future rainfall to cause more losses and damage if the infrastructure remains at its current state.

AMMAN — Jordan is the closest to the Palestinian cause, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour reiterated on Thursday.

At a meeting with Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, head of the Jerusalem Committee of the Joint Arab List, Ensour highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts in defending the cause at regional and international platforms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Awqaf Minister Hayel Dawood and Higher Education Minister Labib Khadra also attended the meeting along with a delegation accompanying Tibi.

Ensour stressed the importance of the Hashemite custodianship over Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the support offered to Jerusalemites to face Israeli violations.

For his part, Tibi commended Jordan’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause, noting that the Kingdom is a basic actor in pressuring Israel to change its policies and stop its violations against Palestinian civilians.

“We are keen on maintaining communication with the Royal Hashemite Court, the Jordanian government and the Awqaf Ministry to follow up on issues and updates related to Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque,” the lawmaker said, highlighting the Kingdom’s active role in the Middle East.

After Tibi highlighted several issues during the talks, the prime minister issued directives to Dawood to ensure that 1948 Palestinian pilgrims to Mecca are treated the same as Jordanians and to improve services provided to them.

Ensour said the government will enhance the level of facilities and services offered at border crossings to better serve the Palestinians.

AMMAN — Jordan and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will sign two loan agreements worth $126 million on Sunday, the Luxembourg-based bank said Thursday. 

EIB Vice President Dario Scannapieco and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury will sign the agreements, according to the Planning Ministry.

Scannapieco, who is in charge of EIB’s activities in the southern Mediterranean countries, will pay his first official visit to Jordan on November 8-9, the bank said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times. 

“The EIB’s finance will support Jordan’s efforts to improve potable water availability in the northern governorates and to strengthen the high voltage electricity transmission backbone of the country which will enable Jordan to reach its national objective of 10 per cent renewable energy in its energy mix by 2020,” the statement added.

During his two-day visit, Scannapieco is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, as well as several ministers and senior officials, according to the EIB statement.

The EIB vice president will visit the main control room of the Disi project in Madaba, co-financed by the bank with a contribution of $225 million.  

“This is my first visit to Jordan and my message will be clear: the EIB supports Jordan in its efforts to build and improve its socio-economic infrastructure and encourage private sector development,” the statement quoted Scannapieco as saying ahead of his visit.

Since starting its activities in Jordan in 1978, the EIB has provided total financing of over 1 billion euros to support key economic and social sectors: water, energy, industry, transport and education. 

The EIB’s aim in the past years has been to deploy its resources to provide an appropriate practical response to the expectations expressed by the Jordanian people. It encourages entrepreneurialism by supporting small businesses and promoting job creation, according to the statement. 

AMMAN — The Social Development Ministry on Thursday launched a hotline to receive complaints and inquiries related to welfare, domestic violence, juveniles and vagrancy, a ministry statement said. 

Social Development Minister Reem Abu Hassan highlighted the hotline’s importance in offering support and relief to underprivileged families, especially in light of the unstable weather conditions currently affecting the Kingdom. 

All complaints will be documented in order to be followed up on or referred to specialised authorities to be resolved, Abu Hassan said.

She added that the hotline currently operates from 8am to 7pm and work is in progress to extend the period to 24 hours during the coming weeks.

The hotline is connected directly to concerned ministries and institutions as well as the main emergency and operation rooms at the Social Development Ministry, the statement said.

Complaints and inquiries are received on the toll free line 080022900, as well as 0798518259 and 065679327 (extension 195), in addition to the emergency room lines directly through 065678490 and 065679327 (extension 230).

AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Thursday stressed the importance of arriving at an agreement on legal measures to be respected in cases of tribal issues and conflicts to safeguard social harmony and to ensure respect of the rule of law. 

At a meeting with tribal figures and representatives, Hammad noted that violations and unacceptable acts are sometimes committed under the pretext of tribal norms and customs, stressing that there should be a binding agreement on legal measures to be observed in such issues. 

In the presence of several ministers and security officials, he said reconciliation should be reached on tribal-related issues and serious offences, including honour crimes and the killing of someone from one's own tribe, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Measures such as the payment of blood money or diyeh and when and how that should be paid must be regulated and agreed on, Hammad said.

Stressing that tribes are a major component of the country's social fabric, he noted that there are 305 unresolved tribal cases, attributing delays in solving some of them to hard-line positions and exaggerated demands.

The interior minister said some hard-line positions in many cases do not conform with Jordanian and Islamic values, stressing the need for steps to ensure such practices are rooted out and eliminated, according to Petra.

Participants agreed that in the cases of serious offences, the jalwa (forced relocation) should be limited to the killer, his parents and sons, if he/she has any, and that should be for one year, with the potential to renew it, in accordance with the case's circumstances. 

In tribal law, the term “jalwa” refers to the forced relocation of a tribe if one of its members kills someone without just cause.

Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni, who was present at the meeting, said the agreements reached will be submitted to the Cabinet to be examined and referred to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau and then to Parliament to be deliberated and endorsed. 

AMMAN — Jordan plans to commit to decreasing greenhouse emissions by 14 per cent at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CoP21), if the required funds are provided, an official said Thursday.

The convention, which will be held in Paris from November 30 to December 11, seeks to bring together stakeholders across the globe to “bolster business innovation and bring scale to the emerging green economy”.  

Jordan needs the support of donors and the international community to reduce emissions by 12.5 per cent, while it can achieve the remaining 1.5 per cent reduction, using its own means, according to Ahmad Qatarneh, secretary general of the Environment Ministry. 

Speaking at a workshop to discuss Jordan’s intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) held by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Qatarneh said hosting refugees is a source of pressure on already limited resources, a matter that contributed to an increase in emissions.

He noted that enhancing local industrial activity should be accompanied by coordinating with the international community to control greenhouse emissions.

The ministry’s planned commitment at the convention “does not come from scratch”, as it was already embedded within the Kingdom’s environmental plans, said Indira Dahabi, director of the climate change directorate at the ministry.

Jordan is aiming for renewable energy to supply 10 per cent of its total energy needs.

Meanwhile, the cost of achieving a 14 per cent drop in emissions by 2020 has been calculated at $5.7 billion, out of which the government has secured around $542 million, Dahabi added. 

The move, she explained, will include a transition towards a green economy, introducing renewable energy as a power source for water and transportation, and implementing a comprehensive programme for energy rationalisation.

Jordan will highlight the need for equality as well as “common but differentiated responsibility” towards climate change at the CoP21, as countries like the Kingdom are historically not responsible for the phenomenon, Dahabi said. 

This must come with a “roadmap” that specifies funding allocations from developed countries to developing ones in order to address climate change, she noted, citing a project that will set out a work plan for the INDCs, to be carried out next year in partnership with the GIZ (German Development Cooperation).

For his part, Raouf Dabbas, a ministry adviser and a board member of the Jordan Green Building Council, said the green culture is still not widespread in Jordan and many do not see it as a part of sustainable development.

However, he highlighted “great” potential for Jordan to develop clean and renewable energy sources, a process that is moving slowly, he said, although the nuclear project, which is the “worse option for the Kingdom”, is progressing “quickly”.

Dabbas called for enforcing energy rationalisation policies as well as developing fiscal policies at the Central Bank of Jordan that encourage the private sector to build partnerships and fund renewable energy projects across the country.

A successful agreement in Paris will accelerate the transition to the low carbon economy necessary to keep the climate safe, according to FES Deputy Resident Director Richard Probst, who highlighted the need to engage the private sector and civil society organisations in the planning and decision-making processes.  

“Either we continue with the business-as-usual-mode, involving excessive consumption of fossil fuel and a non-sustainable development model, or we opt for a more sustainable and more inclusive model of development,” he said.

Amman — A man allegedly stabbed his sister and her son to death in their home in Irbid in the early hours of Thursday, a senior judicial source said.

A post-mortem examination conducted by a team of pathologists headed by Ali Shotar counted around 100 stab wounds on different parts of the woman’s body, a senior official source said.

“Pathologists detected various stab wounds but the fatal ones were four,” the senior source told The Jordan Times.

The woman’s head was completely severed, according to the source, while an autopsy conducted on the body of her 16-year-old son indicated that “his genitalia was completely severed from his body”.

“The boy also received multiple stab wounds on parts of his body,” the source said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Qahtan Qawaqzeh issued orders for the suspect to be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation facility for 15 days pending further investigation, the judicial source added.

No further details were immediately available on the motive behind the crime or the charges levelled at the suspect.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted a security source as saying that the suspect murdered his 38-year-old sister and teenage nephew over family disputes, and a second nephew, aged 13, managed to flee the scene.

The suspect, who already has a criminal record, was apprehended shortly after committing the crime, Petra reported.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah met with UK Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Nicholas Houghton in London during a private visit, a Royal Court statement said Thursday. They discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, especially in military fields.

Also on Thursday, during his private visit to London, King Abdullah attended a ceremony marking the 300th anniversary of the Light Dragoons, one of the oldest cavalry regiments in the British army, another Royal Court statement said.

The King had received a leading position in this internationally renowned regiment while receiving military training after his graduation from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His Majesty also attended a dinner banquet held on the occasion, in the presence of several senior officers and guests who served in different British armoured corps. 

AMMAN — Four million cubic metres (mcm) of water entered the country's dams on Thursday, Ministry of Water and Irrigation Spokesperson Omar Salameh said. Rainfall during the past 10 days channelled more than 25mcm to the dams, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Salameh as saying.

Thus, water storage in the Kingdom's dams reached 145mcm, which amounts to 43.5 per cent of the dams' total storage capacity compared to around 115mcm (35.5 per cent) during the same period last year, he added.