By Hana Namrouqa – Apr 05,2016 AMMAN — A new regulation listing the names of centennial, rare and wild endangered trees and plants and banning cutting them down has entered into force after being issued in the Official Gazette. Under Article 3 of the new regulation, published in the Official Gazette on March 31, trees […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Apr 10,2016 AMMAN — Authorities have uncovered 90 violations on water networks and resources during the past two weeks in west Amman’s Wadi Al Seer area, an official at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation said on Saturday. The violators diverted water from main pipelines and dug illegal wells, according to […]

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AMMAN — Benefits from the rainmaking planned for the coming years are expected to significantly surpass the costs of the operation, achieving large gains in increasing rainfall, Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) Director Mohammad Samawi said Tuesday in a statement. As Water Minister Hazem Nasser has announced, the Kingdom needs more strategic projects to enhance water […]

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King Salman unveils “historic step to connect Africa and Asia” during Cairo visit as allies seal multiple trade deals. 09 Apr 2016 King Salman of Saudi Arabia has said that an agreement has been reached with Egypt to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting the two countries. The monarch made the announcement in […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 04/11/2016 In a statement released on Sunday, the YRA said that though it was reluctant to use pesticide, the spraying had become necessary due to sewage leaks. For the second time in a decade, the Yarkon River Authority has begun spraying pesticide along the length of the river to control a […]

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By Saeb Rawashdeh – Apr 14,2016 AMMAN — Despite the low rainfall in Petra, the Nabataeans managed to create “a very sophisticated system” to capture and use this water to grow crops, according to Professor Nizar Abu Jaber. In a lecture delivered at the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GPIA) earlier this week, the scholar […]

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AMMAN – Jordan and the German Development Bank (KfW) on Tuesday signed agreements for water and wastewater projects worth 22 million euros (around JD18 million), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Water Minister Hazem Nasser signed several agreements to implement wastewater networks and water projects across the Kingdom, especially in regions hosting Syrian refugees. During […]

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By Mohammad Ghazal – Apr 13,2016 AMMAN — Jordan will renegotiate a deal with British Gas Group to import natural gas from Gaza Strip after Shell acquired the company, according to a government official. “Following Shell›s acquisition of British Gas Group, we plan to have meetings with Shell to revive the agreement,” secretary general of […]

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By Dana Al Emam – Apr 09,2016 AMMAN — In a bid to encourage experiential tourism, the Jordan Trail Association (JTA) has developed a hiking trek that connects Um Qais in the northern tip of the country to the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, passing through areas with distinctive features. Founded by a group of […]

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By Merza Noghai – Apr 07,2016 AMMAN — The first Jordan Dive Show kicked off on Thursday in Amman with the participation of more than 20 dive centres based in Aqaba, showcasing their services and scuba courses for beginner and advanced divers alike. The exhibition, which continues through Saturday, aims at acquainting Jordanians and tourists […]

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GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Scores of Palestinians demonstrated outside of the Palestinian Legislative Council building in Gaza City on Monday to protest the ongoing power crisis which recently took a turn for the worse after the Palestinian Authority (PA) revoked a tax exemption on fuel in Gaza. Gaza’s power plant shut down completely on April […]

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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel has given initial approval to a Palestinian request to build a power plant in the northern occupied West Bank, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Tuesday. In a statement released in Arabic, COGAT said the project for a gas power plant in the industrial zone […]

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By AFP – Apr 07,2016 ABU DHABI — Renewable energy capacity grew worldwide by a record 8.3 per cent in 2015, according to a report published on Thursday by a global green energy organisation. “As of the end of 2015, 1,985 gigawatts (GW) of renewable generation capacity existed globally,” the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) […]

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Darwn Rahim Kurdistan has long been recognized as the territory of a stateless nation, or a land that struggles to survive. These days the story has changed. Kurdistan has, according to some estimates, the seventh richest natural gas reserves in the world and holds 3-6 Trillion Cubic Meters of natural gas. Natural resources have been […]

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by Mohammad Ghazal – Apr 07,2016 AMMAN — Around 2,000 mosques in Jordan are expected to be fully running on renewable energy in two years, reducing their energy consumption by a minimum of 90 per cent, a government official said on Thursday. Currently, 400 mosques in Jordan generate their needs of electricity via solar energy […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Apr 07,2016 AMMAN — Despite existing interdependencies between energy and water, decision makers, planning institutions and the scientific research community are still analysing both sectors separately, experts said on Wednesday. Weakness in research in the water-energy nexus holds particularly true for the West Asia North Africa (WANA) region, where research in […]

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The United States Embassy Beirut is hosting waste-to-energy expert Thomas Henderson as part of activities for Earth Day and in support of the Global Sustainable Development Goals, the embassy said on Thursday. “Henderson is in Lebanon from April 6 to 10 to share his 37 years of experience in the field of waste management with […]

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KUWAIT CITY — Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations can make a “net benefit” of $750 billion if they achieve their set targets on the use of renewable energy, a senior official said on Monday. “Almost every country in the [MENA] region has a target for renewable energy from 5-15 per cent,” by 2030, […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 04/04/2016 Report shows serious advances, yet Haifa ammonia factory’s promised relocation in dispute. For all those questioning what’s being done to fix pollution in Haifa, look no further than the Environmental Protection Agency’s quarterly report. It’s an update on how the government has been carrying out the plan to cut air […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 04/01/2016 Environmental Ministry official: Government has maintained complete transparency. The first official report on Haifa’s pollution and disease rates is ready, with one caveat: The government does not deem it ready for the public’s eyes just yet. On Thursday, the researchers carrying out a five-year Haifa epidemiology report submitted their findings […]

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