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AMMAN — Jordan’s strategic stockpile of wheat currently stands at 632 tonnes, which is sufficient for eight months, while the strategic stockpile of barley is around 483 tonnes, sufficient for seven months, according to the Industry and Trade Ministry.

Monthly consumption of wheat is around 80,000 tonnes, and about 70,000 tonnes for barley, according to ministry figures.

The ministry floats tenders regularly to increase the country’s strategic stockpile of wheat and barley.

Official figures show that the Kingdom’s residents consumed 800,000 tonnes of wheat last year.

Jordanians consume around 8 million loaves of bread every day, according to official figures.

AMMAN — Around 5,000 new cases of cancer are registered each year in Jordan, Health Minister Ali Hiasat said on Sunday.

Cancer causes 16 per cent of the total number of deaths in Jordan, he added at a ceremony held by the Jordanian Society for Combating Cancer.

Hiasat called for studying the reasons behind the growing number of cancer cases the region, which he said stand at 100 per 100,000 a year.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Water has recently signed water agreements for projects in Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash worth JD2.5 million to be funded by the Gulf Cooperation Council grant.

Water Minister Hazem Nasser said on Sunday that the projects include rehabilitating water networks and constructing water pipelines to enhance water supply before the summer with the support of the Saudi Fund for Development and the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development.

AMMAN — Al Rai Centre for Studies is scheduled to host Spanish Ambassador to Jordan Santiago Cabanas Ansorena on Monday, according to Khaled Shogran, the centre’s director.

The Spanish ambassador will to talk about Spanish-Jordanian relations and also about how his country managed to weather the economic crisis, Shogran said.

Titled “Spanish-Jordanian relations: New Horizons of Cooperation”, the round-table discussion will also host Jordanian economists and academics, he added.

AMMAN — The Municipal Affairs Ministry has referred three cases of suspected corruption in two municipalities to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The first case is related to the Southern Ghor Municipality, which signed a JD100,000 agreement in 2010 with an investor to build a joint plantation and receive 50 per cent of profits, but the municipality has received nothing since then, although it paid for its share of the project.

The second case involves the Abdullah Bin Rawaha Municipality which used unregistered vehicles without insurance, incurring over JD20,000 in losses over traffic accidents.

The third case, related to the same municipality, involves presenting potentially fake bills worth over JD3,000 to the ministry.

AMMAN — The commercial office of the Korean embassy, Korea Business Centre in Amman (KOTRA), participated in a campaign to clean up the forest areas around Mount Nebo on Saturday, according to a KOTRA statement.

The campaign was organised by the Jordanian Korean Friendship Association, the statement said.

AMMAN — New diplomats were sworn in on Sunday before Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who urged them to serve the Kingdom to the best of their abilities.

Judeh said diplomats should be aware of the Foreign Ministry’s laws and regulations.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah will head the Jordanian delegation participating in the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), which will be held later this month in the Netherlands.

During a press conference on Sunday, Dutch Ambassador to Jordan Paul van den IJssel said that Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and Jordan’s permanent representative to the UN, HH Prince Zeid, will join the Kingdom’s delegation to the third high-profile NSS, which will be held in The Hague March 24 and 25 with the participation of 54 world leaders.

His Majesty will be a guest of Dutch King Willem-Alexander, the ambassador said.

The summit was first initiated by US President Barack Obama, who, in a speech delivered in 2009 in Prague, described nuclear terrorism as one of the greatest threats to international security and called for joint international efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism by agreeing on specific points to help achieve nuclear security. 

The first NSS meeting was held in Washington, DC in 2010. The second was hosted by Seoul in 2012. The Hague’s meeting also comes at Obama’s request, the ambassador said.  

The NSS, IJssel said, responds to growing awareness of the risk that non-state actors and terrorist groups might acquire weapons-usable fissile material.

The ambassador explained that after the Soviet Union’s fall, some groups managed to put their hands on hazardous nuclear material.

“It never happened that a terrorist group obtained nuclear materials but if it happens, the consequences will be catastrophic,” the diplomat said.

According to pamphlets distributed during the presser, the third NSS summit faces two main challenges: the availability of nuclear material in the past decades and the lack of strong international laws that can increase security on such hazardous material. 

Both summits that already took place came up with joint agreements, the ambassador said, expressing hope that the 2014 NSS summit in The Hague could also result in a world declaration on nuclear security. 

During the Washington summit, participants came up with the “Washington Work Plan”, which included a global agreement to improve security of nuclear material. The South Korea summit came up with the “Seoul Communiqué” that included new measures regarding nuclear safety.

According to The Hague conference’s literature,  the main priorities of NSS summit this year are defined as: strengthening the international legal regime through bringing the amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material into force, improving nuclear security assurances and broadening the NSS process to address radioactive material and military sources of nuclear material in addition to nuclear fissile material emphasised in the 2010 and 2012 summits.

According to the Dutch embassy, The Hague NSS meeting will be the largest summit ever held in the Netherlands, where 54 heads of state and government will attend the meeting, along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and concerned international agencies and blocs. 

AMMAN — Three people, including two Syrian children, died in two unrelated fire incidents in Amman and the Zaatari Refugee Camp late Saturday night, official sources said on Sunday.

Two Syrian children, aged two and three, were burnt to death in their trailer at the Zaatari camp in Mafraq, some 80km northeast of Amman, in a fire that was caused by a candle, a senior Civil Defence Department (CDD) official said.

“The fire that erupted at 8:20pm destroyed the entire trailer, two tents next to it and also resulted in the injury of the children’s father,” the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

He said initial investigations indicated that “a lit candle fell on the floor and caused the fire.”

“This is the initial cause of the fire, and we are currently questioning people residing near the trailer and sweeping the fire area,” the CDD official added.

Also on Saturday, a 78-year-old woman with physical and visual disabilities was burned to death in a fire at her home in the capital’s Marka suburb, a CDD statement said.

The fire, which started at 9:40pm, gutted the room the woman was in, a second source said.

“CDD firefighters managed to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to the rest of the house,” the official said.

He added that the room did not have any heating devices in it and the source of the fire remains unknown.

A committee was formed to investigate the blaze, the source said.

DEAD SEA — Media professionals, lawmakers and legal experts on Sunday proposed the creation of a council to settle disputes between media outlets and any individuals or groups.

The proposal to create such a council was announced at the conclusion of a two-day meeting held at the Dead Sea under the title “Legal Media Dialogue” by the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists.

Several committees were formed during the event to come up with proposals on how to enhance media freedoms and address relevant laws.

“One of the committees called for holding a series of meetings to discuss the vision, role and working mechanism of the proposed council,” said Nour Eddine Khamaiseh, the rapporteur of one of the panels.

“There was a consensus on the need for such a council, which will play a great role in speeding up the settlement of disputes and saving money as not all people can afford to file lawsuits against media institutions in case of violations,” Khamaiseh added.

Participants at the event called for a nationwide campaign to advocate for establishing the council.

They also called for holding a nationwide dialogue on how to speed up efforts to honour Jordan’s commitment to implementing international recommendations on freedom of the press.

Noting that the government has until 2017 to address the recommendations it accepted to enhance press freedoms, MP Rula Hroub stressed the need to hold dialogue involving all stakeholders.

In 2009, countries at the UN Universal Periodic Review of the Kingdom’s human rights record issued one recommendation on improving media freedoms in Jordan.

In 2013, they issued 18 such recommendations, of which the government accepted 15 and voiced reservations over three.

Some of the recommendations the government accepted include cancelling or amending all articles in the Penal Code that impose “blatantly unfair” restrictions on freedom of expression as well as amending the Press and Publications Law to ensure the full protection of freedom of speech.

At the conclusion of the event, participants called for training media personnel to enhance their performance in line with high internationals standards.