Day: January 7, 2022

Categories
Health

Germany tightens dining rules due to Omicron, loosens quarantine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and regional leaders tightened the rules for restaurant and other facilities visits but shortened COVID-19 quarantine periods on Friday in response to the Omicron variant.

Scholz added that all 16 state leaders supported the implementation of a general vaccination mandate and that the Bundestag lower house of parliament would discuss drafts of it soon.

Under new measures decided on Friday, people in Germany who have received a booster shot will not have to isolate after being in contact with someone who was infected with the coronavirus.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
Health

Pfizer expects updated COVID-19 vaccine data for kids under 5 by April

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) expects the latest results from a clinical trial for kids under the age of 5 of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE by April, a top company scientist said.

“The study has been amended to give a third dose to everybody who’s less than five at least eight weeks after their last vaccination,” Dr. Alejandra Gurtman, a Pfizer vaccine researcher said at a meeting of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

She said the company aims to have data for the age group by the end of March or the beginning of April.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
Technology

Jordan celebrates Arab Day for Eradication of Illiteracy

Jordan along with Arab states are celebrating the Arab Day for the Eradication of Illiteracy, marked annually on January 8.

On the occasion, Minister of Education Wajih Owais said, in a speech to mark the occasion, the illiteracy rate in Jordan was reduced from 88 per cent in 1952, to 5.1 in 2020.

The ministry, Owais said, opened in 2020/2021 academic year 147 centers, 127 of which were for women and 20 for men, attracting 1,405 women and 316 men.

Commenting on dropping out of school, the ministers stressed that 194 centers were opened, attracting 5600 girls and boys.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
General

Cold weather conditions forecast weekend

Cold weather condition is forecast, on Friday, to prevail in most parts of the Kingdom, while pleasant conditions are expected in the port city of Aqaba, the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said in its daily update.

Winds will be southeasterly, changing to northwesterly in evening hours.

Temperatures in the capital Amman will range between a high of 16 degrees Celsius and a low of 4 degrees.

Highs in the port city of Aqaba will hike up to 24 degrees, sliding to 9 degrees at night.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
General

Biden to deliver State of the Union address on March 1

The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress on March 1, a date that comes several weeks later than the speech usually occurs.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One that Biden had accepted an invitation to address Congress extended earlier Friday by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

This is the first time in U.S. history that a State of the Union address or annual message will be delivered in March; for most of the past century presidents delivered their annual addresses to Congress in January or February, according to the House historian.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
General

Interior minister attends Bethlehem Christmas Midnight Mass

Deputizing for His Majesty King Abdullah II, Minister of Interior Mazen Farraya attended Midnight Mass, according to the Eastern calendar, held at the Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine and Jordan Theophilus III, during his homily, hoped that peace prevails in the whole world.

The mass was attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, a number of Palestinian political figures and Christian and Muslim clerics from all over the world.

Earlier, Farraya met with the Palestinian prime minister and a number of Christian figures and stressed the strong ties that bring together Jordan and Palestine.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
Judicial

Kazakh president gives shoot-to-kill order to put down uprising

Kazakhstan’s president said on Friday he had ordered his forces to shoot-to-kill to deal with disturbances from those he called bandits and terrorists.

Security forces appeared to be in control of the streets of the main city Almaty on Friday morning but gunfire could still be heard after days of unrest in which dozens of people have been killed and public buildings ransacked and torched.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
Affairs

Omicron dents euro zone’s economic rebound

Euro zone economic sentiment dropped more than expected last month while inflation hit another record high, indicating the economy is under renewed stress as surging coronavirus infections force governments to tighten restrictions.

With infections breaking records almost daily as the Omicron variant sweeps across Europe, growth is likely to take a hit around the turn of the year even though governments have largely avoided the debilitating measures that brought their economies to a standstill a year ago.

Source: Jordan news Agency

Categories
Government Policy

Foreign ministry condemns new Israeli settlements plans

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the approval of the Israeli authorities to build 3557 new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Ministry’s official spokesperson Haitham Abu Al Foul said this step is flagrant and grave violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, foremost of which is Security Council Resolution No. 2334.

“The settlement policy, whether building or expanding settlements, confiscating land or displacing Palestinians, is an illegitimate and illegal policy that is rejected and condemned. It constitutes a unilateral step that violates international law and undermines efforts to achieve comprehensive and just peace and chances of the two-state solution based on international legitimacy resolutions,” Abu Al Foul said.

Source: Jordan news Agency