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AMMAN — HRH Princess Muna, honorary president of the Families and Friends Society of Persons with Disabilities (FFSPD), on Saturday attended a charity dinner the society held.

Several princes, ministers and heads of institutions related to the affairs of people with disabilities also attended the event, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

FFSPD President Miran Sariyeh delivered a speech at the ceremony and expressed the society’s appreciation of Princess Muna’s efforts in supporting the rights of people with disabilities and giving them equal opportunities in learning, training and rehabilitation, Petra reported.

During the ceremony, also attended by representatives of diplomatic missions to the Kingdom, supporters of the society were honoured.

AMMAN — The Arab Organisation for Social Responsibility on Thursday awarded Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour a medal for his efforts to support social responsibility issues.

During a ceremony the organisation held in cooperation with the Social Development Ministry to honour activists in social responsibility,Ensour praised the organisation’s achievements, stressing that social work is an ethical and religious responsibility, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — Pictures of American actor and producer Will Smith, his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and US Grammy-nominated R&B singer and actor Tyrese Gibson at a Jordanian billionaire’s wedding in Amman went viral over the weekend.

The Smiths and Gibson flew from their vacation in Dubai to Amman, where on Thursday they attended the wedding of a friend, Jordanian businessman Eyhab Jumean.

Smith and his wife posted some images of Amman on their Facebook pages, where they said they were having a good time.

“My first time in Amman, Jordan. WOW! I love it here. :- ),” the Academy Award nominated actor, who has over 75 million followers on Facebook, wrote on Thursday.

The post by Smith — who is known for films such as “I Am Legend”, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, “Independence Day” and the “Men in Black” franchise — received over 257,450 likes and around 12,000 comments. It was shared over 8,000 times.

Pinkett Smith shared a photo of herself wearing a head cover in Amman.

“You can’t know the world simply by watching the news. A night in Jordan during the call to prayer,” she wrote to over 7 million followers.

The post received over 229,000 likes and around 13,000 comments. It was shared over 13,000 times.

On his Facebook page with some 28 million fans, Gibson posted a picture of himself with the Smiths, Jumean and his wife at the wedding.

“… Shout to the SMITH’s and the Jumean’s life-changing and inspirational wedding and exchange of love in Jordan...” Gibson commented on the picture.

The US singer posted another picture at the wedding of him and the Smiths.

“Dubai and Jordan... Thank you with my entire HEART for hosting us,” Gibson wrote on his Facebook timeline.

Social media users in Jordan welcomed the high profile visit.

On Facebook and Twitter, they shared pictures of the three celebrities at Jumean’s wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman.

“You are more than welcome to our beautiful, peaceful and full of love Land, welcome to Jordan,” Ghiath Al Daajah commented on Gibson’s picture of the wedding showing the celebrities with the bride and groom.

Marwan Juma had a similar response.

“Thank you for your kind words about our country Jordan! I hope we’ve been good hosts so far! God bless,” he wrote in a comment.

Diana H. Alrawashdeh said in a comment on the picture: “It was our pleasure to have you in our wonderful country! Jordan.”

Hala Aboud, another Facebook user, said: “We love you all so much. It is an honour for us to have you in Jordan.”

On Twitter, users shared pictures of the Hollywood stars and news about their visit to Amman to attend the wedding. Others shared videos of the stars at the wedding.

“Welcome to Jordan Mr Will Smith. Hope that you and your family [have] a wonderful time in Jordan and I hope that I can meet you :),” Bayan Belbeisi (@bayan79) tweeted over the weekend.

Ghaith (‏@gaithggg) tweeted: “Welcome to Jordan. I hope you are having a great time.”

AMMAN — The Council of Ministers on Thursday decided to refer Jordan Customs Department Director General  Munther Assaf to retirement. 

The decision will go into force as of October 30, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

On Wednesday, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister and acting Finance Minister Ibrahim Saif said the government takes full responsibility for the fire which occurred at  an Amman Customs yard on Monday, describing it as a “grave mistake”.

The minister made the remark at a meeting with the Lower House Integrity Committee, stressing that the government should take full responsibility for the tragic incident.

The fire erupted at one of the Amman Customs Department's yards on October 26 after two fireworks containers exploded. 

All casualties were workers at the yard from Jordan and Egypt.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Integrity Committee Chairperson MP Mustafa Rawashdeh stressed that the government should take full responsibility for what happened and take action to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents, describing the regulations banning the import of fireworks as inadequate. 

Other MPs called for the resignation of the government and the officials in charge, including Assaf. 

The government pledged to work to rectify related legislation to avert such incidents in the future, adding that it would move Amman customs premises to another site far from the city. 

AMMAN – The Kingdom will remain under the effect of a depression on Friday, with temperatures remaining three to four degrees below their annual average for this time of year, while unstable weather conditions are forecast for next week, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said Thursday. 

A slight rise in temperatures is expected on Saturday, Raed Rafid, head of the JMD’s forecasting division, told The Jordan Times, expecting the weather to be fair, with a slight chance of scattered showers due to unstable weather conditions. 

Rafid did not elaborate on the expected weather conditions for next week because, he said, they could change in the next few days.  

National Forecasting Centre Director Hussein Momani told Jordan TV that the Kingdom will witness rain all of next week. 

Temperatures on Friday are forecast to range between a low of 12°C and a high of 20°C, according to a JMD statement, which indicated that there is a slight chance of rainfall in the morning in the Kingdom’s central and northern regions. In Aqaba, mercury levels are expected to range between 19°C and 28°C on Friday.

On Saturday, temperatures will be between 14°C and 23°C in Amman, and between 21°C and 30°C in Aqaba, while on Sunday, they are expected to return to their annual average during this time of year, ranging between 15°C and 24°C in Amman, and between 22°C and 30°C in Aqaba, according to the JMD.

AMMAN — Ain Ghazal (Spring of the Gazelles), near Marka in the capital, was “the Manhattan of the Neolithic period”, according to an anthropology professor. 

At a recent lecture titled “A Kinder, Greener Black Desert: Results of Archaeological Research of Neolithic Sites”, held at the American Centre of Oriental Research, Gary O. Rollefson, professor of anthropology at Whitman College in the US, discussed the life of hunting and herding communities during the Late Neolithic period.

In its heyday (7,000 BC), Ain Ghazal was inhabited by around 3,000 people, making it one of the biggest Neolithic sites in the Near East. 

However, after 6,900 BC, due to environmental degradation and a severe drop in rainfall, about 90 per cent of the population migrated from the site, Rollefson said.

New excavations in eastern Jordan indicate that some inhabitants migrated from Ain Ghazal towards the Black Desert to places such as Wadi Al Qattafi and Wisad Pools, according to the scholar.

“The new residents in the area, who herded sheep and goats, used to hunt gazelles... We found large quantities of wild and domesticated animal bones in addition to hundreds of arrowheads and butchering tools,” the expert underlined.

The area between Northern Azraq and Wisad Pools was green in the Late Neolithic period (6,500-5,000 BC), which enabled settlers to enjoy successful sheep and goat herding in addition to the lucrative hunting, according to Rollefson.

One of the key attractions of the Black Desert in the Neolithic Period was rainfall five to six times higher than is witnessed there today, as demonstrated by the presence of charcoal from oak and tamarisk trees, which only grow in wetter western Jordan in the modern era.

He highlighted other aspects of daily life in the Black Desert, noting that key periods of the year appear to have been marked according to the sun’s position. 

When the rising sun shone through an axis in a house doorway onto a niche opposite the entrance, this indicated the summer solstice. 

The presence of shells from the Mediterranean and Red seas and obsidian (volcanic glass) from eastern Turkey suggests extensive contacts between Black Desert inhabitants and other peoples, Rollefson said.

“One obsidian knife was the largest single piece of the material found in Jordan or Palestine.”

Rollefson is a veteran archaeologist who has been involved in different expeditions in Jordan since 1978, including Ain Ghazal, Azraq, the Jafr Basin, Wadi Rum and now the Black Desert. 

“Jordan is my second home,” he said. “We intend to return to... Wadi Al Qattafi in 2016, then back to Wisad in 2017-2019.”

AMMAN – Jordan has been ranked 113th out of 189 countries in the World Bank's 2016 Ease of Doing Business report, which was released Wednesday. 

In a factsheet e-mailed to The Jordan Times, the World Bank said the Kingdom's economy had dropped by six places from its ranking last year, when it stood at 107, but the full report for 2015 showed Jordan was at 117th position, which means it moved up four places. 

The Jordan Times contacted the World Bank's regional office in Beirut to seek an explanation for the discrepancy.

An official at the international financial organisation said that countries sometimes challenge the findings of the report by offering new data on their economies, which may prompt the creation of a revised list. 

The ranking team, based in Washington, DC, will provide answers in upcoming days, the official said. 

In its report, the World Bank said that in regard to the "10 pillars", Jordan did not make any improvements and in fact retreated in seven topics, while maintaining its same position in three pillars. 

In the category of "starting a business", the Kingdom's economy moved down from 83 to 88;in "dealing with construction permits", it remained unchanged at 103.

Concerning "getting electricity", the Kingdom regressed from 55 to 56 and in "registering property", it dropped from 96 to 98, while the "getting credit" criterion remained unchanged at 185.

In regards to "protecting minority investors", the Kingdom regressed from 162 to 163, and regarding "paying taxes" from 46 to 52, while "trading across borders" saw a 1-point decrease, from 49 to 50.

As regards "enforcing contracts", Jordan’s rank dropped from 122 to 126 and in relation to "resolving insolvency", it remained at 146. 

Economies are ranked from 1 to 189 on their Ease of Doing Business, with rank 1 being the highest "ease". 

A high Ease of Doing Business ranking means the country's regulatory environment is more conducive to starting and operating a local firm. 

Rankings   are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, and giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2015.

The Doing Business 2016 report named Singapore as the best country to do business in. The island state has topped the rankings since 2007.

AMMAN — A video purportedly showing the collapse of a street at the Abdali real estate project due to rainfall went viral on Thursday.

The project’s management, however, maintained that the collapse occurred on a street that is currently under construction and is not open to the public.

“The collapse was caused by the construction works and not the rainfall,” the management said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

The statement maintained that: “Public safety is a huge concern to the Abdali management.”

The effects of a depression that started Saturday continued on Thursday, causing unstable weather conditions that brought rain to several areas around the country.

A slight rise in temperatures is expected over the weekend, with slight chances of rain, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department.

This week’s rain channelled over 15 million cubic metres of water into the Kingdom’s dams, Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Secretary General Saad Abu Hammour said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.

The JVA secretary general said the total amount of water stored in all the dams in the Kingdoms, whose total capacity is 325mcm, currently stands at 132mcm.

AMMAN – US actor, singer and songwriter Tyrese Gibson is visiting Jordan soon, according to a post he shared on Facebook on Wednesday.

His post  attracted thousands of social media users from Jordan on Thursday, prompting them to recommend that he visit the Kingdom’s best locations and attractions.

“I’m landing in Jordan soon... It’s going to be a first for me... Where should I go guys?” Gibson posted on his Facebook page, which has more than 27 million followers.

The actor,  who has co-starred in action films such as the “Transformers” and “The Fast and the Furious” franchises, shared a photo of the ancient city of Petra along with his post, which received around 50,000 likes and more than 2,700 comments, mostly from Jordan. 

Many Facebook users expressed excitement regarding Gibson’s visit and suggested activities for him. 

“Welcome to Jordan Tyrese Gibson, check http://www.visitjordan.com for awesome places to visit! We are all excited and happy to see you here,” wrote Anas Al Madanat.

Yazan Alomari recommended that Gibson head to Irbid and check out its racing cars, given his role in the car-centric “The Fast and the Furious” series.

“IRBID is the BEST city you’ll ever see in Jordan ... I will meet you there Tyrese… you should visit Irbid Automobile Industrial Zone where you will find a lot of racing cars... trust me you’re gonna enjoy it,” he wrote.

The Jordanian sense of humour was obvious in many of the comments made by local social media users.  

“You have to come and have mansaf on Friday with us... Send me your phone number as soon as you get to the airport,” Ahmad Abusway posted, referring to the Jordanian national dish of rice, lamb, pine nuts and “jameed”— a yoghurt-based sauce. 

Non-Jordanians also took to social media to promote the Kingdom’s attractions.  

“I love Jordan. You should go to [the] Dead Sea and Petra,” Mary Cakir commented on the post.  

Shuree Batenie suggested that the actor stop by a refugee camp to give children a day of fun.

“Visit some of the refugee camps and put a smile on the kids’ faces,” she added.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Ayah attended the start of the the Discover Jordan Rally Tour 2015 on Thursday. 

On their first day, contestants headed from Amman to Petra. The next morning, they are scheduled to go to the Dead Sea, where they will spend the third and last day of the rally. 

The event is held by iJordan in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan and Jordan Motorsport, in addition to other partners from the private sector, according to a statement released by the organisers. 

The rally targets motor sports fans, as well as families and tourists, taking them on a tour of Jordan's "distinctive landscapes" and major archaeological sites.