Month: August 2022

Israeli occupation forces early Wednesday made an incursion into al-Fakhari town east of Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

“Israeli troops, backed by military vehicles and bulldozers, pushed dozens of meters deep into east of the town and razed the Palestinian-owned lands,” the sources said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Charge D’affaires at the Embassy of Malaysia in Amman, Wan Faizatul Afzan Ismayatim, has reaffirmed that her country is committed to supporting Jordan with capacity-building programs and technical assistance in the coming years.

The remark was made at a Tuesday graduation ceremony for the 2022 Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program (MTCP) implemented in Jordan and other countries, which was hosted by the embassy.

Since its inception in 1980, the MTCP has benefited more than 32,000 participants through programs hosted by various Malaysian training institutions, she said, adding that a total of 482 Jordanian officials enrolled in the programs in 2022, of whom 54 completed the scheme.

She noted that the program focuses on human capital development through training in various fields crucial for a country’s development, such as public administration, agriculture, poverty alleviation, investment promotion, ICT, banking, and the English language.

More courses in the areas of tourism, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, energy, food and beverage industry, Islamic banking, textiles industry, taxation and customs management, economic planning and cyber security, microfinance, and IT audit will be made available to Jordanian students, she continued.

The graduates thanked the Malaysian government for planning various training programs as part of the MTCP, saying that these efforts promoted knowledge sharing and capacity building between Malaysia and other nations. They also said the program had a positive effect on their professional lives.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor, “Akeed,” recorded 43 rumors that circulated through local media and social media during August and came from social networking sites.

The observatory’s report, which came out on Wednesday, said this month witnessed an increase in rumors compared to the 28 in July.

According to the report, three rumors circulating in media originated from social media platforms, while social media reported only one from foreign sources.

Public affairs rumors came first with 15 rumors, or 35 percent, followed by economic rumors with 11 or 26 percent, while in the third place were security rumors with 7 rumors and 16 percent, figures showed.

Forty-one rumors, or 95 percent of the total 43 rumors, originated from local sources, such as social media or news websites, according to the report, while only two rumors, or 5 percent of the total, originated from foreign sources.

Thirty-five rumors, or 81 percent of the total, originated from local social media, while eight rumors, or 19 percent, originated from traditional media.

The observatory asserted that the fundamental rule when handling any content created by users of social networking sites is to not re-publish it unless it has been substantiated by a credible source.

The observatory cautioned that relying on the users of these sites as a source of news without considering the veracity of the content leads to the publication of a great deal of incorrect and inaccurate news, as well as the propagation of rumors and false information.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Unemployment rates in the Kingdom during the second quarter of 2022 stood at 22.6 percent, down by 2.2 percent compared to the same period of 2021.

According to the Department of Statistics monthly report issued Wednesday, the percentage of unemployed males amounted to 20.7, down 2 percent, against 29.4 percent of females, down 3.7 percent.

In 2022, unemployment rates among males in the second quarter increased by 0.2 percent compared to the first quarter, while a decrease of 2.1 percent was recorded among females.

Compared to other educational levels, the unemployment rate among university degree holders (unemployed persons with a bachelor’s degree or higher divided by the labor force of the same educational qualification) increased to 26.2 percent.

According to the findings, 53.5 percent of the overall jobless held secondary school diplomas or higher, while 46.2 percent had educational credentials lower than secondary school.

Unemployment rates differed by educational level and gender, with 25.5 percent of unemployed males holding a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 78.9 percent of unemployed females.

At the governorate level, the Tafilah governorate had the highest unemployment rate of 27 percent, while the capital, Amman, had the lowest unemployment rate of 20.5 percent.

The employed proportion of the total population aged 15 and older was 26 percent, with 58.8 percent of male employees in the age range 20-39 years and 60.4 percent of female workers in the age group 20-39 years.

The findings revealed a considerable disparity in the distribution of the workforce by educational level and gender, with 59 percent of the entire male labor force having less than secondary education, compared to 11 percent for females.

The findings also indicated that 71.8 percent of the overall female workforce held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 24.7 percent among males.

For the second quarter of this year, the revised economic participation rate (the labor force attributed to the population 15 years and older) was 33.5 percent (53.2 percent for males versus 14.2 percent for females), compared to 33.7 percent (53.4 percent for males and 13.9 percent for females) for the same quarter last year.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The scorching weather currently prevailing in the Kingdom pushed the electric load on Tuesday evening to 3,850 megawatts, the highest load recorded this summer, up from a morning load of 3,770 megawatts.

According to data released on Wednesday by the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), the highest power load ever recorded in the Kingdom was 4,010 MW last January.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Women Affairs Directorate at the Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs, and Holy Places has participated in the World Water Week 2022 in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

The event’s theme is “Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water” and is backed by the German Agency for International Cooperation.

World Water Week is a leading conference on global water issues. It has been held annually since 1991, attracting a diverse mix of participants from many professional backgrounds and every corner of the world to share their experiences and address climate change and biodiversity loss.

According to a ministry statement issued Wednesday, Lamees Hazeem, Director of the Women Affairs Directorate, said the department’s participation stemmed from its role in raising awareness about water usage and rationalization.

Source: Jordan News Agency