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AMMAN — The Jordanian short film “Give Up the Ghost” by director Zain Duraie is competing in the Orizzonti section for short films at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

According to the festival website, the film talks about Salam and her dream of becoming a mother, which is shattered when she finds out that she is unable to have children with her husband. A lifetime of convictions and beliefs are put to the test as she realises she must make a choice.

The short film received the production grant for short films from the Jordan Film Fund (JFF) in 2018, according to a Royal Film Commission   (RFC) statement.

The JFF was launched by the RFC to “enable filmmakers to tell their stories, develop the independent film industry and contribute to its sustainability, especially in Jordan”, according to the RFC statement. 

The JFF has grants for feature-length narratives and documentaries in the phases of development, production or post-production, as well as for short films and TV series development, the statement said.

“Human actions depending on external, judgmental forces can destroy your inner peace; but what if we stand for what we believe in, to become leaders and not followers to what society wants to make of us? What if we already have the key to our cage in our pockets?” Duraie is quoted as saying about the film on the festival website.

Commenting on the selection of her film in Venice, Duraie said: “I am so happy and proud that the world premiere will be at Venice International Film Festival, one of the most important and prestigious in the world,” according to the RFC statement.

It is the third time a Jordanian film has been selected, after the feature-length narrative “Theeb” by Naji Abu Nuwar and the short film “In Extra Time” by Rami Yasin, Duraie said.

The Orizzonti section of the festival is an “international competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema”, according to the festival website.

Seven Arab films are participating in the 76th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, which started last Wednesday and will end on September 7.

The Tunisian film “Bik Eneich” by writer and director Mehdi M. Barsaoui is also competing in the Orizzonti section. The Sudanese film “You Will Die at 20”, which is the first feature-length film for its director Amjad Abu Alaa and was written by Yousef Ibraheem, will also have its world premiere in Venice, read the RFC statement.

AMMAN — The first shipment of Iraqi crude oil to be exported to the Kingdom was loaded at the Baiji station in Kirkuk on Saturday, and is expected to reach Jordan’s Petroleum Refinery Company in Zarqa on Tuesday, according to Energy Minister Hala Zawati.

Zawati said that the first shipment is expected to leave Kirkuk on Sunday and its arrival would mark the start of implementing a Jordanian-Iraqi memorandum of understanding (MoU) that both countries signed on February 2, under which Jordan would receive 10,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil daily with a discount of $16 from the price of Brent crude per barrel, to cover the difference of transport costs and deviations in standards.

More than 200 trucks, 100 from each country and including individually- and corporate-owned trucks, are participating in the transport process, the Energy Ministry said in a statement.

Under the MoU, Iraqi oil covering 7 per cent of the Kingdom’s daily needs of oil would be exported from Baiji in Iraq to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company.

Burj Al Hayat Transport and Trading Co. won the oil shipping tender earlier in May, and has since obtained 600 visas for drivers from both countries (300 Jordanians and 300 Iraqis), and will apply for more in the future.

The tender for transporting the crude oil was floated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in March in implementation of the MoU.

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld an October Criminal Court decision sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of beating a man to death in Amman in August 2016.

The Criminal Court first handed the defendant a 10-year prison term after convicting him of assaulting the victim with a wooden stick on August 12 while on a street in Jabal Amman.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to half because the victim's father and mother dropped charges against the defendant.

The victim died 10 days after the incident as a result of injuries sustained to his skull, the court added.

The Criminal Court also decided to amend the manslaughter charges originally pressed against the defendant to beating to death.

Court documents said that a few days before the incident, the defendant had a heated argument with the victim.

The argument was renewed on the day of the incident and the defendant grabbed a wooden stick and asked his friends to join him in beating up the victim, according to court transcripts.

"All the people involved in the fight were arrested," court documents added.

"The defendant confessed that he was the one who beat the victim on his head," court papers said.

The defendant did not contest the court ruling, but the attorney general at the Criminal Court did, asking the higher court to increase the sentence.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the sentence given was satisfactory.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin, Naji Zu'bi and Majid Azab.

AMMAN — The government’s fuel pricing committee on Saturday decided to lower the prices of fuel derivatives for September.

According to the committee’s decision, the price of one litre of unleaded 90-octane gasoline will go down from JD0.775 per litre in August to JD0.755 in September, according to an Energy Ministry statement.

The price per litre of unleaded 95-octane gasoline will drop to JD0.985 in September, compared with JD1 the month before.

The prices of diesel and kerosene per litre will decrease to JD0.590, compared with JD0.605 in August.

Regarding the new prices, the committee said that the price per barrel of crude oil went down to $59 in August, from $64.1 in July.

The panel said the price of gas cylinders will remain unchanged at JD7 despite an increase in international rates to JD7.2.

The committee attributed its decision to not raise the price of gas cylinders to the government’s attempts to help mitigate the burdens of low-income citizens in light of the current economic situation.

Prices of oil derivatives in the local market are calculated based on international prices, plus other costs including shipping and taxes.

The Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission on Saturday also decided to maintain the “differences in fuel prices” category on monthly electricity bills for September at 10 Fils per kilowatt-hour (kWh), according to a commission statement.

The “differences in fuel prices” category excludes households whose monthly consumption does not exceed 300kWh.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Saturday said that it is gearing up for winter with drives of unclogging the drains and box culverts.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times, Basem Tarawneh, deputy director for districts and environmental affairs at the GAM, said that the municipality has worked all summer to remove discarded plastic bags that choke storm drains. 

The municipality cadres have also cleaned the main culvert in downtown Amman’s Saqf Al Sail area from the end of Quraish Street to the exit in Mahatta area, removing silt from wadi streams, while also working on constructing concrete retaining walls. 

The GAM has also completed several tunnel and box culverts projects at different locations in Amman to resolve issues observed during previous winter seasons, according to the statement. 

The cadres are currently double-checking the preparedness of the water pumps of rainwater tanks installed inside tunnels, which they do at night in view of light traffic as well as to make sure water is pumped out properly. 

The GAM affirmed that follow-ups on these cleaning drives and checks are performed throughout the year in accordance with a programme made for this purpose, the statement concluded.

AMMAN — President of the Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) Ahmad Hajaya died on Friday afternoon after the vehicle he was in overturned on Jurf Al Darawish Street in eastern Tafileh, injuring three others, according to Tafileh's Civil Defence Department (CDD).

According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, a source at the Tafileh CDD said that rescue and paramedic teams dealt with the accident that resulted in the death of Hajaya and the injury of his son and two other people.

The source noted that the injured were reported to be in fair condition.

CDD personnel administered first aid to the injured before transferring them, along with the body, to the Prince Zeid Military Hospital in Tafileh, some 180km southwest of Amman.

Education Minister Walid Maani and Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh mourned Hajaya's passing and expressed their deepest condolences to the former JTA president’s family.

Ahmad Samara Zu’bi, head of the Professional Association and President of the Jordanian Engineers Association, on Friday offered condolences over Hajaya's death and commended his efforts since he became JTA president in April, Petra added.

Jordan Press Association President Rakan Saaydeh, deputy president and members of the association council and the general assembly paid tribute to Hajaya and expressed their deepest sympathies to his family, the JTA and teachers in the Kingdom.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Friday expressed good wishes for Jordanians and the Arab and Islamic nations on the occasion of the Hijri New Year, paying tribute to the legacy of Prophet Mohammad’s migration.

In a post on Twitter celebrating the occasion, His Majesty King Abduallah wrote: "Honesty, patience, sincerity, determination, sacrifice and dignity are values we inspire by the memory of the migration of Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Through these great values, we all stand up for the sake of our home country of tolerance, modesty, dedicated work. Happy Hijri New Year to all mankind."

His Majesty has received cables of well wishes from several leaders of Arab and Muslim countries on the occasion of the New Hijri Year, according to a Royal Court statement.

King Abdullah also received cables from senior officials and officers in Jordan and representatives of civil society organisations.

HRH Crown Prince Hussein received similar cables on the occasion.

In the cables, officials said that Hijra, which marks the immigration of Prophet Mohammad to Medina Munawara from Mecca, was the start of a new phase in the history of the Islamic civilisation, based on the noble values of determination and righteousness.

They also praised His Majesty’s efforts to honour the values of Islam by instilling solidarity and cooperation among Jordanians, and highlighting the true image of Islam at various international forums as a religion rooted in moderation and tolerance.

On Saturday, Jordan, along with other Arab and Muslim countries, celebrated the Hijri New Year (1438).

The Islamic lunar year begins on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the calendar and one of four sacred months in Islam.

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation (SSC) on Saturday urged subscribers covered by unemployment insurance to apply for disbursement of unemployment allowances in case their services were ended for any reason at their workplaces. 

The SSC specified that the insurance will only be available to unemployed people who have not yet found jobs at other places, as this type of insurance only provides temporary income to help the insured manage their livelihoods until they find a work opportunity. 

SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi told The Jordan Times on Saturday that the number of those covered by unemployment insurance has reached 630,000, noting that the insurance does not cover employees of government departments and public institutions, members of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army and other security bodies or the optional subscribers to the SSC.

Disbursement of unemployment allowances limits demand on early retirement, Sbeihi said in an SSC statement sent to The Jordan Times.

He stated that being able to spend while unemployed might motivate people to continue working by taking on another job to increase their subscription period and obtain a better pension.

Unemployment insurance in the Kingdom started in September of 2011, Sbeihi said, noting that more than 90,000 subscribers have benefitted from it so far, reimbursed with over JD77 million during their unemployment periods.

If the insured have been subscribed to the SCC for at least 36 months and are included in unemployment insurance in the last month before they left their most recent jobs, they will be able to benefit from unemployment insurance, the SCC spokesperson said.

He added that a certain percentage of the salaries are given to the insured during each month of unemployment, depending on their latest salary and subscription duration.

In the first month of unemployment, the insured receive 75 per cent of their latest salaries, with a cap of JD555. For example, if the latest salary for a given subscriber was JD1,000 he would only receive JD555 in the first month of unemployment, and a decreasing percentage each month, according to Sbeihi.

The insured can benefit from unemployment insurance three times during their subscription to the social security period, each time lasting a total of six months of unemployment.

As long as the insured benefit from the unemployment insurance, they are still considered to be under the umbrella of the SSC and are not cut off from their subscription, Sbeihi said.

"In 2018 alone, 20,000 subscribers covered by unemployment insurance benefitted from the fund, with a total of JD24 million provided," Sbeihi said in early August.

"Of course, those who do not need to use unemployment insurance at all or use only a little, and then retire and are not under the SCC law whatsoever — they will receive the total credit in their accounts as well as the investment revenues on that amount," Sbeihi said at the time.

He added that 1.5 per cent of an insured person's salary goes to an unemployment insurance subscription: 1 per cent from the employee and 0.5 per cent from the business owner.

AMMAN — The Jordan Press Association (JPA) on Friday condemned the Israeli attack against Journalist Ali Jadallah of the Turkish Anadolu Agency, who was shot by Israeli occupation forces while covering the weekly Return Marches at the Gaza border.

Majed Qaraan, head of the JPA’s Palestine Committee, said that the assault is part of the occupation’s crackdown on journalists. He urged the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2222 that guarantees the safety of journalists, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — The results of Tawjihi’s (the general secondary education certificate examination) complementary session, announced on Saturday, witnessed an increase in the total pass rate to 60.2 per cent, according to the Education Ministry.

The ministry said that the pass rate of the complementary session alone stood at 53.4 per cent, noting that 92,450 students sat for the session, 49,410 of whom scored the minimum needed to pass, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry added that 36,424 students sat for the complementary examination to increase their average, 28,474 of whom met the score while 56,026 students sat to complete their success requirements, 12,986 of whom did so.