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AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Monday headed a meeting at the Energy Ministry to discuss the first draft of the strategy to achieve energy security between the years 2015-2025 in order to present it to the Cabinet soon.

Ensour said studies on the energy sector should be conducted in depth at all levels in order to take the correct decisions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The premier said the strategy should be inclusive, covering solar, nuclear, wind, and oil shale energy resources. 

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat on Monday requested the ministry’s legal affairs department to file a lawsuit against those who set fire to the car of the director of the Southern Badia education department around a week ago.

Besides setting fire to the car and its tyres, the aggressors also poured burning oil at a secondary school for girls in a poor district in Maan.

Thneibat has followed up on the attack with concerned officials since it took place, and stressed the ministry’s concern for the safety of teachers and the ministry’s employees, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

No injuries were reported among students as the attack took place around 7am before the start of classes.

AMMAN – Minister of Public Works and Housing Sami Halaseh recently discussed with Spanish Minister of Public Works Ana María Pastor cooperation between the two countries in the fields of engineering, construction and housing, a ministry statement said Monday.

During a meeting in Madrid, Halaseh and Pastor signed a memorandum of understanding that entails cooperation in the design and construction of government buildings in addition to roads and housing.

Halaseh said that there are a number of large-scale projects implemented by Spanish contractors in Jordan through consortiums with local developers, according to the statement, which indicated that the minister also held meetings with the head of the contractors association in Spain and several developers.

SOUTHERN BADIA — Three people died and another was injured on Monday from an explosion at a warehouse stocked with smuggled fuel, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Maan Civil Defence Department (CDD) Director Lt. Col. Salem Sarayrah.

The officer said the reason behind the explosion was still unknown, adding that the dead were found inside and the injured was outside the warehouse. The injured was admitted to Queen Rania Hospital in Petra where he was listed in fair condition, whereas the two bodies were taken to Maan Public Hospital and later identified as Saudis.

AMMAN — Constitutional Court President Taher Hikmat on Monday met with President of the French Constitutional Council Jean-Louis Debré and briefed him on Jordan’s experience in establishing a Constitutional Court.

The recently established court is tasked with monitoring the constitutionality of laws and regulations in force and interpreting constitutional texts, Hikmat added, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Debré voiced his admiration at Jordan’s success in this field and its role in enhancing tolerance and intercultural dialogues. French Ambassador to Jordan Caroline Dumas attended the meeting.

AMMAN — A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has commended some suggested amendments to the penal law, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.

The report praised Article 25 of the draft law which allows judges, for the first time, to substitute imprisonment of less than one year with community service, according to a ministry statement.

Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni noted that the ministry’s special committee supervising the draft law and reviewed all considerations in concern with the nature of Jordanian society.

The HRW report also recommended implementing amendments to other articles of the draft law, the statement added.

AMMAN — Border Guards received 304 Syrian refugees during Eid Al Adha and transferred them to shelters and camps set up for this purpose, an army source said on Monday.

Royal Medical Services cadres provided essential healthcare services and medications for the sick and injured, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

AMMAN — Emergency rooms in all state-run hospitals received around 60,000 patients during Eid Al Adha, which started last Wednesday and ended on Monday, Health Ministry’s Spokesperson Hatem Azruie said Monday.

Azruie said that emergency rooms in the ministry’s hospitals received patients as usual, working 24/7 during the holiday, with sufficient cadres, tools, and medicine, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He said most cases were a result of traffic accidents. He noted that the number of those hospitalised was relatively small compared to all patients admitted to the emergency rooms. 

AMMAN — “You can show the world that all lives matter,” said Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah to more than 60,000 people during her call to action at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York.

Her Majesty joined world leaders and influencers at the Global Citizen Festival in New York, presented by Hugh Jackman and Stephen Colbert, who gathered for the festival to engage ordinary people in vital causes like extreme poverty and inequality around the world.

Participants included the US First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, along with other world celebrities and achievers such as Chairman and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, UN Messenger of Peace for Climate Action Leonardo DiCaprio and actors Katie Holmes and Olivia Wilde, among others.

Calling for action on the Syrian refugee crisis, alongside Hollywood star Salma Hayek, Her Majesty urged the audience to show solidarity with those in need.

“For millions, this is their darkest hour. Their time of greatest need… it’s also your time. You can show the world that all lives matter.”

Her Majesty indicated that the global community needs to unite and “extends the hand of humanity to those who are risking their lives in search of peace, safety, and security”. She added: “We call on leaders to honour their obligations towards refugees and to increase aid to the Syrian crisis.”

The Global Citizen Festival is an annual music festival established in 2012. The 2015 event was created to mark the establishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a list of 17 tasks to end extreme global poverty by the year 2030.

The 2015 festival, the fourth since it was first held in 2012, was held on Central Park’s Great Lawn in New York, and featured performances by international artists including Beyoncé, Coldplay, Ariana Grande, Pearl Jam and Ed Sheeran, among others.

During the trip, Her Majesty also attended the UNF and McKinsey & Co. co-hosted dinner titled: Right, Smart, Now: Investing in Girls, Women and Gender Equality. 

Along with Her Majesty, list of attendees included Kathy Calvin, president and CEO of UNF; Heather Higgenbottom, US deputy secretary of state; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director at UN Women; actress and singer Jennifer Lopez; Hans Vestburg, Ericsson’s CEO; James Manyika, director of McKinsey Global Institute; Michelle Sullivan, president of Caterpillar Foundation; and world-renowned journalist Katie Couric.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday outlined investment opportunities and incentives available in the Kingdom in key economic sectors.  

Addressing a group of leading businessmen in the US at a meeting in New York, the King highlighted new economy-related legislation enacted to encourage and streamline investments and boost partnership between the public and the private sectors, according to a Royal Court statement. 

King Abdullah highlighted Jordan’s achievements in the IT, telecommunications and pharmaceutical sectors in particular, pointing out that these sectors are capable of drawing investments for new projects, in light of the country’s competitive and stable investment environment, along with its qualified human resources and distinguished geographic location, which serves as a gateway to Middle East and North Africa countries. 

The Monarch cited opportunities and investment projects that were proposed at a session titled “Jordan Relaunched” during the World Economic Forum’s meeting, which the Kingdom hosted on May 21-23 at the Dead Sea, in the fields of energy, water, transport, infrastructure, communications, IT and rural development. 

At the meeting, attended by King’s Office Director Jafar Hassan, discussions addressed the possibility of channelling part of US’ investments for these projects and to industrial and development estates and free zones in the Kingdom.