Jordan

AMMAN, Dec 5 (Reuters) - A Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in jail on Sunday for causing the death of 10 COVID-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a major state hospital, state media said.

The court found the former director of the state hospital in Salt, a city west of the capital, and four of his senior aides responsible for the deaths, the media said. The patients, who were being treated in the hospital, died in March when staff failed to act after oxygen ran out in a COVID-19 ward for nearly an hour.

01 Dec 2021; MEMO: UNRWA is unable to pay its 28,000 employees due to a major funding crisis, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said yesterday.

UNRWA has run schools, clinics and food distribution programmes for millions of registered Palestinian refugee families across the Middle East since they were expelled by Zionist gangs in 1948.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday it was unable to pay its 28,000 employees on time this month because of a major funding crisis, warning of potential cuts in vital services to millions of people amid a global pandemic.

UNRWA runs schools, clinics and food distribution programs for millions of registered Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, mainly the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

28 Nov 2021; MEMO: Jordan will hold local elections on March 22, the country's electoral commission said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, commission spokesman Jihad al-Momani said members of the municipal and provincial councils and Greater Amman Municipality will be elected during the vote.

In March, the Jordanian government decided to dissolve the local councils, including Greater Amman Municipality.

The kingdom's last local polls were held in August 2017.

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: Jordan has witnessed popular and political anger at a deal with Israel to exchange electricity generated in the kingdom with water from the occupation state, Safa reported on Wednesday. The means that Jordanian-produced electricity will be used to supply illegal Israeli settlements.

22 Nov 2021; MEMO: Israel, Jordan and the UAE are expected to sign a deal today in Dubai under which a solar plant in the Jordanian desert will generate power for Israel, in exchange for a desalination plant in Israel that will provide Jordan with water, news agencies said.

The Israeli news website Walla reported officials saying that the agreement is the biggest regional cooperation project ever reached between Israel and its neighbours.

22 Nov 2021; MEMO: Some 75 Jordanian MPs yesterday condemned the UK's plan to designate the Palestinian movement Hamas as a "terrorist" organisation, considering the move "aggression" against Palestinians and Arabs.

18 Nov 2021; MEMO: Britain's Prince Charles said yesterday that Jordan's custodianship over Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem is "vital" to achieving peace in the Middle East.

"The United Kingdom views Jordan, under the leadership of King Abdullah II, not only as a friend, but as a consistent voice of moderation and tolerance, as was the case during the reign of the late King Hussein Bin Talal," Prince Charles said during a visit to the Jordan Museum in the capital, Amman, accompanied by his wife, Camilla.

12 Nov 2021; MEMO: Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the kingdom has resumed relations with the Syrian regime due to the absence of "any effective strategy to resolve the Syrian conflict".

In an interview with CNN, Safadi explained that Jordan's coordination with its partners and friends is once again an attempt to direct the movement towards an effective mechanism that would put an end to the Syrian crisis.

AMMAN, Nov 9 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordan yesterday, warned against the continued absence of serious and effective negotiations, to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, based on the two-state solution.

There is no alternative to the two-state solution that guarantees an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said, during a meeting in the capital, Amman, with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland.

Safadi said that, Jordan will continue to exert efforts to reach the two-state solution.