Day: October 10, 2021

Categories
Government Policy

Iraq elections going ‘normally, calmly’, says Arab league

Iraq’s parliamentary elections are being held “normally and calmly,” an Arab League delegation to the country said Sunday.

Head of the pan-Arab organisation’s delegation Saeed Abu Ali said in a statement the Arab League have partook in the supervision of the parliamentary elections in several provinces, highlighting all signs indicate the election process has been going smoothly.

Abu Ali said the delegation is tasked with ensuring the elections are held according to the law without any violations.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

Journalists to elect new president, council members Friday

Members of the Jordan Press Association (JPA) will Friday elect a new president and members of the syndicate’s council in the first professional union elections to be held in the Kingdom since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.

A total of 1,142 journalists, who are eligible to vote, will cast their ballots to elect a new president, vice president, and a 9-strong council. Acting JPA president Yanal Barmawi said the association is “all-set” for Friday’s general assembly, during which the vote will be held.

For the vote to go ahead, Barmawi said, the JPA’s bylaw requires the presence of the majority of registered members (50+1), otherwise, the election will be deferred to the next Friday and will be held with those present.

The JPA election was supposed to be held in April 2020 but was deferred to this year following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing defense orders and lockdowns.

According to Barmawi, the attendance will have to provide a proof of Covid vaccination or submit a negative PCR test conducted in the 72 hours preceding the vote.

Before the elections, the general assembly will discuss the 2019 and 2020 financial and administrative reports and a recommendation to conduct an actuarial study over the JPA’s Cooperation and Social Security Fund.

With regard to the much-anticipated vote, each voter will have their ballots; one for the president, one for the vice president and another for the nine members of the syndicate’s council.

Barmawi explained that vote counting will be, for the first time in the JPA’s history, machine-controlled while machine-rejected ballots will be counted manually, adding that each ballot (for president, VP and members) will carry different colors.

He pointed out that the number of candidates for the position of president is 3, while 5 are competing for the vice-president. A total of 29 are vying for seats in the 9-strong council, according to Barmawi who said the numbers reflect the count as of Sunday. He indicated that the candidacy window will close at the end of Monday and that the names of the candidates will be announced after approval by the current council on Tuesday.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

King receives Lebanon PM

His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday received Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Al Husseiniya Palace, and discussed bilateral ties and means to expand cooperation.

King Abdullah reaffirmed Jordan’s ongoing support for Lebanon and the Lebanese people.

The meeting also covered means to reach political solutions to regional crises.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh and Director of the Office of His Majesty Jafar Hassan attended the meeting.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Government Policy

Safadi meets US special envoy to Yemen

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, discussed with U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis through a political solution based on the approved references and relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

Speaking at the meeting on Sunday, Safadi stressed the need to intensify efforts to end the Yemeni crisis, protect the brotherly Yemeni people and the region from its consequences, and reach the necessary political solution to achieve this goal through commitment to the approved agreements and references.

In this regard, Safadi reiterated the Kingdom’s support for the Saudi initiative to reach a political solution in Yemen, and the UN efforts to end the conflict.

Lenderking, for his part, praised the Kingdom’s hosting of the Office of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, and its role in supporting efforts to enhance security and stability in the region.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Affairs

Jordan condemns terrorist attack on convoy of Aden governor, Agriculture Minister

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the terrorist bombing that targeted the convoy of the governor of Aden and the Minister of Agriculture on Sunday, and killed a number of people and injured others.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Haitham Abu Al Foul expressed the Kingdom’s condemnation and denunciation of all terrorist acts and practices.

He reaffirmed the Kingdom’s support and solidarity with the government of Yemen and its people.

Al Foul expressed his deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the families of the victims, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Affairs

Cabinet endorses changes to sales tax act

The Cabinet Sunday approved the Act to Amend the Sales Tax Act of 2021 to stymie tax evasion by plugging the loopholes in the system.

The amendment stipulates excess tax reimbursement would be paid immediately from the tax money charged instead of assigning allocations for that purpose, addressing the issue of delay in reimbursing taxpayers.

The Cabinet also endorsed a national document to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, which Jordan became a member of in 2015.

The national document outlines more measures to limit global warming that, according to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s) recent document, may negatively impact the climate and environment.

It also approved a recommendation of the Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Board of Directors to give the Residential Units Programme beneficiaries whose units, built before 16/9/2021, are unused an ultimatum to “resolve their situation.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Affairs

Gov’t oks purchasing new building for Agriculture Ministry

The Cabinet agreed to mandate Ministers of Agriculture and Finance to sign the memorandum of understanding for the purchase of a new building for the Ministry of Agriculture based on the financial leasing system from the Cities and Villages Development Bank (CVDB).

In a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, the government allowed the Ministry of Agriculture to obtain financing through the CVDB to purchase a JD3.7 million building, at a fixed annual return of 4 percent.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been leasing a building since 1988 for an annual fee of about JD423,000, and the financial leasing decision will enable the Ministry to own the building after completing the payment of the property value.

The new building, which is located on the Jordan Street road, will allow visitors to have easy access to the Ministry’s headquarters, in terms of the availability of parking spaces.

For his part, Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Hnaifat, said the government expressed great interest in the new ministry building and the ministry exerted great efforts to complete the procedures as quickly as possible.

Hnaifat added that all the ministry’s needs will be taken into account within this building in order to provide services in one place, noting that the building will be owned by the Ministry after a few years.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Technology

Yarmouk University, Goethe Institute discuss cooperation

President of the Yarmouk University, Islam Massad, on Sunday met with Mariam Aldameiry, deputy director of Germany’s Goethe Institute in Amman.

The meeting discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two sides, especially in the field of teaching the German language.

Massad lauded ties between Jordan and Germany, and the scientific and academic cooperation between the Yarmouk University with various German educational and research institutions.

He stressed the university’s keenness to enhance cooperation with the Goethe Institute, and to further cooperate in the field of teaching German language in light of the increasing demand from students and members of society to learn this language.

Massad expressed the university’s readiness to cooperate with the institute in holding level tests in the German language, and the possibility of holding German language courses offered by the institute through the university’s language center in a manner that suits the needs of society, whether via in-class, remote or integrated education, pointing to the possibility of establishing a branch of the institute at the university in the future.

Aldameiry, in turn, commended the Yarmouk University’s distinguished scientific reputation, and stressed the institute’s keenness to frame cooperation with the university within a cooperation agreement between the two parties, especially with the strong demand by the people of the northern governorates to learn the German language, noting that the institute has made great progress in preparing a distinguished program for training German language teachers.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
Technology

JOHUD launches Queen Alia Social Responsibility Competition 2021

The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) launched on Sunday, Queen Alia Social Responsibility Competition 2021.

The award, which came in conjunction with the World Mental Health Day (WMHD), has chosen its 2021 theme focusing on the psychological effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on students, their families, society and psychological support, to raise awareness and enhance target groups’ confidence to help better align to circumstances.

The award’s supreme committee announced the starting date to submit applications to participate in the contest’s activities electronically for school students, universities and the local community, starting Sunday, through its website “www.qac.jo”, according to a JOHUD statement.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the committee’s head, former Minister Bashir Rawashdeh, stressed the competition would contribute to community awareness and motivate responsibility to enable the target groups to play their role in building societies.

Calling on students and community members to take part in the competition to achieve its “humanitarian and charitable” goals, he lauded stakeholder efforts, which also come within the framework of JOHUD’s keenness to contribute to supporting national efforts to achieve sustainable human development.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Categories
General

Jordan expresses condolences over victims of Russian plane crash

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates expressed condolences to the government and people of Russia over the victims of a plane crash in the Tatarstan region on Sunday, which killed a number of people and injured others.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Haitham Abu Al Foul expressed the Kingdom’s solidarity with the government and people of Russia, and the deepest condolences to the families of the victims, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Source: Jordan News Agency