By Hana Namrouqa – Feb 23,2016 AMMAN — Around 110 million cubic metres (mcm) of water have been saved since authorities launched a national crackdown on water theft in 2013, government officials said on Tuesday. Water Minister Hazem Nasser said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times that sealing illegal wells and stopping attempts […]

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by Omar Obeidat – Feb 22,2016 Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour speaks at a ceremony in Amman on Monday to announce the preliminary findings of the 2015 population census (Petra photo) AMMAN — Jordan’s population increased by nearly 87 per cent over a decade, with the number of the capital’s residents more than doubling, according to […]

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By Muath Freij – Feb 21,2016 AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has decided to include new districts under its management in order to serve the growing number of residents in the capital, a GAM official said on Sunday. GAM spokesperson, Izzedin Shammout, said there are many empty spaces located in parts of the […]

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By Dana Al Emam – Feb 25,2016 AMMAN — A gas station worker in Balqa Governorate was stabbed to death earlier this month because he asked the motorist to put out a cigarette. Some two years ago, young man shot a minivan driver to death near a busy circle in Amman over a fierce argument […]

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schaduf.com has sent a current upate to the 2012 article on their work, “‘Schaduf’ sets up rooftop urban farms for low-income families” from Egypt Independent. see http://schaduf.com, http://schaduf.com/roof-gardens/ http://schaduf.com/community-farms/ Schaduf was established in 2011 to empower and sustain Cairo’s low income communities through rooftop farming. The Arabic word “schaduf” refers to an ancient irrigation tool, […]

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High above a neighborhood cafe in south Tel Aviv, an idealistic agronomist is cultivating salad greens and strawberries, and he says anyone can do it. Ronit Vered Feb 19, 2016 A relaxed noontime in the Getzel Café in Tel Aviv’s Shapira neighborhood. Peleh, the owner’s elderly dog, is sprawled at the entrance to the café, […]

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by Hana Namrouqa – Feb 16,2016 A pickup truck carries items scavenged from garbage containers in Amman (File photo) AMMAN — Scavengers digging through trash bins in Amman are driving away millions of dinars of potential investments in the capital’s waste collection and segregation, a municipal official said on Tuesday. Waste picking is no longer […]

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Feb 15,2016 – Michael Meyer www.project-syndicate.org The idea that oil wealth can be a curse is an old one — and it should need no explaining. Every few decades, energy prices rise to the heavens, kicking off a scramble for new sources of oil. Then supply eventually outpaces demand, and prices suddenly crash to Earth. […]

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By Raed Omari – Feb 16,2016 AMMAN — The government on Tuesday left it unclear whether it has annulled the deal with Noble Energy to buy natural gas from Israel. During Tuesday’s Lower House oversight session, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Saif said that no deal has been reached yet with Noble Energy to buy natural […]

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Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he would prioritize the exploration of gas and oil after Lebanon resolves its waste management crisis. Berri, whose remarks were published in al-Joumhouria daily on Friday, told his visitors that he will focus on resolving the oil exploration file after the garbage crisis which erupted in July 2015 is […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 02/17/2016 In July, the Afek Oil and Gas firm confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons at the site. The hunt for oil in the Golan Heights entered a new stage on Tuesday as a round of testing began at the Ness-3 drilling site. In July, the Afek Oil and Gas firm confirmed […]

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The tower could generate up to 121 megawatts of power, providing around 1% of Israel’s electricity; Israel aims for 10% of country’s energy needs to come from renewable sources by 2020. Reuters Published: 02.19.16 In a vast expanse of open desert in southern Israel, a 787-foot tower (240 metres) is taking shape that its builders […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 02/18/2016 Leviathan Energy Renewables’ technologies boost power of wind turbines. In a country where most rooftops have a solar panel on top, one American-Israeli inventor hopes to change the wind in order to change the world. Dr. Daniel Farb is CEO of Leviathan Energy Renewables, Ltd., which specializes in renewable wind-power […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Feb 20,2016 AMMAN — Authorities have removed 15 violations on a main water carrier that supplies Husseiniyeh town in Maan Governorate, a government official said on Saturday. The violators were diverting hundreds of cubic metres of freshwater daily to wash trucks and cars near the desert road, which links Amman to […]

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AMMAN — The Water Ministry and the German Development Bank (KfW) on Wednesday signed a financing agreement for the “Irrigation in the Jordan Valley” project. The scheme is fully funded by the EU through a grant of around 6 million euros (some JD4.7 million), according to a statement released by the KfW and the EU. […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 02/17/2016 In a televised address, Nasrallah said that “Israelis fear that if we attack the Ammonia plant in Haifa, we could kill 800,000 residents.” As Haifa scrambles to deal with pollution caused by the cluster of urban petrochemical plants, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s threats to attack the city’s ammonia plant only […]

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The mayor of Haifa in northern Israel said on Wednesday that he is grateful for threats made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to attack the city’s ammonia facility. In 2006, Israel fought a war with Hizbullah in Lebanon, but when Nasrallah said Tuesday that “several of our rockets combined with the ammonia storage facility […]

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Tadweer, the Centre of Waste Management Abu Dhabi, has launched an initiative to convert household’s cooking oil waste into biodiesel for vehicles. The project has been started in Abu Dhabi’s Al Raha area whereby residents are provided with a five liter container to keep in their homes and fill with any cooking oil waste, instead […]

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Dubai’s landfills are singing to the tune of 1,000 tonnes of food waste per day, according to a senior municipality official on Tuesday. The plan is to put those tonnes of discarded food to good use by turning them into biofuel. Food waste is not limited to residential homes: Hotels, catering companies and schools also […]

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Al-Masry Al-Youm 17/02/2016 Residents in the Red Sea city of Ras Gharib have pleaded for authorities to help remove an oil spill that has stretched along its shores and created piles of dead fish. Oil spills have become common for the city over the past years, discouraging locals and visitors from using its beaches, some […]

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