Jordan is facing a mounting threat of illegal drugs from Syria, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the UN special envoy to Syria on Sunday, while indicating the kingdom would continue efforts to end its neighbour's international isolation.
A Jordanian Foreign Ministry statement said Mr Safadi spoke to Geir Pedersen about “the mounting threat of drug smuggling from the Syrian territory to the kingdom” during their meeting in Amman.
Jordan has been at the forefront of Arab countries pushing for normalisation of ties with Syria under President Bashar Al Assad, an issue that has divided the region and contributed to an indefinite delay in convening this year’s Arab summit in Algiers.
In an indication of the divisions over Syria after nearly 12 years of civil war, Qatar hosted this week a meeting of different strands of the Syrian opposition, plucking them from obscurity after years of regional marginalisation.
One factor affecting the regional calculus towards the Assad regime has been an acceleration of a multi-billion dollar drug trade, mainly Captagon, flowing from Syria to Jordan, and from Jordan to inner Arabia.
Arab security officials say the Captagon comes mainly from areas controlled by Syrian regime forces and allied pro-Iranian militias. They attribute the increased smuggling over the past two years to diminishing production costs and the drying up of other illicit resources in Syria’s war-hit economy.
Mr Safadi said Jordan was working with the United Nations for a political solution to end the Syrian conflict and “restore Syria’s role in the region”.
He also said Jordan supported "getting Syria rid of terrorism", but did not give details.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011 in response to the regime’s crackdown on an uprising against five decades of Assad family rule that broke out in March that year.
But Mr Al Assad’s ostracisation has reduced in the past four years and Jordan, with encouragement from Russia, has largely normalised ties with his government.
Officials have been pointing out the economic benefits while acknowledging that drug smuggling has increased.
Jordan is also seen as a supporter of a "step-by-step" approach towards Syria, which envisages the regime compromising on issues such as safe return of the refugees, and drug smuggling, in return for diplomatic recognition and reconstruction support.
Last month smugglers operating from a border area in Syria killed two Jordanian soldiers in an ambush. Two weeks later the Jordanian army said that it killed 27 smugglers, citing a toughened posture of troops on the Syrian border.
The killing of the soldiers prompted concern in Jordan about the safety of the units guarding the frontier and the rationale behind the normalisation with the Syrian regime.
Pro-government media in Jordan said the attackers from Syria returned to an area controlled by the Fourth Division, a praetorian guard led by the Syrian president's brother, Maher Assad.
The two killed soldiers belonged to tribes that form the backbone of the Jordanian military.
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Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
Company%20profile
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