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AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Thursday met several Kuwaiti business people licensed to register a company in the Jordanian real estate sector, with an investment worth JD100 million.

At the meeting, Ensour said Jordan welcomes more Kuwaiti investments in the Kingdom and voiced the government’s readiness to offer more facilities to ensure its success. The premier was briefed on the residential estate project to be built on a 300 dunums of land, including a commercial centre that will create more than 1,000 job opportunities. 

MADABA — Deputising for HRH Prince Hassan, HRH Princess Sumaya on Thursday attended the inauguration of the first annual Open Source Convention (OSCON 2015) at the German-Jordanian University with the participation of 150 partakers representing 20 countries.

Princess Sumaya highlighted the importance of the event, supported by the EU’s TEMPUS Programme (Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies).

She underlined the role of the programme in connecting the educational sector with the local and regional labour markets. University President Nathir Abu Obeid pinpointed the four-day convention’s importance, citing the diversity of participants and noting that the convention showcases the role of open source applications and programmes in developing the ICT sector.

AMMAN — HRH Princess Alia Tabbaa, honorary chairperson of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation (CPF), on Thursday visited the Cerebral Palsy Model School to check a project implemented by the Promise Welfare Society to improve the school’s infrastructure.

Azmi Shahin, Promise Welfare Society’s general director, noted that the society enhanced healthcare facilities at the school and supplied five classrooms with smart boards to facilitate the learning process.

AMMAN — Three new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a coronavirus-related infection, were registered in the Kingdom bringing the overall number of cases to 11 in 2015, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday.

Mohammad Abdallat, director of the ministry’s department of communicable diseases control, said that the three patients are receiving treatment.

AMMAN — Awqaf Minister Hayel Dawood said on Thursday that Jordan would not stay idle if the Israeli occupation authorities attempt to interfere with the Jordanian custodianship and sovereignty over Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The minister added that the government will not allow the Israeli authorities to interfere in Al Aqsa Mosque, stressing that Israel is an occupation force according to the international law, and thus is not allowed to prevent people in the occupied territories from performing their religious rituals.

AMMAN — The Public Security Department on Thursday announced the working hours for the Jordan Valley border crossing for passengers and cargo this week.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the Jordan Valley crossing will be open for passengers from 6:30am to 9pm, while cargo movement will be halted. 

AMMAN — Border Guards on Wednesday night killed an infiltrator who tried to cross from Syria into Jordan, a Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) source said.

Border guards immediately dealt with the situation in accordance with the rules of engagement as soon as they detected the infiltrator, who had no personal documents, the source noted.

The source also said Border Guards received 107 Syrian refugees during the previous 48 hours.

They transferred the refugees to shelters and camps while Royal Medical Services cadres attended to the injured.

AMMAN — Eighteen people were injured in various accidents on Wednesday night, the Civil Defence Department (CDD) said Thursday.

Three were injured after a swinging stage fell while they were installing aluminium panels on the fourth floor of a factory at El Hassan Industrial Estate and were taken to King Abdullah I Hospital where they were listed in critical condition.

Six were injured in a collision between two vehicles in Madaba, and in Zarqa five were injured when a vehicle overturned on the Mafraq-Zarqa road. In Jerash, a vehicle overturned, resulting in the injury of four people.

AMMAN — The Royal Scientific Society (RSS) on Wednesday inaugurated a workshop on “Civil Initiatives to Enhance Environmental Resilience in Jordanian Communities that Host Syrian Refugees” in Irbid, an RSS statement released Thursday said.

This USAID-funded project, through the World Family Organisation, aims at supporting and transferring knowledge to the different community initiatives on major environmental issues in areas that host Syrian refugees, according to an RSS statement.

The one-year project will be conducted at Deir Abi Saeed. It will concentrate on choosing three local active civil societies to collaborate with RSS in achieving the project’s goals, and on evaluating water and environment conditions to specify needs and priorities.

The outputs will be announced at a conference to discuss the findings and recommendations. 

AMMAN — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said it was following up on the case of the killing of two Jordanians, identified as Qasem and Fares Suleiman in the US state of Florida.

Jordan’s embassy in Washington, DC, was closely following up on the case with the US Department of State and US authorities to find out who is responsible for the killing of the two victims who were killed on Tuesday at a store belonging to their father.

Moreover, the ministry has requested the US embassy in Jordan to coordinate with US authorities in order to obtain official reports on the incident. Local authorities in Florida have arrested a suspect, and he is being questioned after he was charged with deliberate murder and armed robbery.