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AMMAN — Irbid’s police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a middle-aged woman who was found dead in her house on Monday.

The woman’s body was sent to the Forensic Medicine Department of the northern region while police opened an investigation into the incident, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Medical and security sources said it could have been a suicide resulting from consuming a poisonous substance, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — The Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna) announced Monday that pumping from the Zai Water Treatment Plant will stop for 36 hours to implement urgent maintenance work to counter the effect of a landslide at the King Abdullah Canal, a company statement said.

The company said the stoppage begins Monday night until Wednesday. The statement said water will be pumped later than usual to areas in Amman whereas in other areas it will be totally suspended.

AMMAN — Irbid police on Monday arrested 12 suspects wanted in several court cases in a campaign to remove violating stalls in commercial areas, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted a security source as saying.

The source added that the wanted suspects were detained at specialised security centres.

AMMAN — The government cannot prepare its various plans and programmes without having a comprehensive database on the country’s population, Interior Minister Salameh Hammad said Monday.

At a meeting on the implementation of the 2015 general population census, attended by Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani, Hammad stressed the need to ensure coordination among all concerned parties to render the census a success.

Fakhoury said having accurate information will enable the government to better serve citizens and help the private sector land more effective investments.

He stressed the confidentiality of the information collected by census takers, in accordance with the law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Momani stressed that the census will be given ample media coverage, due to its importance at the national level.

AMMAN — A total of 17 people were injured on Monday in two separate accidents, according to the Civil Defence Department (CDD). In Amman, 10 people were injured in a collision between a public transport bus and a tipper truck near the Sports City Circle, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

CDD personnel administered first aid to the injured and took them to the University of Jordan Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition. In Mafraq’s Rihab area, seven people were injured as a result of a two-vehicle collision, Petra reported. Mafraq CDD teams administered first aid to the injured and sent them to King Abdullah I Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition.

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) and the Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) on Monday signed an agreement under which the chamber renewed its support for an award recognising excelling engineering graduation projects in the industrial sector, organised by JEA for students at Jordanian universities.

JEA President Majid Tabba said the award has gained a good reputation across the Kingdom, with increasing competition among engineering faculties to win it, according to a JEA statement. ACI President Ziad Homsi said there are many ideas that can be developed through cooperation with the JEA, according to the statement.

AMMAN — The sight of children working on the streets of Mumbai spurred British filmmaker Laila Khan into action, and she decided to document the plight of these underage labourers for the world to see.

“Making ‘6 Cup Chai’ was purely a spontaneous decision, done on impulse,” she said of her award-winning narrative short, which will be screened at several venues in Jordan this week and in early November.

“I feel a child’s place is in the classroom or playground not on the streets and in a work station where they are forced to do any form of labour to help support their poor families,” Khan said in an e-mail to The Jordan Times.

Her film follows a boy who lives and works as a tea seller in Mumbai’s largest slum, Dharavi. His wish is to go to school like other children his age.

The seven-minute short was screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner 2014 and won a Venus de Badalona award for Best Values at the 40th FILMETS Badalona Film Festival in Spain.

The director, who has a BA in moving image from King’s College London, said it was difficult to shoot on location.

“It’s very hard to control the crowd when filming in a slum area but thankfully I had a great team... who ensured there were no figures in my frame except for the actors of course,” Khan said.

The inaugural screening, by invitation only, is hosted by the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) at Al Hussein Cultural Centre on Thursday at 7pm.

Two public screenings are also planned by GAM, according to the director, who added that the film will also be screened at the Children’s Museum Jordan on Saturday. The entrance fee is JD3.

In addition, screenings are planned at schools and the Zaatari Refugee Camp on Sunday and Monday, according to the director.

“I’m shooting my next film in Jordan so I thought I’d seize the opportunity to screen my film here... and the topic of my movie is relevant to issues closer to home,” Khan said.

“I’m screening the film at Zaatari camp because I want to reach a young audience and stress the importance of education not only in the refugee camp, but in the schools and universities around the city too,” the director added, noting that the short will be available on Royal Jordanian for four months from January 2016 after it had been available on British Airways and Lufthansa.

Voicing hope that its screening in Jordan would inspire change for the best, the filmmaker said the local and global reach of “6 Cup Chai” has exceeded her expectations.

“I think the reason... is, the very issues (such as labour, poverty and education) highlighted in the film are problematic in many parts of the world today so the subject is relevant. Also people will always support such films that provoke thought and inspire change.”

AMMAN — The absence of a political approach for Palestinians, especially young people, to resolve their issues is the main reason behind the current “Intifada”, an activist said Sunday.

The young generation, who did not witness the First Intifada in 1987, and was born after the Second Intifada in 2000, is seeking a serious solution after 22 years of “useless negotiations” since the Oslo I Accord, Ablah Abu Olbeh said during a meeting organised by the Sisterhood is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J) to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“The Palestinian people are pressuring their leadership to change its strategy... with Israel, based on negotiations that do not serve their issue,” she added.

During the meeting, attended by representatives of women’s movements and civil society institutions, the activist said Palestinians are also calling for the end of political divisions among their leaders, considering this to be the first step in facing continuous Israeli attacks.

“Due to a lack of unified political leadership, this Intifada has not yet acquired a political aim except the end of occupation,” she stated, adding that there should be a planned programme for unification.

Nadia Abu Nahleh, an activist from Gaza, participated in the gathering by telephone and noted that the uprising has extended to Gaza.

“The time has come for Palestinians to end the occupation and establish their independent state,” she said, adding that women are an essential part of this uprising against the occupation’s daily executions and house demolitions.

Sama Aweidah, an activist from Jerusalem, also telephoned the gathering from Beirut and expressed the pride of women’s movements in the young generation, despite Israeli attempts to deter their attention from their national cause.

Jumana Meri, a Lebanese activist and head of the Beirut office of the Arab Institute for Human Rights, said by telephone that despite the fact that the region is witnessing several wars and conflicts, the Palestinian issue is still its main concern.

AMMAN – When 14-year-old Ghada Hammad used to hear the weather forecast every morning before class at her school, she became curious about how meteorologists produce their forecasts and make them available to the public. 

After her school, the Islamic Scientific College (ISC), opened a meteorology station on its premises in cooperation with Arabia Weather, Hammad had the chance to see for herself how it is all done.

“I became my family’s reliable source for the weather forecast,” she said with a smile. 

Hammad is among 28 students taking part in the school’s meteorology station, the first to be opened in a school in Jordan, which was officially launched this year on October 11.  

The idea of running a meteorology activity at the school is not new, said Randa Nabulsi, the principal of the girls’ section.

“There is a meteorology club affiliated with the environment safety club at the school that has been active during the past two years, but there was also a proposal to do something different that could further benefit the students,” she told The Jordan Times in an interview at the station. 

The school official said the new station saved her students valuable time because they used to go to a meteorology centre far from the school and arranging the visits required “a lot of measures”.

A total of 3,000 girls study at the school’s branch in Jabal Amman and there are 6,000 girls enrolled across the two locations of the school, according to Nabulsi.

She said the centre will enable students to learn about the mechanisms of weather forecasting, including studying satellite weather maps and measuring humidity and rainfall. 

“Arabia Weather provided the students with several pieces of equipment including screens,” Nabulsi noted, adding that a member of Arabia Weather visited the site and approved the location the school allocated for the station.   

“Students learn about the weather forecast every morning and now the students themselves are the ones who produce it,” she said. 

Nabulsi also took pride in the fact that “Arabia Weather decided to send 10 trainees to the school to let our students teach them, as their level of experience is getting better.”

Khawlah Sharif, one of two teachers in charge of the station, said weather forecasting has become part of students’ daily life and education. 

Sharif said the project will also benefit the community because it will be open to meteorology enthusiasts outside the school.

Nabulsi said the school will submit a letter to the Ministry of Education asking it to allow students interested in meteorology to learn at the station, which cost the school around JD10,000. 

Ayman Sawalha, director of automatic meteorology systems at Arabia Weather, said the station at the school is also used by Arabia Weather in its forecasting. 

“It is an automatic station operated 24 hours every day,” Sawalha told The Jordan Times over the phone.   

Rahaf Jaafari, 16 years old, said after visiting the office of Arabia Weather: “I want to be a meteorologist... most meteorologists are men but women can do this too.”

Yara Odwan, another student, said the ability to forecast weather helped her to manage what to wear and make plans for daily life.”I hope that there will be a meteorology major at universities because there are many students interested in this field,” she added.

AMMAN — Maritime movement returned to normal in Aqaba on Monday, after warnings issued by the Jordan Maritime Authority (JMA) to vessels on Sunday due to the prevailing weather conditions according to a JMA official.

On Sunday there were strong winds on the shores of Aqaba that reached a speed of 45 knots (some 65 kilometres per hour), requiring the JMA to issue warnings, the authority’s director, Salah Abu Afifeh, noted.

A depression began affecting the country on Sunday and brought heavy rain accompanied by thunder and hail, causing
flashfloods and several road accidents.

“The JMA warned vessels in ports and territorial waters, stopped moving vessels into harbours, and halted the unloading of a gas vessel as precautionary measures to guarantee public safety,” Abu Afifeh told The Jordan Times.

Wind speeds exceeding 25 to 30 knots (some 46 to 55 kilometres per hour) are considered dangerous for maritime movement, he noted, adding that the JMA monitors weather forecasts around the clock for any emergency conditions.

“Southerly winds are the most dangerous for Aqaba ports because they can move landing vessels towards the shores of the city,” the director said, adding that small boats are not allowed to leave shores until these conditions ease off.

As for aviation, Royal Jordanian Spokesperson Basel Kilani told The Jordan Times there were no delays or diversions in flights during the past two days.