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AMMAN — The Rangers have seized 96,000 packets of counterfeit cosmetics found at a house in Amman, a Public Security Department statement said Thursday.

The Rangers had received a tip that the suspect was trading in counterfeit cosmetics, and after searching his house, they found large quantities of forged beauty products.

The owner was arrested and the products were seized in cooperation with the Jordan Food and Drug Administration and the Jordan Customs Department.

AMMAN — Jordan’s Ambassador to Egypt Bisher Khasawneh on Thursday visited the Jordanian military field hospital in Ein Shams in Cairo.

The hospital’s director, Brig. Gen. Okab Maaita, briefed Khasawneh on the facility’s departments and clinics.

Maaita said the current medical team at the hospital, “Egypt 3”, has treated 85,557 patients since its arrival in mid-December 2013.

Khasawneh also met with the hospital staff and thanked them for their humanitarian efforts.

AMMAN — The embassy of Romania will host its Open Gates Day on Saturday on the occasion of “Martisor”, a traditional celebration to mark the beginning of spring and its related symbols: respect for life, peace, human understanding and woman as a source of life and renewal.

To mark this occasion, women are offered flowers and small gifts — amulets, called “Martisor”.

The embassy invited Romanian women residing in Jordan to take part in the celebration between 10am and 6pm on Saturday at its premises: No. 35 Medina Munawara Street.

DOHA/AMMAN — Jordan’s Chargé d’ Affaires in Doha Sufian Qudah on Thursday affirmed that no Jordanians were among the casualties in the gas cylinder explosion at a restaurant in the Qatari capital.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Sabah Al Rafei also confirmed that no Jordanian was at the blast site.

Nine people were killed and 32 wounded when a gas cylinder exploded in a Turkish restaurant in Doha on Thursday, the official news agency of the Arab Gulf state reported.

AMMAN — The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Jordan’s Anti-Human Trafficking Department carried out several community activities in Mafraq on Thursday to raise awareness on human trafficking. 

Campaign participants highlighted the dangers of human trafficking and exploitation, how to identify them, and how to report trafficking crimes, an IOM statement said. 

Around 600 Mafraq residents, including students and families from both the Syrian refugee and host communities participated in the activities.

The Jordanian army band performed as the students and families cleaned the streets and filled trucks with garbage bags.

"After that, each student was given a backpack and a jacket, and each woman was given a hygiene kit, all with slogans about the dangers of human trafficking," the statement said.

The initiative is part of a broader counter-trafficking project the IOM is undertaking with the government in areas with high concentrations of Syrian refugees.

AMMAN — The Ministry of Social Development plans to review its regulations in a bid to streamline its services by setting specific time frames for responding to applications submitted by the public, a ministry official said on Thursday.

Fawaz Ratrout, the ministry’s spokesperson, said the ministry will soon revisit its regulations, setting a time frame for looking into requests from the public for licences, permits or other services.

The services that will be covered by the planned changes include family loans, licensing centres for the elderly and persons with disabilities, and nurseries, child adoption, foster care and registration of charities.

“We seek to improve our administration system, and without setting a time frame to look into submitted applications and provide answers, we will not be efficient,” Ratrout told The Jordan Times over the phone on Thursday.

Currently, there is only a time frame for responding to applications related to registering charities, he explained.

“The ministry has to respond to applicants within 60 days of submitting their request to register a charity,” Ratrout noted, adding that if the ministry does not respond within this period, it means the application is approved.

Earlier this week, the ministry restructured its internal auditing system and the bidding system to ensure that it is in line with Audit Bureau regulations.

In addition, the ministry is currently implementing a pilot foster care programme to gauge the impact of the inclusion of children within families, according to Ratrout.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah returned home on Wednesday evening after an Asia tour that included official visits to Singapore and Indonesia.

During the visits, the King held talks with senior officials in both countries on methods to enhance cooperation, especially in economic fields, a Royal Court statement said.

Talks also covered the latest political developments in the Middle East and the world.

During his visit to Indonesia, His Majesty delivered a speech at the Nahdlatul Ulama Interfaith Conference “Islam for Peace and Civilisation” in Jakarta and met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In his address at the conference, the Monarch stressed the role of the Ummah (Muslim nation) in spreading the true essence of Islam and contributing to the resolution of global challenges.

He added that dialogue is the solution to all sectarian divisions and religious conflicts and the key to peace and prosperity.

The King also held talks with representatives of the Indonesia Chamber of Industry and Commerce and other business leaders at a meeting that included Jordanian businesspeople.

In Singapore, King Abdullah met with President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and discussed ways to improve bilateral ties in all fields.

In addition, he met with a number of political, academic and intellectual leaders at the National University of Singapore Middle East Institute, where discussions focused on the latest regional developments, especially the situation in Syria and the peace process.

The King also paid a visit to Singapore Civil Service College, which is specialised in improving the administrative skills and capabilities of government employees.

The Singapore visit included meetings with leaders of the Singapore Business Federation and a number of elite economic figures, businesspeople and investors, the statement said.

During the King’s visit, Jordan and Singapore signed two memoranda of understanding in the fields of human resource development and investment.

The first memo, signed by Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and his counterpart Grace Fu, entails expanding the umbrella of the regional refrigeration and air conditioning training centre established by Singapore in Amman in 2007.

The second memo was signed between Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation and Ramatex group to establish a $35 million investment in Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II Industrial City in Karak.

The investment will be implemented over two phases and entail the establishment of textile factories in the city that will offer around 9,000 job opportunities in the long term.

Work on the project is scheduled to start by the end of this year, with the first phase concluding by mid-2015. It is expected to offer between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs.

AMMAN — Estonia is looking forward to sharing its over 100-year experience in utilising oil shale resources to produce energy with Jordan, the country’s finance minister, Jürgen Ligi, said on Thursday.

At a meeting in Amman with Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Ligi said the successful implementation of Jordan’s project to generate electricity from oil shale, in which Estonia is interested in investing, will be of major importance to his country, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

At the end of November 2013, a joint Estonian-Malaysian consortium entered final negotiations to construct the Kingdom’s first oil shale power plant in a bid to utilise oil shale reserves. 

Ligi said the oil shale project will guarantee social and economic benefits to Jordan, highlighting Estonia’s experience in exploiting this resource, Petra reported.

Oil shale, he noted, covers Estonia’s needs of power generation, and the country exports electricity to four neighbouring countries.

Ensour commended Estonia’s interest in investing in Jordan, which enjoys stability and security, in addition to a strategic location that attracts investments from around the globe.

The oil shale project is expected to save the country around $350 million a year and provide more than 3,500 work opportunities while under construction and 1,200 permanent jobs when operational.

Ligi voiced hope that the project agreement would be signed soon.

Jordan is one of the five richest countries in terms of oil shale reserves, with over 40 billion tonnes spread under around 60 per cent of the country’s surface. 

At present, Jordan imports 97 per cent of its energy requirements, while it only produces 3 per cent of its needs through the Risheh Gas Power Station in the eastern region.

Discussions at Thursday’s meeting also covered the Syrian crisis. Ligi voiced his country’s appreciation of the role Jordan plays in hosting Syrian refugees, noting that Estonia is coordinating with the EU to help the Kingdom overcome challenges, according to Petra.

AMMAN — Police on Thursday said they are questioning 14 individuals who were attending a birthday party late Wednesday night.

The party guests, mostly men, were arrested at a wedding hall on the Zarqa highway by a police force that stormed the premises after receiving a complaint of “suspicious activities”, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

“We received a complaint of suspicious activities that contradict our customs and traditions at the birthday party, and we decided to intervene,” Sartawi added, without further elaboration.

Special forces, accompanied by policewomen, headed to the premises and arrested the suspects without any major incident, the PSD official said.

Sartawi noted that some of those arrested are wanted on several offences, but ruled out illicit drug use during the party.

“We have referred the suspects to the concerned court to be questioned and indicted,” he said.

The charge against the suspects is currently “suspicious activities and it is up to the court to level the appropriate charge after questioning the group”, the PSD spokesperson added.

“It is our duty to refer any individual to the concerned court if he or she violates our customs and traditions,” Sartawi stressed.

AMMAN — Several MPs on Thursday called on the authorities to proceed with their efforts to extradite Walid Kurdi, the former chairman of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company who was sentenced to 37.5 years imprisonment with hard labour.

Kurdi, who was tried in absentia, was found guilty of charges of “abuse of office” and embezzlement in the verdict, which was issued in June 2013. 

During the Lower House Integrity Committee’s meeting with Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) President Samih Bino and Audit Bureau President Mustafa Barari on Thursday, deputies said the government can use a legal assistance agreement with the UK to facilitate Kurdi’s extradition to Jordan.

Kurdi is said to be currently residing in the UK.

Under the agreement with Britain, Jordan brought back the radical Muslim cleric Mahmoud Othman, known as Abu Qatada, from Britain. 

The Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters between Jordan and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, was endorsed by Parliament in mid-2013, after which authorities managed to bring Abu Qatada back home.

The government has used the agreement to seize funds in Britain belonging to Kurdi.

Sources close to the former phosphate company chairman and CEO said he is not planning to come back to Jordan, although the law gives him the right to seek a retrial.

Thursday’s meeting with the heads of the ACC and the Audit Bureau was held to examine progress in the work of the two organisations.

Panel members decided to recommend that the Lower House push the government to submit draft amendments to the Audit Bureau Law, in order to grant it the status of judicial police and financial and administrative independence. 

This recommendation was based on a request by Barari, who informed MPs of the obstacles facing his team and preventing them from carrying out their duties properly. 

The MPs told the two officials that the committee wants to listen to their feedback on certain corruption cases of high interest to the public. 

Bino said the ACC will keep the committee informed of all the progress and the regressions in these cases, inviting the deputies to visit the ACC and look into the files it is currently investigating.

Deputy Mustafa Rawashdeh (Karak, 5th District), who heads the committee, said the aim of the meeting was to encourage more efforts to combat corruption and to examine the latest developments in some major corruption cases including Kurdi’s case.