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AMMAN — A 50-year-old man who was shot in the chest following a brawl at Azmi Mufti Camp in Irbid last Wednesday died on Saturday of his wounds, an official source said.

The victim and his brother were shot by a pump-action rifle during a brawl with other family members last week, the source said, adding that they were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

“The victim’s brother remains in stable condition in hospital,” he told The Jordan Times.

The police arrested four suspects in connection with the incident, the source added.

Pathologist Ali Shotar of the Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine performed an autopsy on the victim on Saturday.

“The victim died of wounds to the chest from pump-action rifle bullets,” Shotar’s report concluded.

AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) has announced the opening of hunting season for quails, which are hugely sought after by hunters.

The season, which usually starts in mid-February, began on Friday and will continue through the end of April, the RSCN said.

“Quail hunting season is one of the most popular among hunters. The birds cross the Kingdom while on migration route between mid-February and until the end of April,” said Abdul Razzaq Hmoud, acting director of the RSCN’s conservation and hunting regulation section.

During the two–month period, the RSCN allows hunters to hunt in areas west of the Hijaz Railway, according to scheduled days, with each hunter allowed a limited number of quails, Hmoud told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

Hunting to the east of the Hijaz Railway has been off-limits since a Cabinet decision was issued in 1993, because the border area is home to several rare animals and birds, according to the RSCN.

Quails mainly eat seeds and berries but also consume leaves, roots and insects. Their flesh is considered a delicacy, as are their eggs.

In September last year, the RSCN reopened the quail hunting season for the first time until late October after studies indicated that their number is increasing.

Hmoud, who urged hunters to abide by the society’s hunting schedule, said that by the end of last year, the number of hunters licensed by the RSCN was 2,100.

Under RSCN regulations, those who hunt outside the allotted period are fined JD100 and sentenced to one-week in prison, while those who kill endangered species, such as falcons, are fined JD2,000 and handed a four-month prison term.

In addition, violators’ weapons are seized, according to the RSCN.

The location of hunting activities changes with the seasons, with hunters mainly active in the Jordan Valley, mountainous areas and the eastern desert, according to the RSCN.

Jordan is located on the Rift Valley-Red Sea route, which is the world’s second most-used flyway, with 37 types of migratory soaring birds that maintain flight by using rising air currents, travelling on the flyway annually, according to the RSCN.

Migratory birds in the southern hemisphere use the Rift Valley/Red Sea Flyway to return to Europe and the northern hemisphere in the spring. On their journey, more than 1.5 million birds stop over in places like the Jordan Valley to rest and drink water.

At least five of these species are globally endangered, such as white and black storks, buzzards, eagles and vultures.

AMMAN — A group of children found the body of a newborn in a burning dumpster in Irbid, some 80km north of the capital, on Saturday, a senior official source said.

The children were playing football near the dumpster when they smelled "something strange" coming from the dumpster, the source told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

When they took a look at what was burning, they saw the burned body of a baby and alerted police, the source added.

Pathologist Ali Shotar of the Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine performed an autopsy on the body and sent blood and tissue samples to the criminal lab for further analysis, he added.

“Shotar concluded that the boy was born at a house and left the minute he was born in the dumpster,” the source explained.

Police said they are investigating the incident.

AMMAN — The number of violent acts reported at the Kingdom’s public and private universities over the past four years was 296, resulting in seven deaths, according to a study recently released.

A study published by the Jordanian Political Science Association showed that fights on campus registered from 2010 to 2013 involved 3,999 students — 1,331 in 2011 alone.

Most of the students involved in the fights (89 per cent) were enrolled in faculties of humanities, according to the study, which was conducted by researcher Mahmoud Jundi.

Figures he presented showed that of those involved in the fights in the period in question, only 1 per cent were female students.

Campus violence incidents in the past four years resulted in 31 severe, 57 moderate and 155 slight injuries, in addition to property damage, according to the study.

The fights also involved non-Jordanian students and led to 23 injuries among them, while 17 female students were injured over the past four years.

Weapons were used in 58 fights, while public security forces intervened 43 times upon the request of the universities’ administrations, according to the report.

Classes were suspended 41 times — sometimes for a week — at the Kingdom’s universities as a result of violence, the study said.

Forty-seven students were referred to the judiciary, 19 were expelled and 906 were suspended for one semester, while 542 received warnings over their involvement in incidents of campus violence, it added.

Mutah University in Karak topped the country’s universities in the number of fights with 55, according to the study, while four of the seven deaths took place at Al Hussein Bin Talal University in the southern Governorate of Maan.

According to the study, four of the Kingdom’s universities — two public and two private — did not witness any fights over the four-year period.

The universities are the public German-Jordanian University and the Jordan University of Science and Technology, and the private Princess Sumaya University for Technology and NYIT.

The study used data from the Public Security Department, various media outlets, university websites, interviews and reports issued by the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights.

AMMAN — The Saudi Arabian Corporation for Oil Shale is expected to start producing oil from oil shale in Jordan in five years after the Lower House approved agreements it signed with the government.

"I expect the agreement to be endorsed by the Senate soon, and in March, it is expected to be published in the Official Gazette," Maher Hijazin, the company's president, told The Jordan Times last Thursday.

"When the deal is published in the gazette, it will go into effect and we will start the feasibility study and actual work on the project," said Hijazin.

Under the project, whose costs will range between $2 billion and $3 billion, the company will start producing 3,000 barrels of oil per day in five years, he added.

The company's production will reach about 30,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025, Hijazin said, stressing the importance of the project in meeting the Kingdom's rising energy needs.

Jordan consumes around 100,000 barrels of oil per day, according to official figures.

The company will use the Russian technology of oil shale pyrolysis (UTT-3000), he said, adding that the operations and production will be in the Atarat Umm Ghadran area.

In March 2013, the Cabinet approved a concession agreement between the Saudi company and the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) in this regard.

Jordan, which imports about 96 per cent of its energy needs annually at a cost of over one-fifth of the gross domestic product, has about 40 billion tonnes of oil shale reserves, the fourth largest in the world, according to the NRA.

The country's national energy strategy plans for electricity produced by oil shale to account for 14 per cent of its energy mix by 2020.

The strategy aims to boost domestic energy output from 3 per cent to over half the country’s energy mix with a series of oil shale, natural gas, renewable energy and nuclear power projects.

AMMAN — A depression that started affecting the Kingdom on Saturday is expected to bring scattered showers on Sunday, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

The depression, which is centred over the northern beaches of Egypt, began affecting the Kingdom on Saturday, bringing rain to several regions of the country, meteorologist Ahmad Arnaout told The Jordan Times over the phone.

He noted that northwesterly winds are expected to raise dust in desert areas, urging motorists to exercise caution.

Temperatures in Amman are forecast to reach a high of 13°C on Sunday, while a drop in mercury levels is expected in the evening, reaching 4°C, according to Arnaout.

He noted that the depression will end Sunday evening, expecting the clouds to dissipate.

He noted that the weather will be relatively cold on Monday, adding that temperatures in Amman are forecast to reach a high of 15°C and a low of 4°C.

Despite the limited number of depressions that have hit the Kingdom this year, Arnaout said there is still a chance for rain before the end of winter.

“Even when spring starts, chances for rain will still be high,” he added.

The first rainfall in Jordan is usually witnessed in mid-September or early October, while the wet season continues until February, according to the JMD.

Since a snowstorm hit the Kingdom last December, the country has not received any substantial rainfall.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs organised prayers for rain around the country due to lack of precipitation during the current wet season.

Hundreds of Jordanians gathered in Amman and other cities to perform the Istisqaa prayer, a special Muslim prayer which has been practised since the time of Prophet Mohammad.

Officials have warned that the Kingdom is facing a drought threat which will have a negative impact on water storage and crops if it persists.

The dams currently have 140 million cubic metres (mcm), or 43 per cent of their total capacity of 325mcm, which is 14 per cent less than the amount stored at the dams during this time last year of 186mcm, according to official figures.