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AMMAN — Japan has extended two grants totalling 3.26 billion yen (around JD22.68 million) to Jordan, the Japanese embassy said on Thursday.

The first grant of around JD17.46 million is allocated for the “Programme for Urgent Improvement of Water Sector for the Host Communities of Syrian Refugees in Northern Governorates”. 

The second grant, which amounts to approximately JD5.22 million, is extended for the “Provision of Medical Equipment and Welfare Apparatus Package”, an embassy statement said.

Japanese Ambassador Junichi Kosuge and Planning Minister Ibrahim Saif signed the grant agreements on Tuesday.

The first grant is “designed for the urgent improvement” of the water sector in northern governorates hosting Syrian refugees, and comprises several components, such as the construction and rehabilitation of water pipes, and the provision of equipment used for the maintenance of water supply and wastewater management.

The second grant, which falls under the “Non-project Grant Aid” scheme, is aimed at supporting the Kingdom’s health sector by providing Japanese medical equipment and welfare apparatus to various hospitals in the country. 

“Using such advanced technology and products can contribute to enhancing the medical care and service in Jordan,” the embassy said.

“I wish that the new grant projects would bring further development and promotion of public welfare to the people of Jordan,” Kosuge said at the signing ceremony.

The Japanese government, in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, has granted Jordan a total of $3.68 billion (around JD2.605 billion) since 1974 as official development assistance in several fields such as water, health, education, vocational training and regional cooperation, according to the embassy.

AMMAN — Jordan’s Japanese community earlier this week marked the three-year anniversary of their country’s tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis, highlighting the support provided by the Kingdom at the time. 

“On March 11, three years ago, Japan was hit by an enormous and terrible earthquake and tsunami,” Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Junichi Kosuge told The Jordan Times at a cultural event hosted by the embassy.

“I am grateful to people all over the world for their help, and especially to Jordan for its very strong and warm support amid our tragedy,” Kosuge said.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century, according to official figures, causing — together with a tsunami — a triple meltdown at the Fukushima power plant in eastern Japan.

Around 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes following the accident and approximately 18,500 people died due to the earthquake and tsunami, according to Reuters.

“Jordan’s government, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, dispatched a medical team of four doctors who contributed [to] helping the victims of the disaster,” Kosuge said, adding that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom and Japan.

“Our bilateral ties are one of the best in the world, and the people of Japan and the people of Jordan respect and help each other,” he noted. 

“At international conferences, including UN conferences, Jordan’s and Japan’s delegations sit next to each other; therefore, I named it the ‘J&J’ team,” the diplomat said.

Trade between the two countries was worth about JD250,000 in 2013, with the value of Japanese exports to Jordan amounting to JD200,000, according to official figures.

A piano concert and the presentation of Japan’s traditional cuisine known as “washoku” closed the cultural event, held on Tuesday.

Japanese cuisine, celebrated for its centuries-old cooking techniques and seasonal ingredients, was recently added to the UN’s cultural heritage list.

Jordanian pianist Ghadeer Abeido told The Jordan Times after her performance that she chose a piece from German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s repertoire as she associated it with human empathy.

“Remembering Fukushima and humanitarian crises around the world, I chose to perform the Bach prelude and Fugue. I have many friends working around the world in refugee camps or amid humanitarian crises and I admire their ability to empathise with the victims of wars and natural disasters,” the 22-year-old said.

“The following pieces were related to conflicts and struggle like Beethoven’s ‘Tempest’ which starts subtly, creating a sort of ‘wall of sounds’ rather than music and becomes more and more aggressive afterwards. There is a lot of contrast in it which I wanted to convey to the audience on this occasion.” 

Japanese pianist Saito Ryohei said he thought of his country while performing.

The 30-year-old who hails from Tokyo is currently living in the Kingdom and teaches music to around 40 children in the Zaatari Refugee Camp.

“I have been teaching music to Syrian children since September last year. Before, I used to perform with an orchestra in Japan but then I felt the urge to quit my job and come to Jordan to contribute to soothing children’s pain,” he told The Jordan Times. 

The two pianists played a duet by Austrian composer Franz Schubert symbolising the relationship between Jordan and Japan.

“We decided together to play Schubert’s ‘Fantasie’,” Abeido said. 

“This piece is a love story and may depict the relationship between Jordan and Japan. Despite Ryohei and I having a different cultural approach to the piano performance, it perfectly chimes together.”

AMMAN — The draft political parties law proposes reducing the number of a party’s founding members and placing registration under the mandate of the Justice Ministry instead of the Interior Ministry, ministers said on Thursday.

Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh said the Cabinet endorsed the proposed draft law on Wednesday and will refer it to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau.

He said presenting a new political parties law before working on the Elections Law is a required step in preparations for parliamentary governments.

At a joint press conference with Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani, Kalaldeh said the new law is in line with the country’s political reform process and in response to requests by politicians and activists.

He said one of the major changes to the law is reducing the number of a party’s mandatory founding members from 500 to 150. 

At present, the Interior Ministry is responsible for the registration of political parties, while under the amendment, the Justice Ministry will be the authorised party, Kalaldeh added.

Another proposed change entails reducing the mandatory age for a Jordanian to establish a political party from 21 years to 18 years.

In addition, the draft law proposes increasing the period allocated for considering a party as being under establishment from six months to one year, and cancelling the condition stipulating that members of a party should be residing in Jordan.

The government also proposed cancelling the condition that prohibits accepting funds from companies or institutions, Kalaldeh said, adding that a political party can accept funds that do not exceed JD50,000.

Also at the press conference, Momani said the anti-terrorism law seeks to protect the Kingdom from any potential terrorist acts, noting that terrorism is spreading in the region and around the world, and Jordan is one of the countries targeted by terrorists.

He added that the Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed other laws, including a bill on public-private sector partnerships that enables the public sector to benefit from private sector funds.

The government has also endorsed a draft bylaw that regulates partnerships for specific purposes, and another bylaw for Islamic financing.

AMMAN — More Jordanians believe matters in the country are going in the wrong direction than those who feel they are on the right track, according to a recent poll conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI).

The survey — which polled a randomly selected sample of 1,000 Jordanians eligible to vote and is a representation of the population by age, gender, geographic location, income and education — showed that 48 per cent of citizens believe the country is going in the wrong direction compared with 39 per cent who believe everything is on the right track.

Some 36 per cent of the sample who said things are going in the wrong direction cited high prices, while 14 per cent cited corruption and 12 per cent blamed poor economic conditions. Around 11 per cent of them said things were going in the wrong direction and blamed government policies, 7 per cent cited the Syrian refugee influx and 5 per cent mentioned unemployment.

People who felt that the country is on the right track primarily credited stability and security (61 per cent),  political and economic reforms (8 per cent), and the improving economy (8 per cent), according to the report, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times.

Some 35 per cent of the sample described the current economic situation as bad, 32 per cent said it is good, while 29 per cent believe it as very bad and 2 per cent think it is very good.

Of those who said the economy is in a bad or very bad shape, 33 per cent blamed high prices, compared with 15 per cent who cited low income. Others said it was due to unemployment (13 per cent), corruption (10 per cent) and the Syrian refugee crisis (8 per cent), according to the survey.

Around 75 per cent of Jordanians said they do not believe that a recent government decision to increase the prices of some commodities will help reduce the budget deficit.

When asked what constitutes the heaviest burden on household budgets, 39 per cent of the polled sample cited fuel prices, 35 per cent said food, 17 per cent blamed electricity and 2 per cent said clothes.

In response to question on why pro-reform rallies have decreased over the past year, 23 per cent of respondents said the protests were neither effective nor had they produced any positive results. 

Meanwhile, 23 per cent were not sure or did not know, while others pointed to fears of losing security (7 per cent) and concern that Jordan could follow the path of neighbours engulfed in unrest (12 per cent). 

The Syrian refugee crisis weighs more heavily on the minds of Jordanians than in previous surveys, the IRI said, with 13 per cent of the respondents citing it as the single biggest problem facing the Kingdom, up from 3 per cent in March 2013.

More than two out of five Jordanians, or 43 per cent, support closing the border to Syrian refugees, while nearly a third, or 32 per cent, agrees with limiting the number of refugees. 

About 23 per cent believes the borders should remain open, according to the survey.

Overall, the polled sample said they believe that the Syrian refugee influx has significantly affected real estate prices and job opportunities for Jordanians, as well as the quality of public healthcare services, education in public schools and municipal services.

On the planned power nuclear plant, 54 per cent of Jordanians said they are in favour of the project, compared to 33 per cent who said they were against it and 12 per cent who said they are not sure or do not know.

The majority of the sample, or 76 per cent, has little to no familiarity with the nuclear programme's specifics. 

The USAID-funded IRI Jordan programme utilises public opinion polling data to inform decision makers, political parties and civil society of citizen priorities.

AMMAN — Twelve million cubic metres (mcm) of water entered the dams since the Kingdom was affected on Tuesday night by a depression and a cold front, forecast to taper off late Friday, officials said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation said the country’s 10 major dams now hold 154mcm, constituting 47 per cent of their total capacity of 325mcm.

“The depression brought good amounts of rain to different parts of the country, channelling some 12mcm into the dams between Tuesday night and Thursday morning,” a source at the ministry told The Jordan Times.

In addition, the depression raised by over 30 per cent the rainfall recorded in the Kingdom this winter.

“Early this week we had received around 32 per cent of the long-term annual average of 8.3 billion cubic metres. Figures until Thursday morning show that the amount increased to 62.5 per cent, which is heart-warming since the country was about to announce a state of drought,” the official said.

More rainwater is expected to be channelled into the dams during the next two days, according to the ministry.

The country’s 10 major dams held 181mcm or 55.6 per cent of their total capacity of 325mcm during this time last year, whereas they stored around 34.5 per cent during this time in 2012.

A further drop in temperatures is expected on Friday, when the weather will be cold and cloudy, with heavy rain, thunder and hail expected during the day, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

The depression and the cold air mass pushed temperatures well below their annual average of 17°C during this time of the year and also brought very good amounts of rain, a JMD meteorologist said.

“Snowfall is expected on Friday morning over the Sharah Mountains in the south. Temperatures will fall eight degrees below their annual average with a maximum of 9°C during the day and a minimum of 3°C at night in the capital,” the weather forecaster said.

The impact of the combined weather conditions is expected to ease off starting late Friday, when winds will turn from northwesterly brisk to moderate.

“We warn the public against flash floods, strong winds, flying objects and slippery roads, in addition to reduced road visibility due to possible fog formation,” the meteorologist added.

Temperatures on Saturday will witness a slight rise, but the weather will remain cold and partly cloudy. Temperatures in Amman will reach a high of 11°C, dropping to a low of 4°C, while winds will be northwesterly moderate, changing to northeasterly.

Another slight increase in mercury levels is forecast for Sunday, as temperatures rise to their annual average for this time of the year, the meteorologist said, noting that the weather will be fair.

Temperatures will range between 17°C and 6°C in the capital, with southeasterly moderate winds turning to southwesterly moderate to brisk in the afternoon and raising dust in desert areas, according to the JMD. 

AMMAN — Prosecutors on Wednesday charged a teenage girl’s 40-year-old father and 16-year-old brother with rape, a judicial official said.

The 17-year-old gave birth to a baby girl last month at a hospital in Amman.

“She said that her father and her brother repeatedly raped her,” the official told AFP.

“The two suspects confessed to the crime.

DNA tests proved that the baby girl was the daughter of the victim’s brother.” The suspects face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

AMMAN — Seven students at the Manshiet Al Sulta Secondary School for Girls suffered shortness of breath when a fire broke out in the principal’s office.

Civil Defence Department (CDD) staff administered first aid to the students and took them to Mafraq Public Hospital, where they were reported to be in fair condition, according to CDD Mafraq Director Brig. Gen. Nayef Nawayseh.

He said the blaze was caused by a gas heater.

BEIRUT — Jordanians ranked second after Iraqis among Arab visitors to Lebanon last year, standing at 78,000, according to the Lebanese ministry of tourism.

Some 1.274 million people visited Lebanon in 2013.

AMMAN — The Petra Development and Tourism Authority (PDTRA) said on Wednesday it has prepared a comprehensive plan to deal with tourist tours of the archaeological site during the prevailing weather conditions.

The plan is aimed at guaranteeing tourists’ safety, protecting the historical heritage of Petra and limiting the effects of the current weather conditions on the ancient site, a PDTRA statement said.

The authority announced emergency numbers during winter as follows: 032156889, 032150012 and 0797538254.

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department  personnel have arrested three people suspected of robbing patients and nurses at a number of hospitals in Amman, the Public Security Department (PSD) said on Wednesday.

The PSD had received several complaints from patients and workers at a number of hospitals, and further investigations led to the suspects, who were found in possession of stolen money, mobile phones and iPads.

The suspects confessed to the thefts.