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AMMAN — It will be relatively cold on Wednesday due to prevailing unstable weather conditions, which started affecting the Kingdom on Monday, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).  

The unstable weather brought less than 1 millimetre of rain to several parts of the Kingdom over the past two days, JMD meteorologist Saed Taha said on Tuesday. 

“Areas like Ras Munif in Ajloun Governorate and Queen Alia International Airport witnessed rainfall,” Taha told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

He noted that these conditions will prevail on Wednesday, especially in the eastern region, with a possibility of scattered showers in the area. 

Temperatures in Amman are forecast to reach a high of 10°C and drop to a low of 1°C on Wednesday. 

Taha said frost formation is expected Wednesday night, but it will not affect commuters on Thursday morning.

However, he advised farmers to be careful as frost could damage their crops. 

The Agriculture Ministry asks farmers to take precautionary measures during frost spells to alleviate the impact of freezing temperatures on crops.

These measures include irrigating plants during the evening to raise soil temperatures by five degrees, closing down greenhouses early to store heat and lighting fires around crops to warm up the air. 

Meanwhile, Taha said the Kingdom would witness unstable weather again on Thursday, when temperatures in the capital are forecast to rise slightly, reaching a maximum of 11°C. 

In response to a question on the possibility of a strong depression affecting the Kingdom this month, the meteorologist said weather maps have not shown any indications so far. 

“But according to statistics for the past years, depressions might hit the Kingdom this month,” he said, noting that rainfall is expected until May. 

On Monday the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs organised prayers for rain around the country due to lack of precipitation during the current wet season.

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

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

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania was ranked fourth among world leaders who use Twitter in the annual rankings of the Digital Policy Council.

Her Majesty, who has more than three million followers, had more than half a million new followers in 2013, the report said.

“As one of the most influential women in the Middle East, in 2013 she continued to use her Twitter presence to promote cross-cultural dialogue and foster greater understanding and tolerance, as a key figure behind the launch of several educational initiatives and the empowerment of women,” the recently launched report said.

It added that His Majesty King Abdullah is also now represented on Twitter through the Royal Hashemite Court account. 

The Royal Court account, which was launched recently, reports on the King’s activities and sometimes includes tweets by His Majesty, signed with his initials, #ABH (Abdullah Bin Hussein).

The top three ranks this year were taken by US President Barack Obama, in first place with more than 40 million followers; Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, second, with 4.2 million followers; and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, third, with 4.1 million followers.

The Queen was followed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in fifth place, President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina in sixth place, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai in seventh place.

Eighth place was taken by Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto, while Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos came ninth and Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff was ranked 10th.

AMMAN — Delegates from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are scheduled to visit Jordan in April to assess the studies conducted on the proposed site for Jordan’s planned nuclear plant, an official said on Monday.

The IAEA experts will train Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission (JNRC) personnel on conducting the environmental impact assessment required for the nuclear project, JNRC President Majd Hawari noted.

In October last year, the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) announced plans to construct twin 1,000-megawatt reactors in the Qusayr Amra region east of Amman.

It cited the site’s distance from major urban centres and proximity to the Khirbet Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant among its advantages.

The commission selected the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (Rosatom) as the preferred vendor to construct the reactors by 2021.

Activists and local residents claim that the reactors threaten the underground aquifers in Azraq, some 15 kilometres from the proposed site.

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, upon his return from Vienna, where he held talks with IAEA officials, Hawari said the IAEA will build the capacities of JNRC employees under a 150,000-euro plan funded by the agency.

The employees will be trained to monitor the safety of the national nuclear project, Petra reported.

A team of 19 IAEA experts will visit the Kingdom for two weeks to offer their expertise to the JNRC in reviewing the technical and administrative procedures required to issue reports on the preventive measures needed in monitoring the nuclear programme.

In late January, the JAEC said it will sign an agreement with Russian state-owned firm Rosatom in mid-February to develop Jordan’s first nuclear plant.

The Russian company has agreed to take on 49 per cent of the plants’ $10 billion construction and operation costs on a build-own-operate basis, with the government shouldering the remaining 51 per cent and retaining a majority share in the plants.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour noted in recent remarks that nuclear energy can provide Jordan with almost one-third of its future needs of electric power and can cut costs by around one-third.

Stressing that the government is open to all opinions regarding the nuclear plan, the premier said in January that it will not take a decision on proceeding with the national nuclear programme until after some 20 months.

AMMAN –– Turkey will soon join the ranks of international donors that offer financial and technical assistance to Jordan. 

Officials from both countries on Monday signed a framework agreement to regulate economic cooperation related to grants and assistance Ankara will provide to Amman in the near future. 

Planning and International Cooperation Minister Ibrahim Saif and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) President Serdar Çam signed the agreement in Amman.

During a several-day visit of TIKA officials, the agency will provide a $50,000 grant to purchase home appliances for 100 underprivileged families to be distributed through the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation, according to the Planning Ministry.   

Saif told reporters during the signing ceremony that the agreement will identify cooperation aspects, which include implementing economic development schemes in various fields such as expertise and scientific exchange, management, environment, renewable energy, culture, agriculture and rural development. 

It includes boosting cooperation in small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the health, transport, water and sewage sectors. 

Turkey will also offer assistance in technical, economic and humanitarian aid fields, the minister added. 

Saif said the agreement did not specify the value of assistance to be offered to Jordan, explaining that officials from both countries will estimate the volume of aid on the basis of projects Jordan proposes. 

He added that Jordan is keen to develop economic ties with Turkey in all fields. 

Çam indicated that TIKA is planning to open an office in Amman this year, noting that his country is interested in investing in the Kingdom’s renewable energy sector. 

Responding to a question on the political motives of the agreement, Saif said economic growth in Turkey as well as its increasing interests in the region pushed it to boost political and economic ties with regional countries. 

“Jordan and Turkey have always enjoyed good relations,” Çam said, adding that Ankara’s interests in regional countries, including Jordan, have grown over the past decade.     

Jordan and Turkey signed a free trade agreement in 2009 that went into effect early 2010. 

AMMAN — Jordan will share its experience in political development with Bahrain under a memorandum of understanding signed on Monday.

The memo, signed by Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh and Nabeel Al Hamer, head of the board of trustees of the Bahrain Institute for Political Development, is designed to boost cooperation in setting political policies and strategies. 

The ministry will provide qualified staff to implement programmes that develop laws to expand the political involvement of women, youths, local communities and professional associations in Bahrain, according to the memo, which is valid for two years.

Moreover, the ministry will provide the Bahrain institute with political consultations, and the two sides will cooperate in establishing a related library and an e-library in Bahrain.

The institute was established in 2006 with the aim of developing political activities in Bahrain, according to Hamer.

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, the Bahraini official met with secretaries general of Jordanian political parties and briefed them on the political situation in his country.

“There are no laws that allow political activity through parties in Bahrain,” he said, noting that political associations were allowed in 2001 as part of a royal reform project.

Similar to the situation in Jordan, any political movement must be peaceful, seek to benefit the public interest and have a national basis, Hamer said. 

“However, there are political associations that might become affected by or adopt ideas from outside Bahrain, which do not benefit the national political scene,” he said, adding that such acts are not acceptable.

Therefore, Bahraini King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa and civil community institutions sought to control this issue by launching national dialogue in which people across the Bahraini spectrum could participate, he said.

Hamer listened to the experiences and suggestions of political party representatives.

Abdul Hadi Maharmeh from the National Labour Party suggested changing political associations in Bahrain into “political parties” for a better description of what they do.

The state, he added, should not tighten its security grip on political party members by tracing or threatening them.

Ahmad Shunnaq from the National Constitutional Party said it is healthy for any country to have political pluralism without having a religious or ethnic affiliation.

“Some still think that joining a political party means rebelling against the regime,” he said. 

AMMAN — The King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF) and the King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) on Monday launched an awareness campaign to address common fallacies about cancer titled “Enough Myths! Know Your Facts.”

Launched on the occasion of World Cancer Day which is marked every February 4, the drive is in line with a global campaign titled “Debunking the Myths” led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), a KHCF statement said.

“Debunking the Myths” seeks to correct misconceptions and raise awareness about cancer to help combat this disease and break the barrier of silence and shame, according to the foundation.

In the same vein, “Enough Myths! Know Your Facts” aims to tackle four prevalent myths in Jordan about cancer — “cancer is a death sentence, cancer has no symptoms, one cannot do anything to prevent cancer, and we don’t need to talk about cancer.”

The campaign will include an animated video and humorous caricatures providing informative messages that will be disseminated via TV ads, social media and through direct communication with partners, corporations, educational institutions and the general public in order to reach all age groups, the KHCF said. 

During the campaign, which will run throughout the month of February, the foundation will set up booths at several malls in the Kingdom to further engage the public and distribute awareness material about cancer myths and facts. 

“Cancer is a disease that feeds on ignorance and thrives on misinformation,” the statement quoted HH Princess Dina Mired, the director general of KHCF, as saying.  

“In order to successfully fight cancer, we need to raise the level of awareness about [it] and break free of the culture of shame surrounding it by arming ourselves with the right knowledge and facts.”

Asem Mansour, CEO/director general of the KHCC, noted: “World Cancer Day was established to fight misconceptions about cancer, which, if not addressed, can reinforce existing taboos and make it harder for us to fight it.” 

“Cancer does not mean death, as medical breakthroughs and technologies have allowed us to fight the disease much more successfully and help many patients heal, or at least treat it as a temporary disease that can be overcome,” he said. 

World Cancer Day is a worldwide initiative spearheaded by UICC that aims to reduce cancer rates by increasing public awareness and urging governments and individuals to take the necessary steps to fight cancer successfully. 

It is also an occasion to highlight the importance of uniting global efforts in fighting cancer through mobilising local and international organisations to spread awareness messages that help prevent and overcome cancer, the statement said.

AMMAN — Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni on Monday announced a new automated system designed to monitor and minimise detention periods.

“The new system aims at monitoring detention periods of individuals, their numbers and their legal status to prevent the detention of persons who should be released after serving their time or those who should not be detained to begin with,” the minister said.

This, Talhouni told reporters, “will regulate the work of criminal prosecutors and courts and ensure that no one is detained for a felony that does not entail detention”.

Introducing this system is part of 2008 Karama project, implemented jointly by the Ministry of Justice, the Danish ministry of foreign affairs and the Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims of Denmark.

The project entails improving the treatment and condition of detainees and combating torture and other forms of inhumane treatment.

The new system lists 5,031 crimes and misdemeanours instead of 303, according to Judge Mustafa Assaf.

“We have examined each and every offence and decided to expand their description and specify certain detention periods,” Assaf explained.

The system will “prevent the criminal prosecutor from extending the detention period if the offence in question does not entail more prison time”.

“A red icon will appear on the computer screen of the criminal prosecutor, preventing him or her from renewing the detention period in such cases,” Assaf added.

The system will also issue similar warnings to judges who want to schedule new court hearings for individuals who are being tried in other courts.

“This will prevent judges from assigning trials for offenders on the same date and will help save time and effort by law enforcement officers,” he noted.

Attorney General Judge Ziad Dmour said the new system will allow him to monitor the work of the courts and criminal prosecutors more closely.

“The system will show me if anyone is detained improperly or has exceeded his/her detention period,” Dmour added.

This will “make me legally accountable before the public to ensure that no one is detained an extra day without a reason”, he noted.

According to Assaf, the system will start operating on a trial basis in one of Amman’s courts next Sunday, and once “we determine it has no flaws, it will operate in the Kingdom’s various courts”.

AMMAN — Jordan Nurses and Midwives Association President Mohammad Hatamleh suspended a solo sit-in he started Monday after Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour pledged to seriously look into the association’s demands.

“I was invited for a meeting today with the premier after I started the sit-in,” Hatamleh told The Jordan Times. 

“I explained the public sector nurses’ demands, and the prime minister showed understanding and called for a meeting between me and the health minister to study these demands,” he added.

Health Minister Ali Hiasat is scheduled to meet with the association next week to study the demands and present a list of recommendations to Ensour, who promised to look into them, Hatamleh said.

“I am optimistic and I think we are on the right track, especially since the premier was serious about looking into the demands,” he said.

Hatamleh started the sit-in near the Prime Ministry to call for increasing public sector nurses’ technical and overtime allowances.

The association is calling for increasing the technical allowance of staff nurses from 100 per cent of the basic salary to 120 per cent.

It also wants the technical allowance for practical and associate nurses raised from 40 per cent of the basic salary to 70 per cent.

In addition, the association is asking for increasing the overtime allowance from 30 per cent of the basic salary to 35 per cent of the overall paid salary for all nurses in the public sector.

Hatamleh had decided to hold his “solo protest” to avoid a work stoppage by public sector nurses that could disrupt services to patients.

AMMAN — Jordan Customs Department (JCD) personnel on Monday thwarted two attempts to smuggle more than 9 million narcotic pills at Aqaba Port and Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) in Amman, official sources said.

In the first incident, customs and security agents at QAIA foiled an attempt to smuggle 7,360,000 pills classified as illegal drugs in 92 packages that were destined for a neighbouring country, a senior JCD official said.

In the second incident, the official added, JCD and security staff thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1,604,600 narcotic pills that were in a shipping container.

Its owners had declared on paper that the shipment contained liquid bath soap, according to the JCD official.

“We received tips about both shipments entering the country... and when they arrived we were waiting for them,” the official told The Jordan Times.

The two illegal shipments were not related to each other, according to the official, who added that no arrests have been made so far in both incidents.

“We have referred both cases to the Anti-Narcotics Department for follow-up since these kinds of shipments falls within its jurisdiction,” the official explained.

AMMAN — Increasing the coverage of telecom networks in Jordan and offering high-speed Internet at competitive prices is crucial to keep the Kingdom abreast of the latest technological trends, a Cisco Systems executive said Monday.

By 2020, the growth of machines and devices connected to the Internet will reach 212 billion, Tarek Ghoul, the general manager of Cisco Gulf, Levant and Pakistan, said in a video conference to reveal the results of the Technology Radar study.

“For Jordan to be part of the global trends that we will witness in the next 12 months, mobile operators need to expand their coverage to reach remote areas,” Ghoul told The Jordan Times.

The availability of telecom networks and the competition between operators are key to enhancing coverage and reducing prices of high-speed Internet, he said. 

Asked about the impact of a fourth operator on the Jordanian market that will provide fourth generation (4G) services, Ghoul said he expected the introduction of a new operator to increase competition. 

The “Internet of Everything” — the interconnection of people, processes, data and things — entails an economic opportunity of $19 trillion in the next decade (($14.4 trillion in the private sector and $4.6 trillion in the public sector), he said, citing the study, which highlights the key trends set to redefine businesses and life across the Middle East in 2014.

“There is huge potential for IT and app development companies in Jordan and the region to benefit from this growing phenomenon… As connections between people, devices and equipment increase, there will be a need for apps, software, new IT solutions and infrastructure,” the Cisco executive added.

“What we are now seeing is the emergence of an application economy where the focus will no longer be simply on the hardware, but also on supporting a larger number of applications on all connected devices.”

The Middle East is already well-poised to reap the benefits of this shift, with the region’s IT spending projected to grow 7.3 per cent from 2013 to $32 billion in 2014, according to IT research firm, IDC. 

Cisco also reports that the Middle East and Africa region is set to post the world’s strongest mobile data traffic growth at 77 per cent as compound annual growth rate until 2017.

By 2022, Cisco predicts that person-to-machine and person-to-person combined connections will constitute 55 per cent of the total “Internet of Things”, whereas machine-to-machine connections make up the remaining 45 per cent, according to the Tech Radar Study.