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AMMAN — Jordan on Saturday marked International Day of Charity, as a way of appreciating charity deeds in alleviating the intensity of human crises and suffering.

Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation Spokesperson Mohammad Kilani said the organisation has undertaken the responsibility to provide assistance and help all underprivileged people inside and outside the Kingdom, in addition to helping all peoples affected by disasters, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

“At a time when the need for humanitarian assistance has never been higher and when there are more refugees and displaced people than at any time since the end of the Second World War, charities play an increasingly vital role in meeting human need,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was quoted as saying in a statement marking the occasion.

AMMAN — Higher Education Minister Labib Khadra on Thursday said 24,723 students have been accepted at public universities through the Unified Admissions List.

At a press conference, Khadra added that the ministry will start receiving applications from students who have completed a two-year intermediate community college programme and wish to complete their studies at universities as of Monday, for three consecutive days. 

Moreover, the Higher Education Council was to convene on Thursday to discuss the list of students who applied to specialisations that require General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) averages higher than what they obtained and are required to consider alternative ones, totalling 2,668 students, he noted. 

He said that for the first time in years, the number of vacant seats at public universities exceeds that number as a total of 3,151 seats have not been filled through the Unified Admissions List. 

Later on Thursday, Unified Admission Committee President Ghalib Hourani said the 2,668 students will be accepted in public universities.

Hourani said the Higher Education Council decided to allow the students to change their specialties within the same university or to choose a major in another university.

This year, the minimum admission score for medicine dropped by 2.4 points to 95.2 per cent, compared with the two previous years, and the minimum rate for civil engineering also dropped this year by 4.9 points to a minimum of 86.6 per cent, according to Khadra.  

Around 2,790 students will be accepted through the Royal makruma for Tawjihi graduates from tribal communities and underprivileged schools, the minister added.

Khadra said the minimum admission rates for students who wish to study abroad were reduced, noting that the committee for certificate equivalence at the Higher Education Ministry discussed on Wednesday admission rates abroad.

The committee decided to decrease the minimum score for applying to medical and dentistry specialisations to become 80 per cent. 

The minimum Tawjihi score required to apply to study pharmacology and for pharmacology and doctor of pharmacology is now 75 per cent, while the score for engineering is 70 per cent.

Khadra said the decision was taken after the ministry conducted a study on Tawjihi results.

The decision was also taken based on a recommendation from the Jordan Medical Association as well as the apparent decrease in the number of students who scored 85 per cent or more in comparison with previous years.

AMMAN – A photo of sanitation workers transported in the back of a truck sparked anger and criticism on social media outlets on Thursday.

In this undated photo shared on social media websites,  sanitation workers are seen loaded in the back of a truck

The photo was shared by many social media users. Its date and source are unknown, but the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said it is an isolated incident, stressing that sanitation workers are transported by buses.

Naser A. Bataineh posted the photo on Facebook with a caption calling for better conditions for the workers.

“Unfortunately this is how they transport the country’s workers... the ones who are the reason that Amman has been described as the cleanest Arab capital.”

Doaa Masri (@DoaaMasri) also echoed Bataineh’s sentiment.

“This is how the municipality transports the country’s workers! We are waiting for a clarification from the municipality. Their dignity is our dignity,” she tweeted.

Adel Suleiman (@AdelSuleiman) said the act was “uncivilised and socially unacceptable”.

On its social media accounts, GAM posted photos of modern buses transporting sanitation workers with a caption in Arabic: “The country’s workers are going to their work areas.”

Basem Tarawneh, deputy director for districts and environment affairs at GAM, said the photo that caused outrage was an isolated incident, stressing that the municipality offers suitable work conditions for all its employees.

“This happened on Jordan Street. What really happened was that the driver decided to transport a number of sanitation workers in a truck originally used to carry broken tree branches to a location that was only 200 metres away. 

“He wanted to save time because he would have had to wait long for the proper buses to take the workers,” Tarawneh told The Jordan Times over the phone on Thursday.

He added that GAM offers incentives to sanitation workers in recognition of their important role.

“During the past two years, the workers received a JD30-salary raise; we changed their uniform and provided them with suitable and safe shoes. 

“The workers were also given a three-hour break in the peak hours during the heatwave that affected the Kingdom,” Tarawneh said, urging social media users not to ignore the positive aspects of GAM’s work.

AMMAN — Fewer traffic jams are expected on the roads now as expatriates are returning to their work abroad and the summer season is about to be over, officials said, as motorists called for more measures to ease congestion in the early hours.

“There will definitely be a drop in traffic congestion in the upcoming period as many expatriates have returned and many tourists who come to spend the summer in Jordan returned home with the start of new scholastic year,” Ayman Smadi, executive director of GAM’s transport and traffic department, told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

Over the past few months, traffic jams were witnessed in different parts of the capital, especially at night, lasting at times until midnight.

“With the start of the new scholastic year in Jordan, peak hours for traffic will usually be in the morning hours,” Smadi said.

“With the large number of expatriates and visitors over the past few years, traffic jams were heavily witnessed at night as people were going to cafés and restaurants. In the upcoming period, no great traffic jams are expected at night,” he added.

A total of 195,226 cars entered Jordan from Saudi Arabia in June and July of this year, according to the Jordan Customs Department. Thousands of cars entered Jordan from the Gulf Kingdom in August as well. 

The vehicles that entered the Kingdom in June and July, according to Smadi, were carrying around 1 million people, coming from various Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

“It was a very busy season with lots of visitors,” he said, adding that the municipality is still taking measures to address traffic jams.

Ahmad Salameh, an accountant who works at a bank in Shmeisani, voiced hope that traffic congestion will ease off, as driving from home to work and vice versa has been a “headache” over the past few months.

“I live in Jubeiha. Every day I have to drive through the Interior Ministry Circle, where traffic is always at a standstill. With the heatwaves that affected Jordan recently, it was a nightmare to drive. I hope the situation will be better now on as many expatriates have left,” he said in a phone interview.

Areej Musa, a secretary at a marketing company in Rabiah and a resident of Hashemi area, said she arrived late to work several times because of traffic jams over the past period.

“I don’t have a car and I use public transportation, which is not efficient at all. I had to leave home very early every day to get to work on time. But that did not always work as I arrived late several times,” she said.

“The problem is that there are no lanes for public transportation vehicles and when they get stuck in traffic all passengers are late,” Musa added.

Official figures put the number of cars in Jordan, registered at the Driver and Vehicle License Department, with over 1.3 million, nearly 38 per cent of which are in the capital.

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Thursday said the Syrian conflict, the refugee crisis and turmoil in surrounding countries are to blame for the new illicit drug smuggling methods the Kingdom has been witnessing over the past four years.

“We have been witnessing strange and creative methods of smuggling illicit drugs, mainly since the start of the Syrian conflict and the turmoil in several countries, and this has also become a problem among some refugees,” a senior AND official said.

The official was referring to recent reported methods whereby smugglers, mostly non-Jordanians, reportedly resorted to using sheep, car tyres, biscuit packets, packages of sweets, olives, large marble blocks and children’s beds, to hide and attempt to smuggle illegal narcotics.

The official said the department is constantly following up on the latest methods of smuggling and taking “all leads and tips very seriously”. 

“We are an intelligence body and we have our own sources and agents who are following up on leads and analysing information on a 24-hour basis,” he added.

The official added that agents work on complicated and difficult cases “sometimes for over two months to arrest suspects and bring them to justice”.

In a lecture earlier this week, Deputy Public Security Department Director for Criminal Investigation Affairs Maj. Gen. Tahsin Momani said 5,490 drug cases were registered in the first six months of 2015, 468 of which were related to trafficking, 36 related to addiction and 4,986 related to possession.

Senior drug officials disclosed figures last year stating that between May 31, 2013 and the end of May 2014, the department dealt with 7,713 illegal narcotic cases, including 712 cases of drug trafficking.

The number of arrested individuals during that period was 10,792, including 1,296 who are non-Jordanians, according to the figures.

The amount of seized illegal narcotics during the same period is as follows: 664kg of hashish; 6,719kg of marijuana; 2,466,918 Captagon pills; 331kg of cocaine; 219kg of heroin, 24kg of opium and 43,107,011 pills of various illegal drugs.

Most of the seized drugs, according to AND figures, were destined to neighbouring countries such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.

The majority of the seized illegal narcotics are not for local consumption; they are destined for neighbouring countries such as illegal pills, which are worth between JD7 to JD10 per pill there, a senior AND official told The Jordan Times in a recent interview. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) said the government should speed up the endorsement of a proposal to stiffen penalties against assailants of educators after a group of people attacked teachers at a boys’ school in Khreibet Al Souk area on Thursday.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, the JTA said a group of people from the same family came in a bus to the school and beat teachers and caused damage to their cars. 

The alleged assailants were angry because teachers separated two groups of students that engaged in a brawl and sent a student accused of attacking his classmates to the principal’s office to take administrative measures against him. 

“The teachers were surprised to see a group of people who came by bus carrying sticks and started attacking a teacher and hitting his car,” said the statement, adding that the family thought the bruises caused to the student were by teachers and not by the other group in the brawl.  

Also Thursday, the syndicate’s spokesperson, Ayman Okour, said several assault cases against teachers were reported at Irbid, Karak and Salt at the beginning of the new scholastic year, which started Tuesday, blaming what he called an “unjustified” delay by the government to approve stiffer penalties on those who attack educators physically or verbally.

The JTA spokesperson called on the government to shoulder its responsibilities in protecting educators. 

According to association figures, a total of 39 assaults on teachers were recorded during the first half of 2015, with 10 per cent of the cases referred to court, while the rest were resolved through reconciliation.

The JTA report on assault cases during the January-June period, released recently, said that in the same period of 2014 only 25 cases were recorded. 

In this year’s incidents, students attacked teachers by hitting them with clubs and cleavers, and they also raided classrooms, formed gangs and fired gunshots, according to the statement.

JTA President Hussam Masheh has previously charged that the number of attacks during the first half of this year indicates that no one is seriously working to resolve the phenomenon, which he said threatens the institution of education in its entirety.

But the Education Ministry has always stressed the importance of respecting teachers and safeguarding their rights, with officials stressing that the ministry does not accept any offensive behaviour or attacks against teachers.

In May this year, the ministry filed a lawsuit against some Ramtha residents who assaulted teachers at Al Miqdad Bin Al Aswad School, injuring one of them.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Thursday met with former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad who is currently visiting the Kingdom. 

Discussions covered bilateral relations and developments in the Middle East.

During a press conference held by the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation on Thursday, Mahathir spoke about the Malaysian experience in economic development that led to industrial advances in his country, with the sector becoming a major contributor to its gross domestic product.

He said Jordan’s experience is similar to the Malaysian one, aiming towards progress and economic reform, attracting investments and offering a proper environment for human resources.

The former premier said the number of people below the poverty line in Malaysia decreased from 52 per cent to only 5 per cent, as the average Malaysian’s annual income increased considerably.

The World Bank estimates the gross national income in Malaysia per capita at around $10,660.

Mahathir said the Malaysians were able to avoid conflicts between the Malays, Chinese and Indians, the three major ethnicities that make up the population, and they are able to unite even though they have different religions.

“Economy and politics are connected, so the economic disparity affects politics,” he noted.

“However, the engine for [economic] growth … is the private sector,” he added.

“Both private and public sectors should work hand-in-hand, and private companies should have social responsibility.”

Mahathir, who served as Malaysia’s prime minister between 1981 and 2003, said observing the growth of other countries like Japan helped Malaysia in its development and industrial plan.

The former prime minister also stressed his country’s keenness on empowering women, noting that they receive the same education opportunities as men and can work in ministries and even the army.

AMMAN — Police on Thursday announced the arrest of five wanted individuals in three governorates, including one who has been in hiding for the past 10 years.

The five suspects were wanted for cases ranging from fraud and car theft, to forgery and armed robbery, according to a statement by the Public Security Department (PSD).

“We have conducted three special operations and arrested the suspects without any major incidents,” a senior official source said.

In the Central Badia District, a wanted suspect, who had been on the run for the past 10 years, was arrested in a raid at a house he was hiding in.

“Our agents received information that the suspect was seeking refuge at one of the houses so we monitored the house and the area and then arrested him,” the official source told The Jordan Times.

The suspect had 68 criminal records including house and car theft, armed robbery, fraud and forgery, according to the PSD statement.

Upon searching the house he was hiding in, the statement added, police reportedly found an automatic rifle, ammunition, illicit drugs and fake gold pieces.

Meanwhile, three people wanted for car theft were arrested in Madaba, some 30km southwest of Amman, also during a house raid.

In Balqa Governorate, 35km northwest of Amman, police arrested a suspect who was wanted for 35 felonies, the PSD statement said.

“The suspect was arrested in an ambush after security agents monitored him for a few days,” the PSD statement said.

All five suspects were referred to the criminal prosecutor for further questioning and indictment, the senior official source said.

AMMAN — Farmers are advised to plant crops that weather the changing climate in Jordan in light of “unprecedentedly high” and sub-zero temperatures during summer and winter, according to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The impact of climate change on the agricultural sector must be taken into account by agricultural experts and engineers as well as farmers, the report said.

“Climate change is shifting precipitation patterns in Jordan, which is directly influencing the dates of seeding and harvesting seasons as soil humidity levels are dropping. This in turn is reducing the productivity of crops per dunum,” the report said.

A study carried out by Stanford University in cooperation with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, and released in June, indicated that climate change over the past two decades caused a drastic drop in rainfall and prolonged dry spells in the Kingdom.

The study showed that the country received below average rain in 13 out of 19 years (between 1995 and 2013), while longer periods of drought were witnessed during the same period. 

It also warned that the region will continue to be affected by climate change as temperatures will further increase and rainfall patterns will continue to change.

Ministry of Agriculture Spokesperson Nimer Haddadin said the changing weather in the Kingdom necessitates introducing state-of-the-art techniques to the agricultural sector to minimise the impact of climate change on food security and animal production.

“Unless climate change impact on the agriculture sector is addressed seriously, the phenomenon will affect the country’s quality and quantity of crops, in addition to spread of pests, increase in forest fires, soil erosion and desertification,” Haddadin told The Jordan Times.

The 2013-2020 Jordan Climate Change Policy suggested that the country will witness a 1-4°C increase in temperatures and a 15-60 per cent decrease in precipitation, which will in turn have serious potential impacts on its natural ecosystems, river basins, watersheds and biodiversity.

AMMAN — King’s Military Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Gen. Mashal Al Zaben on Thursday received Chief of the Somali Military Forces Gen.

Dahir Adan Elmi and an accompanying delegation. Discussions covered ways to enhance military cooperation.