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IRBID — Civil Defence Department (CDD) cadres on Wednesday extinguished a blaze that erupted in the Islamic Hospital and evacuated 17 newborns, according to the CDD. The fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.

Irbid CDD Director Brig. Gen. Munib Awawdeh said the children were evacuated to Prince Rashid Military Hospital, and noted that no injuries were reported. He also said the CDD cleared the smoke, paving the way for the babies to be returned to the hospital.

AMMAN — Social Development Ministry teams have started paying field visits to people with disabilities at their homes to ensure their families’ commitment to taking care of them, Ministry Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout said Wednesday.

He added that these visits, carried out through the ministry’s 41 directorates across the Kingdom, will be regular and throughout the year, noting that if any violations against people with disabilities are detected, violators will be held accountable, according to a ministry statement.

AMMAN — A total of 1,150 students applied for university scholarships for the 2015-16 academic year, Wael Smadi, director of the Ministry of Higher Education’s scholarships and agreements department, said Wednesday.

The 210 grants are available in Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Tunisia, Armenia and Romania in a variety of specialisations, he added.

AMMAN — Social media users on Wednesday called for measures against a student who spat at a faculty member of Jadara University during a graduation ceremony, and the university said it will file a lawsuit against him.

In a video uploaded on YouTube earlier this week of a graduation ceremony at Jadara University in Irbid, a graduate spat at a faculty member as he was queuing to receive his certificate.

“We have already complained to the police. We will file a lawsuit against him as this was totally inappropriate behaviour,” Saleh Aqeeli, president of Jadara University, told The Jordan Times.

The university has also sent a letter to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research demanding that the student’s bachelor’s degree not be granted or accredited, Aqeeli said.

He added that two more students were involved in some riots at the graduation ceremony. One of them was expelled and another was suspended for two semesters.

When at the police station, the student claimed that he spat at the faculty members because he was dissatisfied with his grade point average.

The video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPGjPNeVS9U), which went viral on social media, triggered angry reactions from users with many calling for firm measures against those who commit violations against professors and instructors at universities.

Some social media users launched a campaign to show respect and appreciation for instructors and professors, highlighting their role as builders of bright generations and educators for life.

“The university should take firm measures against the student who insulted the professor. How come society is silent when it comes to such a violation? This is a shame,” Hanan Al Sheikh, one of the supporters of the campaign, wrote on her Facebook page.

On Twitter, several users called for measures to prevent any violations against teachers or faculty members.

“There is a need for very firm and tough measures against those who assault any teacher or faculty members to prevent [their] recurrence,” Sami Salman (@Sami_123) tweeted Wednesday.

“We need to show appreciation and respect to our educators,” he tweeted.

AMMAN — A 38-year-old maintenance technician who worked at Greater Amman Municipality was electrocuted to death on Wednesday, according to the media office of the Civil Defence Department.

The man was doing maintenance work at a fountain at Al Karamah Park in Jabal Amman, where electricity wires were exposed. Authorities have started an investigation into the incident.

AMMAN — Internationally acclaimed West End musical “Oliver!” premieres in Arabic in Amman next week, bringing Jordanian and Syrian children together on one stage, organisers said Wednesday.

The play, written in English by Lionel Bart based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”, will be performed at Amman’s Royal Cultural Centre between September 1 and September 3, having been adapted to fit modern Arab society, according to Charlotte Eagar, co-founder of Refuge Drama Productions.

Instead of taking place in London, the musical will be set in a contemporary unnamed Arab city.

“Adapting the play to the modern Arab world was the idea of [Egyptian actor and director] Khaled Abol Naga because the Arab world has many similarities with the social conditions Charles Dickens was writing about,” the award-winning filmmaker told The Jordan Times.

She recalled that they were asked about a year ago to design a project to involve children in music and drama in Jordan, and it took them four days to come up with the idea 

“We’ve been doing drama therapy for two years here and the key thing is to choose a play [with which] the children or the people who are doing it can identify,” added Eagar, who previously co-produced Syria Trojan Women in Amman.  

She said they thought of Oliver Twist because he is a young boy, an orphan who has lost his place in the world and is struggling to find somewhere to belong, and afterwards he has a happy ending. 

“We ran workshops three times a week for six weeks.”

Abol Naga, the director of the show, said the idea was not a play about tragedies and poverty, but to change the outlook of society towards children from seeing them as a burden to a source of pride. 

“Amman is the first city that hosts waves of refugees in the region. The choice of Oliver was perfect for me because it is about a child who has a natural sense of his rights to eat properly and not being insulted,” the Egyptian producer told reporters.

Zeinab Mobarak, who was in charge of adapting the play into Arabic, said she has been adapting Disney songs into Arabic for 18 years.

“I usually listen to these songs and remember it well and then I write the context of the songs. The song has a psychological and artistic context,” she added. 

Reem Sayyah, the project coordinator, said the play targets refugee children in Jordan. 

“We trained the children for the play and we conducted several sessions that included drama therapy for a total of 100 children, and then we selected the children who can sing. We started the training in April and it concluded on May 2,” she told The Jordan Times.

The drama and music workshops were held over five months for Syrian and Jordanian children from underprivileged backgrounds, according to Refuge Drama Productions’ website.

Sayyah noted that the play is good for children because they feel that they are doing something “important”.  

The play will be presented in cooperation with the Culture Ministry, and admission is free.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday urged French and European decision makers and influencers to recognise the promise and potential of the Arab world, particularly its young people, and resist the extremists’ efforts to brand the region as violent and lawless.

Speaking at the opening of MEDEF’s youth-themed Summer University in Paris, attended by 2,000 European decision makers, Her Majesty recalled His Majesty King Abdullah’s keynote address at MEDEF Summer University 2008, where he shared his vision for Jordan and the region. 

Queen Rania, who was accompanied by HRH Princess Iman, emphasised that His Majesty’s vision of peace and prosperity for all remains steadfast, as does Jordan’s friendship with the people of France, according to a statement from her office.

Her Majesty added that a lot has changed since “the geo-political landscape of the Middle East has undergone seismic shifts… threatening not just our region but way beyond our borders.”

Instability and conflict have affected the region deeply, she explained, especially in the tourism sector and trade income, in addition to record numbers of displaced refugees, who add to the burden on host countries. 

She further warned that extremist groups are not only wreaking havoc in the region, but also negatively influencing global perceptions of it.

“The so-called Islamic State,” she said, “continues to spread its evil ideology with terror tactics, not only maligning Islam and Muslims at every turn but changing global perceptions of our region.”

To prove this point, Her Majesty asked audience members to participate in a word association game and challenged her listeners to think of the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the words “Middle East” and “Muslim”.

She insisted that although there is a military effort to defeat Daesh, Muslims must do more on the ideological front. 

“We’re not actively helping Daesh,” she told the audience, “but we’re not actively stopping them either. And we can’t stand against them until we, as Muslims, agree on what we stand for… and how we tackle this extremist ideology growing on the fringes of our peaceful, compassionate faith.”

Queen Rania acknowledged that negative perceptions of the region compound what is already a harsh reality on the ground. 

She said the Arab region is facing a time of great peril. 

Quoting French poet and novelist Victor Hugo’s words “Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers,” the Queen urged the audience to reach out to the Arab world. 

“My region needs that global fraternity, now more than ever.”

In particular, the region’s youth need the world to believe in them, and in their power and potential to transform the region, she said. 

Her Majesty emphasised that young people are driving the region forward, and discussed how many are taking initiative and starting their own businesses as a way to overcome high unemployment rates, among other obstacles. 

She described the young entrepreneurs and innovators as “hungry for success and eager to leverage the new digital landscape”, naming a few examples of Arab websites, apps and platforms that have made a global impact.

Her Majesty said that although some are making their way to the top and succeeding despite the many hurdles, “for our young people to be truly fabulous and to realise fabulous futures, they need three things: education, opportunities, and jobs” and, she added, a fourth requirement: “a bit of luck, and someone to believe in them”.

 “Hands down, the best start in life for every child is education,” the Queen said, citing high registration rates on the Arabic massive open online courses platform, EDRAAK, which Her Majesty launched last year. 

“Our young people are hungry for knowledge and skills. Give them an opportunity… and they’ll run with it.”

Her Majesty urged investors to invest in more opportunities, internships, business incubators, and other means that will help youths take their first steps towards success and self-reliance.

“It is Arab youth who will… reshape and rebrand the Middle East. They are the entrepreneurs and innovators; the mediators and peacemakers; the CEOs and social media influencers. They are the people who will lay the foundations of a more stable, a more safe and prosperous tomorrow for us all.”

She warned that creating opportunity in the region was not an “ideal” but an “imperative”. 

“Failure is not an option, because if we fail, the extremists win. And if they win, the region unravels — fast. And if the region unravels, the world will feel the aftershocks for a long time to come.”

The Queen insisted that there is no better time than now to invest in the Middle East, further stressing that “the returns are high. Financially… socially… politically… and morally.” 

“In fact, the only losers are the extremists.”

Referring back to His Majesty’s speech at MEDEF Summer University, and his insistence that instability and crises should not shape the region’s future, Queen Rania closed on a hopeful note. 

“And with your support, with the fraternity of strangers, soon to be friends, it won’t. Rather, our fabulous young people will be torchbearers of a brave new Middle East.”

MEDEF Summer University is a yearly conference organised by France’s largest employer federation. This year’s conference is themed “Fabulous Young People” and includes a line up of speakers and panels on a variety of topics ranging from digitisation and society, challenges in schools and unemployment rates, to the promise of science, the state of mind of young people, and other youth and business-related issues.

After the event, Queen Rania, accompanied by Princess Iman, visited a museum in the suburbs of Paris and toured various galleries.

AMMAN — The government is expected to spend JD133.262 million on the Maan Governorate development programme between 2016 and 2018, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury said Wednesday.

At a meeting with lawmakers, officials and local community representatives in the governorate, some 220km south of Amman, Fakhoury said the estimated cost of development projects for 2016 is JD48.922million, while it stands at JD38.511 million for 2017, and JD42.735 million for 2018.

The Maan development programme, he added, represents a strategic document and tool that entails studying and analysing the current situation of the governorate.

The most significant problems facing the governorate include the large distances between residential areas as well as the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis which pressures several sectors, according to the minister. 

Funding worth $1.5 million will go to projects in Maan, which has a population of over 126,900 people according to the Department of Statistics’ 2014 estimates, as part of the Jordan Response Plan 2015, Fakhoury said.

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the minister said Wednesday’s meeting was in implementation of Royal directives to prepare a plan for the development of governorates in partnership with civil society and the private sector, and in line with the competitive advantages of each governorate.

“We are meeting to accomplish a national effort,” he said, noting that the Maan 2016-2018 development programme will be in line with the goal of the decentralisation bill, embodying the practice of decision making at the governorate level.

Wednesday’s meeting, the minister added, will lead to the drafting of a development document that will be a reference for the government and various partners to identify development interventions over three years.

The document will also be a beneficial planning tool for future elected governorate councils once they assume their development responsibilities under the decentralisation law, Fakhoury noted.

AMMAN — The Jordan Tourism Board’s (JTB) executive plan to promote the Kingdom’s tourist attractions over the upcoming four years will mainly target the British, German and French markets, an official said Wednesday.

The “unprecedented” contingency marketing strategy, which is being carried out in cooperation with several local partners, seeks to address concerns over regional safety, boost online and offline communication with prospective markets, and design packages based on their preferences, JTB Managing Director Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat said.

At a meeting with journalists, he highlighted the role of low-cost aviation in enhancing the efficiency of the marketing plan, adding that the board pins hopes on the new strategy; once it proves successful in Europe, it will be replicated in other supporting and potential markets.

The Kingdom’s main tourism markets also include Italy, Spain, Gulf Arab countries, the US and Canada, while supporting markets include the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia and Scandinavian countries. 

Potential markets include Brazil, Austria, China and India.

In a presentation on the marketing strategy, Adel Amin, the board’s director of marketing, highlighted the British market as one “well acquainted with Jordan and its history”, adding that Germany’s strong economy enables quick reactions to marketing plans, while France is one of the largest markets supporting tourism in Jordan.

Although the number of tourists from the three countries has registered a drop over the January-July period this year compared to the same period last year, the number of visitors just in July this year has increased by 22 per cent compared to July last year.

“The marketing plan seeks to promote Jordan in its land, diversity, treasures and people,” said Amin, who cited the rose-red city of Petra as the Kingdom’s unique selling point, in addition to the Dead Sea and the Baptism Site.

The marketing campaigns will target means of public transport and public parks for maximum exposure, he said.

‘The Martian’

The JTB also sees an opportunity in promoting Wadi Rum, the filming location for the Hollywood movie “The Martian”, which will be in cinemas on October 2, alongside the film’s promotion campaign in the UK, said Amin.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the Century Fox production tells the story of a mission to Mars where an astronaut, played by American actor Matt Damon, is presumed dead after a fierce storm and is left behind by his crew. 

The film depicts his struggle in finding a connection back to Earth.

The tagline “140 million miles away but only five hours by plane” encourages visitors to experience Damon’s journey on Mars by visiting the filming location, Wadi Rum.

Amin expected the campaign to reap its fruits next spring, as tourists from Europe usually visit the Kingdom on the March-May period as well as the September-November period, highlighting summer as the peak season for Arab visitors.

The JTB is also working on “special” projects and events, such as an international Baptism day; a diving challenge in Aqaba honouring His Majesty the late King Hussein, who used to practise diving on his birthday; and targeting countries with teams in the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to encourage their nationals to visit attractions.

The board has four tourist attachés in Dubai, Riyadh, Austria and France working at Jordan’s embassies, according to Arabiyat, who said the JTB has 10 offices outside Jordan.

He added that the board has met with representatives of hotels, tourism agencies and airlines to coordinate and start working according to the JTB’s marketing plans.

AMMAN — The Health Ministry on Wednesday registered a new case of a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus-related infection.

The man diagnosed with the virus is a 38-year-old Jordanian who has recently entered the Kingdom after travelling abroad.

He is currently receiving treatment at a private hospital and his condition is listed as critical, according to Bashir Qaseer, head of the Health Ministry’s primary health directorate.

Two days ago, a Jordanian in his sixties, who works in Saudi Arabia and who recently entered the Kingdom, was diagnosed with the virus.

The new case brings the number of coronavirus-related infections recorded since 2012 to 14.