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AMMAN — Farouq Hiyari took the oath of office on Thursday before Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour as chief commissioner of the newly established Energy and Mineral Resources Regulatory Commission.

Musa Zyoud, Majd Hawari and Bashir Srour also took the oath of office as members of the board of commissioners.

PETRA — The Petra Development and Tourism Authority (PDTRA) closed the ancient Nabataean city to tourists on Thursday afternoon due to the heavy rainfall and the formation of floods.

PDTRA Mohammad Nawafleh said the decision was taken to protect visitors, adding that the authority’s teams evacuated several tourists from the ancient city of Petra earlier on Thursday due to weather conditions.

The decision on whether to open the site to visitors on Friday depends on the weather conditions, he said.

AMMAN — The Special Operations Forces Exhibition (SOFEX) 2014 has succeeded regionally and internationally, SOFEX Managing Director Amer Tabbaa said on Thursday.

Tabbaa said that SOFEX, which concluded on Thursday, is the world’s number one exhibition specialised in special operations and national security equipment.

He said the 10th SOFEX witnessed wide regional and international participation, with the attendance of defence ministers and senior civil and military officials from 41 countries.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday sent a cable of congratulations to Costa Rica’s newly elected president Luis Solis.

In the cable, the King underlined Jordan’s commitment to foster cooperation with Costa Rica at all levels.

AMMAN — The national population and housing census is to be conducted in November 2015, according to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ibrahim Saif. 

Earlier this week, Saif said that the nationwide census will be conducted by the Department of Statistics and its affiliated agencies across the Kingdom.

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times, the minister was quoted as underlining the social, economic and demographic importance of the census in providing precise information about the present that helps decision makers plan for the future. 

The minister’s remarks came at a workshop on Monday, during which he officially launched the census, according to the statement. 

According to the 2012 amendments to the 1950 General Statistics Law, a population and housing census is to be conducted every 10 years, the statement noted, adding that the last census was carried out in 2004 putting the total number of the Kingdom’s population at 5.1 million.

According to the ministry, Jordan’s population is estimated to reach around eight million by 2015.   

TRIPOLI — Libya on Thursday ratified an extradition agreement with Jordan that could pave the way for the release of Jordan’s kidnapped ambassador in exchange for a jihadist held by Amman.

Ambassador Fawaz Aitan was kidnapped three weeks ago in Tripoli by masked gunmen as he was being driven to work. They shot at his car and wounded his driver.

No one claimed responsibility for the abduction but Libyan sources later said the kidnappers were demanding the release of a Libyan jihadist jailed in Jordan for more than seven years.

Mohamed Dersi was tried and convicted in 2007 on charges of involvement in planning an attack on Queen Alia International Airport.

The Libyan government said on its website that the Cabinet has ratified an accord between the justice ministries of Jordan and Libya to extradite prisoners.

It did not elaborate.

Diplomats in Tripoli say militias which fought to topple the Muammar Qadhafi in a 2011 uprising often carry out kidnappings to blackmail other countries into releasing Libyans held abroad.

Two Tunisians, a diplomat and an embassy colleague, have also been abducted in Libya, and Tunis said their kidnappers are demanding the release of Libyans jailed in Tunisia on terrorism charges.

AMMAN — The Muslim Brotherhood’s shura council convened in an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss a “growing rift” over the expulsion of three group members for their affiliation with another initiative.

The Brotherhood’s internal court expelled veteran leaders Rheil Gharaibeh, Jamil Dheisat and Nabil Kofahi late last month for their role in the establishment of the National Building Initiative (Zamzam) late last year. 

Islamist sources told The Jordan Times that the overall leader of the Brotherhood, Hammam Saeed, deputy leader Zaki Bani Rsheid and seven other council members met on Thursday evening to discuss the backlash over the decision to expel the three members.“There are many who believe we should return and review the decision with all the facts on the table,” said a shura council member who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. 

Insiders say the expulsion of Gharaibeh, Dheisat and Kofahi — former leading members of the Brotherhood’s liberal wing — by the conservative-dominated leadership has sparked a growing divide which threatens drive a schism into the heart of the Kingdom’s largest opposition group.

In the wake of the court decision, over 20 Brotherhood members threatened to resign from the movement, according to sources.

In a statement late Wednesday, the movement’s northern branch called for a general conference to “reform party leadership and dissolve” its executive office.

The Zamzam initiative, which has attracted over 800 members, is a pro-reform political coalition comprising leading figures from across the political spectrum seeking a “consensus” over the country’s democratic reform process. 

The three expelled members denied accusations that the initiative stood to rival the Brotherhood as a political movement, stressing that it aims to serve as a coalition and not a political party.

AMMAN — Unemployment among young Jordanians is almost twice the global average and stands at 24.1 per cent, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The study, conducted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in cooperation with the Department of Statistics, noted that although the youth unemployment rate in the Kingdom is higher than the global one, it is still lower than the regional average, which stood at 28.3 per cent in 2012.

Meanwhile, the survey said that “the duration of youth unemployment in the country is a serious concern.”

“Long-term unemployment — one year or more — affects 55.8 per cent of the currently unemployed,” the survey said, adding that the percentage of unemployed young Jordanians who have been looking for work for at least six months is 72.4 per cent.

Titled, “Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men in Jordan”, the survey indicated that youth unemployment in the Kingdom is concentrated at the extremes of educational attainment according to gender lines. 

“The lowest skilled among men and the highest skilled among women are those most likely unemployed,” the study said.

It added that most male jobseekers (61.2 per cent) have completed only primary education, and are struggling to find employment in an economy that is increasingly based on services striving to move up the value chain.

“Female unemployment is largely tertiary-educated [70.7 per cent] and stems from the limited number of jobs available in the few employment sectors open to women,” according to the survey.

In addition, the ILO survey showed that rural youths do not face higher employment challenges than urban youths during their transitions.

“At 20.6 per cent, the youth unemployment rate in urban areas is almost four percentage points higher than in rural areas,” the survey indicated.

It also revealed that only 11.2 per cent of the young female population in the Kingdom is working compared to 47.2 per cent of young men.

“In Jordan, where those under 30 represent nearly 70 per cent of the population, providing decent work opportunities is commensurate with the nation’s future,” ILO Deputy Regional Director Frank Hagemann said.

In remarks at a workshop held to launch the survey’s results, Hagemann noted that there are not enough decent jobs to go around nowadays, and transitions to the labour market remain long and difficult. 

“It is therefore a compelling priority of governments across the world to address the youth employment challenge through effective and equitable policy, not least in Jordan itself,” he said.

The ILO official explained that Jordan was one of the 28 countries taking part in conducting such a survey, which is part of the global Work4Youth project supported by the MasterCard Foundation. 

The aim of the project is to produce global level data on the transitions of young people to the labour market.

AMMAN –– The Social Security Corporation (SSC) has accused private schools of denying some of their teachers the right to be covered by social security insurance, a charge acknowledged by the syndicate representing private schools. 

At a brainstorming session with stakeholders on Wednesday to discuss the issue of private schools’ failure to include their teachers under the social security umbrella, SSC Director General Nadia Rawabdeh said the corporation receives a “large” number of complaints related to subscription denial. 

Rawabdeh said that some schools tend to register teachers on the official minimum wage, which is JD190 per month, while others deduct subscription fees from the educators’ salaries without sending the contributions to the SSC. 

Other schools oblige teachers to pay the entire social security subscription, she added, pointing out that some private schools hire teachers informally rather than as part of the official payroll.

Munther Surani, president of the Association of Owners of Private Schools, confirmed what Rawabdeh said. 

Surani told The Jordan Times over the phone Thursday that there are some private schools that violate their employees’ rights by not subscribing them to social security services and by offering salaries less than the minimum wage. 

He said most violations are related to female teachers, who he blamed for accepting low wages. 

However, the main reason why teachers at private schools accept low wages and are not SSC subscribers is because “manpower supply is much higher than demand”,  according to Surani, who noted that there are around 2,600 private schools and kindergartens in the country employing over 56,000 teachers. 

He said the association is against any violations of the Labour Law, blaming teachers for not complaining to the syndicate. 

The SSC will soon launch a media campaign targeting sectors that evade registering their employees with the corporation, an SSC statement said. 

Another problem in private schools also discussed at the brainstorming session was related to pay inequity between male and female teachers. 

Labour Ministry Secretary General Hamada Abu Nijmeh said a recent study conducted by the ministry found that the gender-based wage gap in private schools is about 42 per cent in favour of male teachers.

He added that labour violations related to low wages and non-payment of social security subscriptions by private schools in some parts of Amman stand at around 300 a month.

AMMAN — A programme for junior runners will be implemented at the Kingdom’s public schools to discover, prepare and support young talents who will carry the Jordanian flag in local, regional and international running events, under an agreement signed Thursday.

The programme will be organised by Run Jordan, an umbrella for various local marathon events and races, under an agreement with the Education Ministry and the Madrasati Initiative.  

HH Prince Firas Bin Raad, chairman of Run Jordan, said at the signing ceremony that this will be “an important step to take sports to another level”.

“Run Jordan is dedicated to the promotion of long distance competitive and leisure running among all segments of Jordanian society. This agreement... falls in line with this objective,” he said. 

“We are joining forces to build [on] the existing programming in sports activities between the Ministry of Education and Madrasati through implementing teacher’s training courses and organising running activities for students,” the prince added.

The ministry will supervise the implementation of the programme, while Madrasati will promote Run Jordan’s activities to encourage more runners.

Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said the ministry is keen on supporting this programme and creating a generation that leads a healthy life. 

“We are proud of this partnership which will include all schools in the Kingdom and according to phases, with the first phase being in Amman,” Thneibat said.

“We all have the same goal in building a new generation of healthy youths who are able to contribute positively to this programme and have the vision of participating in running events and activities because they will be our ambassadors in sports,” he added.

Students will learn the basics of short and long-distance running, running skills and healthy lifestyles and take part in 1-4km races once every two months, according to the agreement.

The first phase will include five boys’ schools and five for girls, while the second phase will cover schools in the rest of the governorates.

Madrasati Director Tala Sweis expressed her confidence in the programme, especially since it will touch the lives of both students and teachers.

“We are excited to be part of this amazing programme which will contribute in building a new generation of healthy students and at the same time promote competitiveness among participants who will be the power behind any Jordanian running events,” she said.