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AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan, president of the Higher Council for Self-Defence Sports, on Monday congratulated the Jordan Karate Federation for its achievements at the World Karate Championship held in Chile from October 23-27.

Jordanian teams that took part in the Santiago-hosted 2019 World Cadet, Junior and U21 Championships won seven medals, including two gold, one silver and four bronze medals, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — Senate President Faisal Fayez on Monday lauded US aid grants to Jordan. His remarks came during a meeting held between the Jordanian-US Friendship Committee and US Chargé d’Affaires in Amman Karen Sasahara, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Fayez, during the meeting, highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to maintain regional security and stability, and its continuous endeavours to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through a two-state solution that ends occupation and guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Kingdom’s economic and security stability is important for the region, he said, calling for increasing US support and establishing more investments on Jordanian soil. 

AMMAN — Civil society institutions and the families of administrative Jordanian detainees in Israel, Hiba Labadi and Abdulrahman Meri, have called on the government to continue pressuring Israel for their release.

These demands came in a joint statement by a number of civil society institutions, youth movements, activists and political parties, as well as the families of Labadi and Meri.

The statement urged the government to intensify its efforts to ensure the release of the two citizens and all other Jordanians currently held in Israel.

AMMAN —The Cabinet on Monday appointed Fayeg Hijazeen as the new director general of the Jordan News Agency, Petra, following an extensive qualification process and interviews, as part of the government's approach for employment in leading positions.

Hijazeen is a veteran journalist at Petra with 25 years of service in the government, 20 years of which were spent in the media domain.

The Cabinet also decided to appoint Mohammad Balqar as director general of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation. Balqar holds a bachelor's of science in management and finance from the University of Philadelphia and a master's degree in journalism and media from the University of Petra.

AMMAN — A paper waste management project was launched on Sunday in Jubaiha as part of the second phase of a programme raising awareness on waste segregation. 

The project is being carried out by the Environment Studies and Awareness Department at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) in cooperation with the Jordan Environment Society, Manager of the Environment Studies and Awareness Department Omar Arabiyat told The Jordan Times on Monday.

Based upon an agreement between GAM and the Jordan Environment Society, a series of projects have been launched to foster partnership, focusing on the concept of waste segregation starting with members of GAM, he said.

“Our message is to provide our members with sufficient awareness of and experience with paper waste separation, and considering we are a service institution, our experience in sorting will be passed on to citizens,” Arabiyat noted.

GAM has a department specialising in environmental awareness, which organises courses and periodic visits led by trained and qualified personnel, according to Arabiyat.  

The goal of these efforts, he said, are to make GAM to be the “starting point” for improving the services provided to Jordanians, through increasing awareness of the importance of litter management and waste cost reduction.

The first phase of the paper waste management project was launched in August 2018 at GAM’s office in Abdali. At that time, a number of recycling containers were supplied, Arabiyat said.

“So far we covered Tla Al Ali in July, Sweileh in September, Jubaiha this October and there are three other areas to be covered. Then, we will aim to implement the project across all of Amman,” he explained.

Citywide commercial and residential locations will be targetted in another project, which will begin on November 23 in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation to provide the “best environmental management strategy” in managing not only paper, but dry residues and non-recyclable material, said the GAM official.

“With the limited paper waste management in the Kingdom, which is only within particular institutes and houses, awareness should be raised concerning the environmental footprint of waste segregation,” the official said.

AMMAN — Following claims and photos spread online purportedly showing rotten potatoes in vegetable markets in Irbid, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it has run “comprehensive checks” on the quantity and quality of the vegetable in central markets in Amman and Irbid.

Ministry Spokesperson Lawrence Majali told The Jordan Times over the phone that the produce in the markets “fits the quality standards, varying from excellent to good to moderate condition. The rate of damage was normal and not found in more than 8 per cent of potatoes.”

He added: “One must keep in mind that the natural rate of damage to any crop ranges from 10 to 15 per cent.”

Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment Ibrahim Shahahdeh ordered a follow-up committee and a survey headed by the secretary general of the ministry in cooperation with the Jordan Food and Drug Association to investigate the claims, according to a ministry statement.

Head of the ministry’s Irbid Directorate Abdulwali Tahaat in another statement criticised the “dramatisation” of the issue through the spread of the online photos and rumors, saying it was “the work of producers and importers who want to denigrate the local product at any cost so that they can be allowed to import the product once more”.

Jordan does not import potatoes, as part of a ministry programme that protects 22 commodities by prohibiting their import from any other country.

“We have more than 11,000 tonnes of refrigerated potatoes at the moment, and next season in mid-October we will have more than 40,000 tonnes, reaching full self-sufficiency and even exporting the excess,” Majali said. 

A ministry report showed that the damage was due to “poor storage by retailers”, and it urged citizens to call the ministry hotline to report any similar issues at the markets.

AMMAN — Turkey and Jordan are two close allies and strategic partners in the Middle East, enjoying perfect political and institutionalised relations, said Turkish Ambassador to Jordan Murat Karagoz. 

Both countries are facing common challenges in the region, he told The Jordan Times in an interview on the occasion of his country’s national day, which the embassy will mark on Tuesday.

“We are spending great efforts to overcome these challenges through deeper cooperation and coordination. In terms of people-to-people relations, as the latest public opinion poll shows, strong affection and friendly ties exist between the peoples of the two countries. We, the Turks appreciate it very much,” the ambassador said.

Following the abrogation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by Jordan in 2018, the two countries had negotiated a new Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and signed it on October 1, 2019, he said.

Due to the cancellation of the FTA, there has been a partial decrease in bilateral trade volume in 2019. Trade volume between the two countries was $854 million in 2018, whereas it was $364 million in the first 8 months of 2019, Karagoz noted.

“Unfortunately, Jordan’s export to Turkey dropped a few times more. But, we hope to correct this course in the near future,” he said.

On the other hand, Turkey is one of the top destinations for Jordanians, he added, citing the more than 400 thousand Jordanians who visited Turkey last year.

“This year we are expecting to host half a million Jordanian citizens. Visa-free regime and multi-destination bilateral flights are boosting dynamism in tourism. We also want to encourage more Turkish tourists to visit Jordan,” the envoy said.

 In regards to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Karagoz stressed that Turkey and Jordan defend the same principles in terms of the status of Jerusalem and the question of Palestine. 

“Turkey desires sincerely a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which lies beneath the problems in the Middle East, through mutual negotiations on the basis of a vision of two states living side-by-side within secure and recognised borders, East Jerusalem being the capital, and in the framework of the relevant Resolutions of the UN Security Council as well as the principle of land for peace, the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative,” he said.

“Turkey supports the Hashemite custodianship of the holy sites in Jerusalem,” the ambassador stated.

Another area of cooperation between Turkey and Jordan that the envoy highlighted is UNRWA. Turkey, he said, increased its annual contribution to $10 million for supporting UNRWA’s activities.

 Touching on the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, Karagoz said that the greatest achievement of the 96-year-old Turkish state is the Republic itself.

From “a devastated country of wars” in the early 20th century, 96 years later, Turkey has become the 17th largest economy in the world and sixth in Europe, he noted. 

Despite all the challenges it faces, Turkey, a country with a population of 82 million, a “vibrant business community, creative diplomacy and strong army continues to be an island of stability in its region, whose friendship is indispensable for its partners. Turkey has also a great cultural depth beyond its borders,” said the ambassador.

 Elaborating on the results of Operation Peace Spring and the agreements reached between Turkey and the United States and the Russian Federation, the envoy said: “Legitimate security concerns of Turkey emanating from PKK/PYD/YPG terrorism have been recognised and preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity has been confirmed.”

These developments, he added, have also paved the way for the voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.  

“Turkey is the largest refugee hosting nation in the world, with 3.6 million Syrians under temporary protection being on the top of the list. We have spent nearly $40 billion for their cause, without sufficient support from the international community,” he highlighted.

“Both Turkey and Jordan are advocating for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. We both are targeted by terrorist threat emanating from our common neighbour. We are the two countries who opened our doors to millions of our Syrian brothers and sisters, and our trade routes have been impeded by this devastating conflict. 

“Therefore, Turkey wants to continue to work with Jordan to overcome these challenges. We deem Jordan as a strategic partner, in this regard,” the ambassador stressed.

 Shared history, common culture and close human ties “strongly bind” Turkey and Jordan, Karagoz said. 

“We consider the nearly 3,500 Turkish citizens who are living in Jordan and the almost 8,000 Jordanians [one-fourth of whom are students] who are living in Turkey as the friendship bridge between the two countries,” said the diplomat.

“We want the peoples of both countries to get to know each other better. To this end, 2020 has been declared as the Mutual Year of Culture between Turkey and Jordan,” he added.

Among the activities slated for 2020 are reciprocal exhibitions, visual art performances, concerts, festivals and literature-related events in both countries, he explained. 

 “As a prelude to this important occasion, last month, our embassy in collaboration with the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre in Amman organised the ‘Turkish Cultural Days’, where we showed Turkish movies, opened an art exhibition, organised an archaeological conference, promoted Turkish cuisine and music and thus earned well-recognition from our Jordanian brothers and sisters,” Karagoz concluded.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, visited the Eastern Military Region Command on Monday.

King Abdullah was received by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, the region’s commander and a number of senior officers, according to a Royal Court statement.

His Majesty was briefed on the Eastern Military Region’s operational and tactical duties, as well as the training programmes implemented.

During the visit, the King met and had lunch with several officers, expressing pride in their “high morale” and confidence in their “advanced level of professionalism” in carrying out their assigned tasks and duties, the statement said. 

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of killing his neighbour, who he suspected was involved in a relationship with his divorced mother in Irbid in June 2017.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of striking the victim repeatedly on his head with a blunt object on June 14, resulting in his immediate death. The defendant was given the maximum sentence.

Court papers said that the defendant was informed by some of his friends that his mother, who lived alone in an apartment in Irbid and was divorced, was involved in “an illegitimate affair with his neighbour, who was also her tenant”.

“The defendant confronted his mother, who denied any wrongdoing, so he turned his questions to the victim, who also denied the claims,” court documents said. 

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant went to visit his mother and saw the victim leaving her apartment.

“The defendant engaged in a heated argument with the victim and asked him to go up to the roof of the building to continue the discussion,” according to court documents.

The two began fighting and the defendant grabbed a wooden stick that he found on the roof and “beat the victim on his head and chest repeatedly until he was sure he was dead”, court documents said.

The defendant then escaped from the building and was later arrested by police, court documents added.

The defendant contested the verdict through his lawyer, arguing that he “killed the victim in a moment of rage to defend his family’s honour”, court documents read.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the 20-year sentence.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Saeed Mugheid, Majid Azab, Yassin Abdullat and Naji Zu’bi.

AMMAN — Qatar’s doors are “open wide” for Jordanians, said Qatari Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani, expressing his country’s “readiness” to increase the number of the 10,000 jobs pledged in the Doha job initiative.   

Sheikh Abdullah's remarks came during a meeting with a Jordanian economic delegation headed by President of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Senator Nael Kabariti over advancing Jordanian-Qatari cooperation.

Kabariti, in remarks made to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Monday, said that the Qatari prime minister has expressed his country's readiness to bolster mutual cooperation in all fields, adding that discussions have mainly covered medical tourism and the importance of accrediting Jordan as a medical service provider for Qataris seeking treatment abroad.

Talks also went over increasing the trade exchange between Amman and Doha, along with establishing joint industrial ventures, with the Qatari official pledging to ease the flow of Jordanian products into his country’s markets.

During their visit to Qatar on Monday, Kabariti and the accompanying delegation also met Qatari Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs Yousuf Fakhroo over means of attracting Jordanian labour.

Fakhroo, during the meeting, stressed that there is a considerable potential to increase the number of Jordanian workers in Qatar, highlighting efforts to ease the visa-issuance process for Jordanians.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian-Qatari Business Council meetings are scheduled to kick off on Tuesday in Doha.

Organised by the Jordanian Businessmen Association and the Qatari Businessmen Association, the gatherings aim at bolstering Amman-Doha trade exchange and establishing joint ventures, Petra added.

The value of Jordanian exports to Qatar reached $146 million last year, mainly in pharmaceuticals, machinery, electrical appliances and dairy products, while imports to the Kingdom totalled $117 million.