Jordan's King Abdullah II on Thursday said he is seeking qualitative changes to the kingdom’s political system amid socio-economic turmoil.
The country has been ruled by the Hashemite monarchy for the past 100 years.
The king formed a mostly loyalist committee to come up with proposals for political reform centred on the 130-member parliament, which has little power in Jordan.
Last week, a tribal political figure called on his followers to challenge the monarch’s authority, prompting the largely pro-government parliament to remove him.
“We are intent on making a qualitative jump in the political and parliamentarian life,” the king said in a letter to the committee’s chairman, former prime minister Samir Al Rifai.
According to the royal court, the committee will be made up of 92 members, led by Mr Rifai.
Jordan is in a recession and unemployment is officially at a record 24 per cent. The government said last year it had increased the social assistance budget as more people sought support.
Several independent committees were formed to submit proposals for political reform since the king succeeded his father, the late King Hussein, in 1999. These were established mostly in times of political and economic uncertainty.
Power is concentrated with the king. Parliament, which is dominated by tribes, is a forum for government-sanctioned criticism. Jordan's tribes are also a main component of the security forces and largely employed by the state, as opposed to the private sector.
The king said the committee’s mission was to “modernise the political system” and come up with proposals for a new election law for the legislature.
Parliamentary seats are largely allocated to outlaying electoral districts that have relatively small populations.
The king instructed the committee to “give recommendations on modernising legislation that governs local government and enlarge the base of participation in decision-making”.
He did not give details but said he wanted to see a parliament based on blocs “with programmes” and progress “in the way the executive branch exercise its powers”.
On Monday, the monarch ordered an end to the current session of the sitting parliament.
The ruling came a day after parliament removed Osama Al Ajarmeh, a tribal deputy from the urban and agricultural region of Naour, south of Amman.
In a street address to his followers last week, Mr Al Ajarmeh made disparaging remarks about the king and called on his supporters to disobey the monarch.
At the end of April, the king released 16 tribe members from other regions who the authorities implied were involved in sedition.
The 16 were linked to Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, a half-brother of the king, who had sought to court the tribes.
__________
King Abdullah attends JAF ceremony
__________
A large proportion of Jordan’s tribes declared their allegiance to the Hashemites when King Abdullah I, the great grandfather of the current king, founded what would become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with British support in the early 1920s.
The tribes are concentrated mainly in the centre and south of Jordan. But a large proportion of the country’s population of 10 million people is of Palestinian origin.
The kingdom's Palestinian populations are mostly concentrated in urban areas in northern and central Jordan. Most of their ancestors fled the conflict that erupted after the creation of Israel in 1948 and during the 1967 war.
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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Company%20profile
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.
RESULT
Arsenal 2
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 45 4'
Eddie Ntkeiah 51'
Portsmouth 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Age 26
Born May 17, 1991
Height 1.80 metres
Birthplace Sydney, Australia
Residence Eastbourne, England
Plays Right-handed
WTA titles 3
Prize money US$5,761,870 (Dh21,162,343.75)
Wins / losses 312 / 181
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
The specs
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Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
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Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
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