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AMMAN — Public Security Department (PSD) Director Gen. Tawfiq Tawalbeh on Saturday honoured Mohammad Rasmi Freihat, in recognition of his “honesty”.

Freihat, who works as a taxi driver in Zarqa, recently handed in a briefcase that he found left in his car to the police.

The briefcase contained 107,000 Saudi riyals, a laptop computer and several mobile phones.

The police returned the briefcase to its owner, according to a PSD statement.

AMMAN — The United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Authority on Saturday signed a 13 million UAE dirham agreement (around JD2.5 million) to expand the Emirati-funded and administered Syrian refugee camp in the Mreijeb Al Fhoud region in Zarqa.

Camp Manager Hadi Al Kaabi said the expansion project will begin in two weeks and will be completed within 90 days, adding that 690 trailers will be added to the camp to host between 5,000 and 6,000 refugees.

NEW YORK — HH Prince Zeid Bin Raad, Jordan’s permanent representative to the UN, on Saturday said the suffering of the Syrian people and the consequences of the crisis on neighbouring countries have prompted the Security Council to adopt a resolution to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Syria.

In a press statement following a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, Prince Zeid described the situation in Syria as very critical and painful, adding that the council will decide on what should be done should the adopted resolution go unimplemented.

The resolution was drafted by Jordan, Australia and Luxemburg and was adopted by an overwhelming majority.

In remarks to Jordan Television, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the adoption of the resolution is a major achievement for Jordanian diplomacy, commending the efforts of the Kingdom’s mission at the UN.

AMMAN — Several popular movements and entities participated in a march on Friday against Jordan’s proposed nuclear project.

During the rally, which started after noon prayers from Al Husseini Mosque, demonstrators chanted slogans stressing their rejection of the nuclear project and warning of its dangers on the environment and public health.

They also called on the government to reject US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposals on Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

AMMAN — Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed on Saturday met with investors whose offers were approved by the Cabinet to develop electricity-generating projects via solar panels.

He highlighted the Cabinet decision to set the tariff of electricity generated via these projects at 120 fils per kilowatt hour.

The projects, mostly located in Maan, will be operational by 2015, according to ministry spokesperson Mahmoud Eiss, who noted that the volume of direct investment in these schemes stands at around $500 million.

AMMAN — Renowned historian Abdul Kareem Gharaibeh passed away on Saturday at the age of 91, according to a statement issued by the Jordanian Writers Association.

Born in Irbid, Gharaibeh was one of the first Jordanians to obtain a PhD.

At university, he started studying to become a doctor in medicine, but during his first anatomy class, he decided to change his major and specialise in history, which became an important part of his life and work in Jordan.

After completing his university studies, he assumed several government posts and worked as a professor at the University of Jordan from 1962 to 1997.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Saturday sent a cable to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Tammam Salam congratulating him on the formation of the new Lebanese government.

In the cable, Ensour said the government’s formation reflects Lebanon’s free democratic practices and paves the way for a new stage to safeguard and maintain the national unity of Lebanon and boost its security and stability.

The premier asserted Jordan’s support for the Lebanese government to overcome political and economic challenges, stressing the strong relations between the two countries and their peoples.

AMMAN — The Dead Sea water level dropped by 7 per cent during January compared to the same period last year, according to a senior government official, who attributed the accelerating decline to a “record lack of rain”.

The continuously shrinking Dead Sea dropped during last month by 33 per cent of its total decrease of one metre annually, compared to 26 per cent recorded in January last year, Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazem Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

He attributed the “alarming” situation to the fact that the Kingdom has not seen rain since mid-December.

The Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on Earth, has been shrinking for decades, largely due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use as well as dropping amounts of rain over the past decade, according to environmentalists.

Nasser said that the accelerating drop in the Dead Sea level is an indication of the poor performance of the current wet season, warning that the lack of rain since December is “alarming” not only for Jordan but also for the region.

“The Kingdom is experiencing an unprecedented rain failure… this necessitates an emergency plan to tackle the impact of drought on water storage and supply during summer,” Nasser said.

Quantities of water in Jordan dams during rain seasons 2007/2008-2013/2014 (in million cubic metres)

Jordan and the region are witnessing a record lack of rain for the first time in many decades, according to Nasser, who underscored that the fluctuating rain has already taken its toll on ground and surface water resources.

“This is a dry year and a dry winter. We are studying our options to reduce water consumption during summer in accordance with every region’s circumstances, such as the Jordan Valley and its irrigated crops,” Nasser said in the statement.

The ministry has started drawing up an emergency plan to address the expected results of the lack of rain in the Kingdom, Nasser said.

The lack of rain and its fluctuation is negatively affecting the country’s ground and surface water resources, thus accelerating desertification, impeding agricultural planning and reducing agricultural productivity, he added.

“The lack of rain is also reducing water amounts in the aquifers and increasing salinity levels,” Nasser said.

In addition, water storage at Lake Tiberias has also failed to increase during this winter, according to Nasser, who said that the lake received 13 million cubic metres (mcm) since the start of the wet season in late 2012 and until February 22, 2013, while it has only received 2.7mcm since the start of the current winter until Saturday, according to the minister.

“Performance of the current wet season sets the alarm for how the coming winters will be like,” Nasser noted.

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

The dams have not received any water since December’s snowstorm; moreover, so much water is being pumped from the dams to “orweh tishrineyeh” crops and trees because of the lack of rain and the high temperatures, according to the ministry.

Orweh tishrineyeh is a local agricultural term that refers to winter crops planted at the end of each year, when farmers grow vegetables in the Jordan Valley. Different kinds of vegetables are cultivated during this period, including cucumber, tomato, eggplant and zucchini.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) spends between JD200,000 and JD300,000 a year on maintaining traffic signs damaged by advertisements, a GAM official said on Saturday.   

These advertisements have a negative impact on traffic, blocking the signs from view, especially at night, noted Khaled Haddadin, head of the GAM traffic operations directorate. 

“These signs are made of a reflective material manufactured only in three countries: Germany, the US and Japan. If the driver manages to see the sign in the morning, it will be difficult for him to see it at night,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.  

Haddadin said some signs are defaced by passers-by.

“Sometimes, they are damaged because of traffic accidents. Also, election candidates promote their activities and events by putting up their posters on these signs,” he added.

“The normal life span of each is between seven and eight years, but we change several signs every year. Traffic signs undergo maintenance on a monthly basis,” Haddadin said. 

The municipality official added that areas in east and south Amman  witness the majority of violations. 

Violators are required to pay the price of the sign in addition to a JD50 fine.

GAM provides free space for residents to post announcements of weddings or funerals beneath street signs.

AMMAN — The government will seriously look into any requests by existing telecom operators to acquire frequencies to provide fourth generation (4G) services after it turned down two bids from other companies, according to top government officials.

The government received two bids from
KULACOM Jordan and a US-based company called “Ameriphone” to acquire licences to provide 4G services in the country, but the bids were rejected, Mohammad Taani, chief commissioner of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, said at a meeting with the press on Thursday.

“We rejected the bids because KULACOM was incapable of providing a financial guarantee, which is against the tender’s conditions,” he said.

“The second company provided a financial guarantee from a foreign bank, but we need a guarantee from a licensed bank in Jordan. The American company also provided an old certificate of registration that dates back to 2009, which is also a violation of the conditions,” Taani added.

ICT Minister Azzam Sleit said the ministry directed the TRC to take the necessary procedures to ensure the provision of 4G services in Jordan as soon as possible.

“We are ready to look into any official requests we receive for providing 4G in Jordan from local telecom companies or those working abroad,” Sleit added.

“We need faster Internet services in Jordan,” he said.

“We will be happy if the three existing operators submit requests to acquire the frequencies to provide 4G. We hope they do,” the minister added at the meeting.

The country’s three existing operators, Orange Jordan, Zain Jordan and Umniah, have repeatedly called on the government to cancel the tender, warning that licensing a fourth operator will negatively affect the market, where mobile penetration is more than 150 per cent.