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AMMAN — The Ukrainian embassy in Amman will open a book of condolences in the memory of those killed in the recent “tragic” events that took place in Ukraine, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The embassy said the registry will be opened on Monday from noon until 5pm, and on Tuesday from 10am to 3pm at its headquarters, 6 Umouma Street near the 7th Circle.

Nearly 100 people have been killed in a police crackdown on popular protests against president Viktor Yanukovych, Agence France-Presse reported.

Ukraine’s parliament on Sunday appointed an interim leader after ousted president Yanukovych fled Kiev, in the dramatic finale to three months of protests, AFP said.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Sunday received Egyptian businessman Hassan Rateb, chairman of Sinai University, and an accompanying delegation.

During the meeting, the premier was briefed by Rateb on investment plans that he intends to carry out in Jordan in several fields, including energy and education.

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani and Jordan Radio and Television Corporation Director General Ramadan Rawashdeh also attended the meeting with Rateb, who owns the Mehwar TV channel.

The Egyptian delegation is currently in Jordan to become acquainted with investment opportunities in the Kingdom, the businessman said, adding that he will focus on investments that the community needs.

AMMAN — A fault reported earlier this month in Toyota Prius vehicles manufactured between 2009 and 2014 will only be found in one out of 100,000 vehicles and can only be detected under extreme driving conditions, Toyota’s agent in Jordan said on Sunday.

“This condition does not create a safety hazard for the driver or passengers, but in rare cases, the vehicle may encounter a gradual loss of power. There are only 155 affected vehicles in the Middle East, strictly in Jordan and Lebanon,” the Central Trade and Auto Company (CTA) said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Toyota Motors, a global leader in the production of environment-friendly cars, announced plans to conduct voluntary safety recalls of approximately 1.9 million model year Prius vehicles worldwide.

“CTA would like to reassure all owners of Prius models manufactured during the years 2009-2014 that there is no need for concern, as the Prius hybrids are recalled precisely for an ECU [engine control unit] management programme check,” the dealer said.

Toyota’s recall system “is one of its prominent-after-sales services, where the company handles the maintenance of the vehicles, ensuring the safety of each customer”. 

The company said that the recalling of its hybrid Prius vehicles is for software updating purposes only.

CTA said it will be conducting a “special service campaign” for Prius owners, whereby it will be contacting them within the coming weeks to make an appointment for their vehicles, the statement said, adding that appointments will be made according to the registered vehicle information number (VIN). 

“Not all vehicles manufactured between 2009 and 2014 are affected, only a specific number; of vehicles with a certain VIN are. The company will publish the VINs affected once this information is available,” CTA added. 

“The resulting software update will take 40 to 60 minutes to complete, and the work will be carried out free of charge.”

A second campaign will cover Prius vehicles purchased from sources other than the distributor, CTA said, adding that it will be scheduling appointments for these vehicles and applying the software update for free.

“The company calls [on] all Prius owners around the Kingdom to regularly confirm that the coolant level in the inverter coolant reservoir is between FULL and LOW to ensure their safety until the set appointment date. 

“If the coolant level is below the LOW line, owners are asked to add coolant up to the FULL line. If any Prius owners encounters a loss of power in their vehicle, they are asked to bring their cars to the nearest Toyota Service Centre… in Marka or the Bayader area,” the statement said.

More information is available on the company’s customer service number (0798996799).

AMMAN — Cultural and economic interaction between Jordan and Europe, particularly Greece, dates back over 10,000 years in history, according to a field expert.

Greek archaeologist Konstantinos Politis said the communication between the two nations started when early humans sought to exchange goods. 

“Early humans [from Europe] moved around the Mediterranean basin… this movement has connected countries like Jordan and Palestine to Europe,” he told a full-house hall at a recent lecture held at Jordan Museum. 

Politis estimated the age of the ties to “actually” be as old as 100,000 years.

“A strong proof of the connection is the spread of the domestication of plants and animals… practising the same activity in the two areas can only happen as a result of human contact,” he said. 

The archaeologist added that modern scientific studies and DNA analysis of belongings of inhabitants in the two countries also proved that connection.

Bronze Age pottery found in Jordan, in places like Pella and the Jordan Valley, in addition to Palestine and Syria, matched those found in Anatolia, Greece and Cyprus, he explained.

On the sidelines of the lecture, the audience took a tour in the museum that portrays life in Jordan since the Old Stone Age. 

Sharifa Nofa Bint Nasser, director of Jordan Museum, said such a “big project” seeks to enhance the cultural heritage in the Kingdom, adding that the completion of the museum needs further assistance from individuals and groups.

“We urge visitors to encourage their friends and family members to visit the museum and take the time to enjoy the exhibited items,” she said. 

Greek Ambassador to Jordan Maria Louisa Marinakis highlighted her country’s keenness on boosting ties with Jordan.

“From prehistoric times until the establishment of the modern Greek state, Greek history remained as a unique civilisation over thousands of years, not only on Greek soil but wherever the Greeks have lived and prospered,” she said.

Furthermore, she highlighted the role of Greek inventions and ideologies in developing humanity. 

“Alphabet, democracy, theatre, physics, astronomy, athletics are some of the Greek inventions,” she noted.

“Thousands of words used in European languages come from the Greek language, it’s estimated that 12 per cent of the English vocabulary is of Greek origin,” she added.

AMMAN — A group of deputies signed a memo on Sunday urging the Lower House to commit to the prohibition of smoking under the Dome in accordance with the Public Health Law.

The memo, adopted by MP Tamam Riyati (Aqaba) is being circulated among deputies to collect over 10 signatures in preparation for presenting it to the Lower House speaker for discussion at the permanent office.

Parliamentary sources told The Jordan Times that the deputies seek to follow the example of the Senate, which recently approved a recommendation by its health committee to prohibit smoking under the Dome.

The Public Heath Law was enforced in the Kingdom’s shopping malls and Queen Alia International Airport in March 2009, and in fast-food restaurants in June of the same year.

A Cabinet decision prohibiting smoking in ministries and public institutions went into force on May 25, 2010.

According to the law, smoking is prohibited in public places, which include hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, public transport vehicles, airports, closed playgrounds, lecture halls and any other location to be determined by the health minister.

Health activists have often criticised deputies for failing to abide by a law they endorsed, continuing to smoke during Parliament sessions in violation of the Public Health Law.

A study conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and published late last year showed that Jordan topped Middle East countries in the prevalence of smoking among males and came third in terms of female smokers.

The rate of smoking among Jordanian men was 43.4 per cent in 2012, followed by Palestine (41.3 per cent) and Turkey (39 per cent), according to the study.

The prevalence of smoking among females in Jordan stood at 8.5 per cent, following Lebanon, which was ranked first with 21.2 per cent, and Turkey (13.6 per cent).

Total household spending on tobacco and cigarettes in the Kingdom reached JD480.7 million in 2010, compared with JD352.3 million in 2008, according to a Department of Statistics report.

AMMAN — Plans are under way to set up a climate change department at the Ministry of Environment to improve the country’s efforts in combating the phenomenon and raise public awareness, according to a senior government official.

The creation of the new department will be part of a restructuring plan for the Ministry of Environment, the minister, Taher Shakhshir, said on Sunday.

“The new department will be independent and specialised in combating climate change on a country level, alleviating its impact and raising people’s awareness on the phenomenon,” Shakhshir said.

A committee was formed in 2001 to follow up on climate change issues and programmes. The committee includes members of several related ministries, organisations and institutions.

Shakhshir highlighted that setting up a new climate change department reflects the country’s increasing concern with the phenomenon, its impact and alleviation measures, highlighting that several campaigns will be launched soon to raise public awareness.

“It is vital to enhance people’s knowledge of climate change because it is a man-made phenomenon,” Shakhshir noted.

An opinion survey on public knowledge and perception of climate change in the Kingdom, launched late last week, indicated that the majority of Jordanians believe that the climate has “really changed” over the past years and that the change is “negative and annoying”.

The survey indicated that 78 per cent of Jordanians believe that the climate has changed during the past few years, while around 67.1 per cent said this change was negative.

A total of 38 per cent of the surveyed population stated that they have a “very good” knowledge of climate change issues and 72.9 per cent said climate change is a man-made phenomenon caused by industries, transportation and energy activities.

Climate change scenarios indicate that Jordan and the Middle East could suffer from reduced agricultural productivity and water availability, among other negative impacts, according to the 2013-20 Jordan Climate Change Policy.

The report said Jordan faces serious potential impacts on its natural ecosystems, river basins, watersheds and biodiversity, then cascading to impacts on food productivity, water resources, human health, public infrastructure and human settlements.

The report indicated that climate change projections suggest a 1-4°C increase in temperatures and a 15-60 per cent decrease in precipitation.

AMMAN — At the age of 14, the first word Mohammad Shaker typed when he began using the Internet was "weather". 

The young pharmacist turned meteorologist had been fascinated by the science of weather since the age of eight, having to live with sarcastic comments from his friends and classmates whenever he spoke about weather as a "hobby".  

"I never missed the weather forecast that was broadcast on national TV at 8:30pm. I used to record it daily," the 24-year-old meteorologist recalled. 

Once a fan and a student of weathermen, today Shaker stands as the sole rival of the official weather authorities, especially after he secured a platform on a leading local website and then had his own business and website: www.arabiaweather.com.    

His family, he said, gave him "reasonable support". 

"My mother bought me books on meteorological issues. She also used to drive me to the Jordan Meteorological Department."

There, meteorologists volunteered "to explain to me phenomena like depressions, how they form and move", Shaker told The Jordan Times in a recent interview. 

With this passion and knowledge, people started to take him more seriously. 

Neighbours and friends began relying on him to give his own forecast whenever they had an outdoor event, or any activity where the weather condition counts. 

"My teacher set up a specific board for me to post the latest meteorological news," he added. 

Aya Zaidan, one of Shaker's former school colleagues and current co-worker, recalled that when the science lesson was about weather, he took over and explained it to the class.

Hiba Ghousheh, also a former classmate, said Shaker loved Arabic class because he knew that one day he would need presentation skills.

As he delved deeper into the issue, Shaker said he transformed his home's basement into a meteorology hall, and when the Internet was available, he began searching for online courses. 

"I took part in a three-level course introduced by a US university," he added. 

In 2003, Shaker set up his first website, dubbed Jordan Weather, and then created a forum for people interested in meteorology. 

In 2006, he expected that floods might form in the Kingdom's south and he contacted the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

"The weather was so nice at the time I called them that they didn't buy it," he added. 

They were wrong and so was the official weather forecast. 

The desert floods claimed eight lives that year. 

The Jordan Weather website was attracting more fans, and with the increasing traffic, it started to generate some money.

Shaker acknowledges that his work is not perfect. He has made mistakes, which is natural in a weatherman’s career. 

However, he wanted to learn more, and so between 2008 and 2010, he went to England where he earned three more certifications in meteorology. Revenues from his website partly funded his studies.

In 2009, he worked with a German organisation as their correspondent for weather forecasts in the Middle East, and in 2010, his business expanded to cover the Arab world, with offices in Amman and Dubai.  

Shaker attributes his "success" to his "extreme dedication and pursuit of the most accurate forecast". 

"When we expect that, for example, a snowstorm will hit the south, we go to the south to double check and see how accurate we were," he added. 

Shaker is satisfied with his personal success and the progress in his career. He is willing to pass this experience to young Jordanians who have the same passion.  

"I'm really optimistic about the future. When I first created the company in 2010, there were only two people working in a small office. Now there are around 15 people working on one floor." 

There is room for others, he said.

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania visited Zarqa University College on Sunday and met with young Jordanians taking part in the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employability Project "Sanad", which is implemented by the Business Development Centre (BDC).

At one of the college's halls, Queen Rania dropped in on the "Know about Business" session attended by students from different faculties and a number of graduates from the Sanad project, according to a statement from Her Majesty's office.

The Queen listened to BDC CEO Nayef Stetieh as he gave a brief presentation about the project and its partnership with Balqa Applied University, which serves as an umbrella for a number of colleges in Jordan, including Zarqa University College in Zarqa Governorate, some 22km east of Amman.

Stetieh explained that Sanad was launched last year in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency to improve Jordan's economy by increasing employment opportunities and promoting entrepreneurship amongst youths. 

The programme also aims to build partnerships between the private sector and community colleges across the Kingdom, as well as hone the skills of students and graduates of vocational schools and community colleges in order to improve their employment opportunities.

Throughout the next five years, this project will benefit 25 vocational schools, six community colleges, 150 vocational school teachers, 150 community college professors and a total of 18,000 young male and female Jordanians, according to the statement.

The project also provides training for teachers working at vocational schools and community colleges, and hosts workshops to educate parents and private sector representatives on the role of women and graduates in the labour market.

Queen Rania had the chance to listen to students talk about their experiences as participants in the programme and how that helped them gain new skills and improve existing ones in accordance with the current needs of the job market. 

Students also talked about how the project provided them with guidance on starting their own businesses.

During the session — attended by Balqa Applied University President Nabil Shawagfeh, Canadian Ambassador to Jordan Bruno Saccomani, and Zarqa University College Dean Monther Krishan — Queen Rania said the skills young people gain through this programme help them keep up with job market demands and, ultimately, fulfil their dreams.

She also noted that the project must help youths create new job opportunities and not aid in finding them, adding that parents also play a very important role in the process, according to the statement.

Her Majesty then joined parents attending an awareness session about gender sensitivity titled "Women’s role and its importance in the labour market". 

Attendees told the Queen that this project helped open new doors for their children.

The session was also attended by teachers from various community colleges and vocational schools who had attended the training of trainers "Know about Business" workshops. 

The teachers stressed that the skills they acquired helped them motivate their students and unleash their potential in a way that best suits the job market.

The BDC is a non-profit organisation that provides programmes targeting young people and focusing on entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, local economic development and training of trainers. 

Through its Maharat Internship Programme, the centre has benefited 14,000 graduates from across the Kingdom and helped them find employment opportunities.

AMMAN –– Jordanian users of WhatsApp flocked to social media networks to complain they were left “chatless” after a several-hour outage of the free messaging app, which Facebook is buying for $19 billion. 

WhatsApp is the leading smartphone-based messaging app in Jordan, where the penetration of smartphone ownership is around 50 per cent among nearly 8.9 million mobile subscriptions. 

“Sorry we [are] currently experiencing server issues. We hope to be back up and recovered shortly,” WhatsApp said in a message on Twitter that was retweeted more than 25,000 times in just a few hours, according to Agence France-Presse. 

For some chat addicts, the outage on Saturday evening was a chance to make face-to-face communication with family members, the users joked on Facebook and Twitter. 

“WhatsApp is not working. It is good to give our hands a break to talk, to see our families,” Amani Salem wrote on her Facebook page. 

“Let’s go to Viber as it is working,” Nehad Al Helw replied, in reference to another smartphone messaging app.

“WhatsApp is NOT WORKING, my mama is happy now,” Noor Al Abdullah (‏@Noorabdullah) quipped.

“#WhatsApp is down & I officially don’t know how to communicate with anyone in Jordan,” Nadine Ajaka (@NadineAjaka) wrote on her Twitter account.

“#WhatsApp service is down in #Jordan. Is it down anywhere else in the #world?” asked Moe (@mohmdagh). 

Other social media users joked about Facebook’s acquisition deal, linking it with the outage.

On her Twitter account, Enass Abdel Basit posted a photo of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying he had nothing to do with the WhatsApp disruption and that “it was already faulty when we bought it”.

“OK then #WhatsApp is not working in #Jordan Mr. #Zuckerberg,” wrote Shireen Shleef ‏(@ShireenShleef). 

As people were waiting for an update on the messaging service, Ali Al Shareif (@ashareif) wrote after midnight on his Twiiter account: “WhatsApp is back in Jordan.”

The news that the messaging service was back to normal was met with joy by Jordanian chatters. 

“Ululation, Whatsapp is back finally,” Faten Obeidat wrote on her Facebook page. 

WhatsApp did not say how long the outage lasted, but about 2.5 hours later it tweeted again to say: “WhatsApp service has been restored. We are sorry for the downtime...” according to AFP.

AMMAN — Scores of lawyers on Saturday staged a sit-in in front of the Professional Associations Complex, asking that lawyer Ahmad Othman be released on bail.

Othman was detained last week on charges of forgery and insulting the judiciary.