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AMMAN — Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan on Wednesday underlined that Jordan’s peaceful nuclear programme is a strategic option for the future of the country and that available uranium quantities are economically feasible to support the venture.

During a meeting with the Central Badia Jbour tribe at JAEC headquarters, he added that the difficult situation the Kingdom is going through prompted the government to resort to the nuclear option to generate electricity and diversify its energy resources.

Toukan stressed that the third generation reactors are very safe, under which the nuclear waste is processed according to international standards.

Former senator Ghazi Jbour said the meeting was fruitful, as it acquainted the delegation with new information they were unaware of.

AMMAN — The Council of Ministers approved a decision to turn a Social Development Ministry building into a shelter for victims of human trafficking.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Minister Reem Abu Hassan proposed that a 2,000-square-metre ministry building be rehabilitated for this purpose.

AMMAN — Sharifa Zein Bint Nasser, president of the Hashemite Fund for Badia Development’s board of trustees, on Wednesday underscored the importance of projects launched in the badia by charitable and cooperative societies and their contribution to the labour market.

During a field visit to the Northern Badia, she checked on the progress of several projects financed by the fund, asserting the importance of achieving sustainable development.

Established in 2003, the fund seeks to improve socio-economic conditions in the badia.

MAFRAQ — The UN World Food Programme will issue cards to Syrians at the Zaatari Refugee Camp to buy basic food items from shops at the facility, the UNCHR announced on Wednesday.

Nasser Tawaibeh, from the UNCHR media department, said the new measures will allow Syrian families to shop according to their needs, instead of receiving specific commodities.

He added that the agency is conducting a new survey to identify the exact number of registered refugees in the camp, which current stands at around 90,000.

Tawaibeh said 28,700 families are living in trailers, while 1,300 are still residing in tents.

AMMAN — The Senate’s Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday recommended that the provision in the draft State Security Court (SSC) law excluding resistance action against Israel from terrorism charges be scrapped.

During their deliberations of the law, deputies added the provision to the bill, which was then removed by senators.

Senator Mohammad Raqqad, who heads the committee, said if the Senate approves his panel’s recommendation, the two Houses of Parliament will have to hold a joint session to give a final say over the disputed article.

Raqqad described deputies’ amendment as “unnecessary”, saying that all international laws, including those of the UN, do not consider resistance as an act of terror.

AMMAN — Foreign Ministry Secretary General Mohammad Ali Thaher on Wednesday received a copy of newly appointed Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Sami Bin Abdullah Al Saleh.

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Senate President Abdur-Ra’uf S. Rawabdeh will take part in celebrations in Tunis to celebrate the endorsement of the Tunisian constitution.

The Monarch received an invitation from Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki to take part in the ceremony.

AMMAN — Visitors to Petra dropped by 12 per cent in January compared with the same month last year, according to the Petra Archaeological Park (PAP).

A total of 36,275 tourists of different nationalities visited the ancient Nabataean city last month, including 29,247 foreigners, 6,935 Jordanians and 93 official guests and students.

As a result, the site's tourism revenues went down by 18 per cent in January, standing at JD636,608, compared with JD776,301 during the same month in 2013, according to PAP, which attributed the decline to the political unrest witnessed in several neighbouring countries.

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of two suspects accused of defrauding several Jordanians of undisclosed amounts of cash in what is known as a “black dollar” scam.

Preventive Security Department agents arrested the two men, who are citizens of an unidentified African country, on Tuesday at a furnished apartment, Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi said.

“We received several complaints from citizens about the two men, who have been in town for a while… we monitored the apartment and raided it without any major incident,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

He said investigators found papers cut in the size of Jordanian and US currency notes, computers, printers, ink and some chemical substances in the apartment.

Over the past decade, several suspects have been arrested in Jordan in connection with what the authorities have dubbed the “black dollar” scam.

The suspects pose as representatives of rich individuals in countries that are plagued by conflict, according to Sartawi.

“The men claim that these rich individuals want to smuggle cash outside their countries and dye the currency notes black,” the police official explained.

The suspects would trick their victims by collecting large amounts of money “to buy expensive chemicals that would return the currency to its original condition, promising to give them some of the smuggled cash”, Sartawi said, adding that once the fraudsters received the money they would disappear.

The operation entails showing the victim a black currency note, usually a “black dollar”, which would then be placed in a special chemical substance and transformed into a clean currency note, according to officials who were involved in past arrests suspects in similar scams.

The suspects usually use “visual tricks”, such as substituting a black dollar with a real dollar covered in black paint, to convince their victims that the substance actually works.

Sartawi urged the public to be careful when dealing with people who “promise easy profits”.

“The black dollar scam has been going on in the Kingdom for over 10 years and many citizens fall victim to this kind of fraud; we hope that people will avoid such suspicious transactions,” he said.

New Jersey – A heavy winter storm that could dump up to a foot (30 cm) of snow bore down on the US East Coast on Wednesday, prompting a state of emergency in New Jersey and the closure of some schools.

Areas from the lower Great Lakes eastward through central New England should see ample snowfall before the system moves out to sea by Wednesday evening, said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

A day after the storm pounded the nation's mid-section, there was a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain hitting a swath north of Washington, D.C. through New York City, with building snowfall in Boston and parts of New England, Thompson said.

"It's going to be a mess," Thompson said. "The heavy snow is going to be up toward Boston and inland from the Coast."

Residents and state officials were taking precautions, with officials postponing legislative work and closing schools.

Schools in Providence, Rhode Island, were ordered closed Wednesday due to the approaching storm.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency and ordered state offices closed on Wednesday for all non-essential workers.

"I encourage all New Jerseyans to drive carefully and remain off the roads if possible so that our first responders and public safety officials can safely respond to any emergency situations," Christie said in a written statement.

More than 2,000 U.S. flights were canceled early on Wednesday morning, with more than 250 delayed, according to Flightaware.com, a website that tracks air traffic.

A second patch of snowfall that was approaching Cleveland and Detroit would likely move across to the New York and New England areas later in the day, Thompson said.

New York issued a hazardous travel advisory for Wednesday and Mayor Bill de Blasio told residents to prepare for a difficult commute.

The storm set up Monday night over southwestern Kansas and was peaking over Kansas City on Tuesday. More than 7 inches (18 cm) of snow had fallen in the Kansas City area by the early evening.