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AMMAN — The King Hussein Bridge will be closed to passengers and cargo on Sunday from 6am to 10am, according to the Public Security Department.

AMMAN — The Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) on Wednesday received 90 projectors from the commercial office of Taiwan.

The projectors will be distributed to public schools in cooperation with the “Madrasati” initiative to support education and e-learning.

During the last three years, the Taiwan office has given 137 laptops and 82 projectors to public schools, especially those in remote areas.

ZARQA — A five-year-old girl died on Wednesday after being hit by a kindergarten bus, according to a security source in Ruseifa.

The child was taken to Prince Feisal Hospital, where she died.

The body was referred to the forensic unit to identify the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the bus driver was arrested and an investigation is under way.

SHANGHAI — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh participated in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In his address at the conference, Judeh stressed the importance of dialogue as a means to promote understanding and preserve peace.

He stressed the need for arriving at a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He also stressed Jordan’s position in support of a political resolution of the crisis in Syria.

AMMAN — All ministries, public departments and institutions will observe a holiday on Sunday, May 25, marking Independence Day, according to a decision by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour announced on Wednesday.

The occasion marks the end of the British mandate over Jordan in 1946.

AMMAN — Jordanian expatriates and students in Ukraine are in good health with an emergency plan in place to deal with any security incidents, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Sabah Al Rafie said on Wednesday.

She noted that the ministry’s operations centre, the Jordanian embassy in Moscow and Jordan’s cultural attaché to Ukraine are following up on the situation of Jordanians in the crisis-hit country, adding that most of the Jordanian students will leave Ukraine after they finish their studies by Sunday.

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday arrested a man who allegedly shot and killed his wife in the capital’s Jabal Taj suburb earlier in the day, official sources said.

The 28-year-old woman was shot at her home at around 2:00pm, purportedly by her husband, Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi said.

“We still do not have a motive for the incident and we are questioning neighbours and witnesses,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Issam Haddid has started questioning the suspect and witnesses to determine the kind of charges, and whether other people were involved, a judicial source told The Jordan Times.

“For the time being the victim’s husband is in police custody pending further investigation,” the judicial source said.

AMMAN — Over one- third of Jordanians employed under the National Employment Campaign have quit their jobs six months after recruitment due to low salaries among other reasons, Labour Minister Nidal Katamine said on Wednesday.

The impact of work on their studies ranked second among the reasons why they left their jobs, followed by the incompatibility of their educational background with the job requirements, and transportation challenges, Katamine told reporters at a press conference.

The minister cited results of a study evaluating the satisfaction of Jordanians under the national campaign, which secured jobs for 32,000 job seekers in the private sector.

The study, carried out by a local research company, showed that 36 per cent of the 32,000 had quit their jobs while 64 per cent were still working. 

It also showed that 62 per cent of those who remained employed are satisfied with their jobs.

“Meanwhile, one-third of those who kept their jobs showed dissatisfaction with their work due to low salaries and reasons related to working hours,” Katamine said.

The study indicated that those employed in the construction and communication sectors tend to keep their jobs, compared to other sectors.

“The results of the study are helping the ministry analyse the reasons why those employees quit their jobs and come up with solutions to address job instability,” Katamine noted.

The Labour Ministry launched the National Employment Campaign in January last year with the goal of creating thousands of jobs for Jordanians in cooperation with the private sector.

More than 12,000 unemployed Jordanians were secured jobs during the first phase of the campaign, titled “We are all partners.”

The second stage of the campaign, launched on December 15 with the aim of creating 25,000 job opportunities in 11 sectors, witnessed a “huge turnout” of job seekers.

AMMAN –– At the parking lot of one of west Amman’s major shopping centres, three large boxes have been installed, inviting shoppers and passers-by to donate books, clothes and toys.

Under an initiative titled “Pass it on,” the boxes, located at Cozmo Centre near the 7th Circle and available 24 hours, are part of a project launched in 2012 to encourage people to donate items they don’t use to benefit others in need.

It is implemented by THE Group — which owns Cozmo supermarket and Readers bookshop, and operates franchises BHS and Hamleys — in collaboration with Under My Olive Tree, an NGO that promotes social activism, volunteerism, the right to education and sustainable projects in less privileged areas in Jordan.

Ali Dahmash, the NGO’s founder, said the initiative received a positive response, with the large volume of donations leading to bigger boxes being permanently installed.

During the first six months of the initiative, around 240 sacks of books, clothes and toys were distributed, according to Under My Olive Tree figures. 

Jordanian families and refugees benefit from the assistance, according to Farah Mansour, Under My Olive Tree programme coordinator, who added that it is distributed in all the Kingdom’s governorates.

Dahmash said his NGO can reach the right people who deserve this assistance due to its cooperation with a network of local community organisations in the governorates. 

THE Group Marketing Manager Hiba Manna said this encouraged the company to cooperate with Under My Olive Tree.

“We noticed that the number of donated items continued to rise after the first six months of introducing the idea,” she told The Jordan Times, adding that donations usually increase around Ramadan, Eid holidays and Christmas.

Mansour said donations of English and Arabic books are welcomed. 

“It is easier to distribute Arabic books. We usually sell the English books in fairs and use the proceeds to prepare assistance parcels for underprivileged families,” she added. 

Donated Arabic books for children have been sent to places such as the Azraq Refugee Camp library, the tented school in Sahab and nine other schools in Jordan, she noted.

Other books are sent to the distribution centres to be given to children or for charities to use in their own libraries.  

Dahmash expressed hope that delivery companies in Jordan will show an interest in taking part in the initiative, as the organisers find it difficult to transport the items. 

“We suffer from a lack of trucks. We usually post in our social networks that we need volunteers to help us pick up the items,” he noted. 

The “uniqueness” of the “Pass it on” initiative, said Dahmash, is the fact that the organisers aim for longevity.

“Some people expressed amazement that this initiative is not designed for a specific occasion or time,” he added. 

Manna said the organisers are considering expanding the initiative to reach out to remote areas and communities, noting that the positive public response is proof that people are still willing to give.

AMMAN — Jordan plans to build a  JD100 million plant for uranium extraction, Samer Kahook, general manager of the state-owned Jordan Uranium Mining Company (JUMCO), said Wednesday as he announced that Jordan's central area is home to 36,389 metric tonnes of uranium oxide that can be easily mined.

The government is expected to start attracting strategic partners in the plant before the end of this year, Kahook, said in an interview Wednesday on the sidelines of a meeting to announce the results of a study on uranium reserves in Jordan.

"The government of Jordan will have a share in the plant that will be larger than the strategic partner’s stake," said Kahook during a press meeting to announce the results of a study into the country’s uranium deposits.

The plant, he said, will have a capacity of 300-400 metric tonnes per year and can be expanded to 1,500 metric tonnes per year at a later stage, he said.

"The design and the engineering works on the plant are expected to start in the next couple of years and in four to five years from now the plant is expected to go operational gradually," said Kahook, who is also a commissioner at the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission.

"The uranium extracted through the plant will be either sold on the international market or enriched abroad and brought back to Jordan to be used in the generation of the planned nuclear reactor in the Kingdom," he added.

"When used to fuel a nuclear plant, a quantity of about 400 tonnes of uranium can save about $2 billion  currently spent to buy diesel and heavy fuel for power generation," he said, stressing that the mining and extraction of uranium is a separate project from the nuclear reactor project.

‘Easily mined’

The Central Jordan Area, located about 80km south of Amman, is home to 36,389 metric tonnes of uranium oxide that is easily mined and can be extracted cost-effectively, Kahook said, citing the study, conducted by experts at JUMCO, in cooperation with an international team of world-renowned experts have shown.

Estimation of the uranium resources in the central region are expected to increase as more exploration is carried out by JUMCO in the 350sq.km area.
The uranium resources in the Central Jordan Area can be increased to 65,979 metric tonnes, if uranium prices go up, allowing mining of uranium of lesser concentrations, he said.

The conducting of the study in partnership with international experts played a key role in enhancing the capabilities of Jordanian experts and engineers in this field, said Kahook, adding that the exploration process will continue in different parts of the country.