Arabic press review: Jordanian man pushes car into valley over traffic fine
Jordanian man throws car after fine
A Jordanian man pushed his vehicle into a valley in protest against a traffic fine issued against him in the run-up to the festival of Eid ul-Fitr.
The man was driving a small passenger bus in the city of Karak when a traffic police officer fined him 40 dinars ($56), according to a report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper.
In a video posted online on Tuesday, he explained that he had stopped for a few seconds to buy lemons from a youth on the roadside when the traffic violation occurred.
The unidentified Jordanian said he had no option but to push the vehicle into a valley due to the “injustice” of being made to pay the fine despite struggling to make ends meet.
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Reacting to the incident, Nasser al-Nawasra, the deputy head of the Teachers Syndicate, tweeted that while law enforcement was important, the “despair” felt by the man was the more “serious matter”.
“It is better to look for and address the causes of desperation,” Nawasra said.
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate said in a statement on Tuesday that the vehicle was blocking traffic in the middle of the road, and the driver refused to move despite a warning.
It added that both the vehicle and driver’s licences had expired, and the colour of the bus was changed without documentation.
Iraqi ex-official dies after jail escape
A former Iraqi official imprisoned on corruption charges has died after being pursued by police following an escape from detention, according a report in Iraqi news site Shafaq News.
A security source told Shafaq News that Saad Hamid Kambesh, the former head of the Sunni Endowment Office, died on Thursday at Mosul General Hospital after a chase by security forces led to an increase in his blood pressure.
Kambesh escaped Karrada Maryam Police Station in Baghdad on Tuesday night under mysterious circumstances, sparking anger in the country.
Yahya Rasoul, spokesperson for Iraq’s armed forces, alluded to the possible involvement of the former official’s sister Asmaa Hamid Kambesh in smuggling him out of detention on Tuesday, according to a report in Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.
Asmaa, who is a member of parliament, visited her brother shortly before he escaped with the help of three people waiting in two vehicles outside the detention centre, Rasoul said.
Police in the city of Kirkuk arrested Kambesh’s wife and children, according to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, after they attempted to travel from Baghdad to the Kurdistan region.
Kuwait largest Arab investor in US bonds
Kuwait ranked first in the Arab world and 17th in the world in terms of the volume of investment in US Treasury bonds, according to a report published by Saudi daily newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah.
Kuwait's investments in US Treasury bonds amounted to $253bn, representing 2.1 percent of the total foreign investments in US bonds.
Saudi Arabia came second in the Arab world with $172bn, representing 1.4 percent of total global investments, followed by the UAE with $138bn.
Morocco came fourth with $2.4bn, followed by Egypt with $966m and Lebanon with $239m.
The Fed raised interest rates to more than 4.75 percent from zero 12 months ago, the biggest jump in US borrowing costs since the 1980s.
Interest rates moved aggressively to try to stem high inflation, which reached a 40-year high of 9.1 percent last summer, remaining high at 6 percent year-on-year in February.
*Arabic press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.
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