Jordan to lodge protest with Israel over border fires

September 30th, 2009 TEL AVIV - The Israel Air Force bombed three weapons smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip border overnight, the military said Wednesday. The triple airstrike in the town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, came after militants launched two projectiles from Gaza at southern Israel late Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.

August 17th, 2009 Clinton sees Mubarak ahead of White House talksWASHINGTON — The Obama administration is hopeful that groundwork can be laid soon to allow the resumption of stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the State Department said Monday. "We're trying to work hard to create conditions for negotiation to continue and we hope to have this phase of this process completed in the next few weeks," spokesman P.J.

August 4th, 2009 RANCHI - The Jharkhand government has for the last three years been denying permission to the state vigilance department to lodge a complaint against a senior IAS official in a corruption case. According to a senior vigilance department official, the department sought permission from the state government to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against Alok Goel in June 2006 when Arjun Munda was Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

August 4th, 2009 VANCOUVER - Nearly 5,000 Canadians have had to flee raging forest and bush fires in the western province of British Columbia, the Vancouver Sun reported Tuesday. Amidst a spell of extremely hot, dry weather, between 500 and 700 fires were burning in the province on any day, with 100 to 150 new ones starting each day, according to fire information officer Radha Fisher.

June 28th, 2009 Jordan, Canada sign free trade agreementAMMAN, Jordan — Canada has signed a free trade agreement with Jordan, its first with an Arab country. The agreement, signed Sunday in Jordan's capital, Amman, will give the Mideast country preferential trade conditions, including full exemption from customs duties for Jordanian goods.

June 19th, 2009 BEIRUT - The Lebanese Army Friday accused Israel of violating the Lebanese border by establishing an observation post in a restricted area on the outskirts of the Kfarshouba hills. "In clear violation of a restricted area of Lebanese territory, and in an attempt to impose a new reality on the ground, the Israeli enemy Wednesday set up an observation post at the edge of Kfarshouba and a military position overlooking Baathaeel pond," a Lebanese army statement said.

May 14th, 2009 Jordan, Shell to sign oil shale extraction dealAMMAN, Jordan — The official Petra news agency says Jordan and Royal Dutch Shell PLC will sign a deal Sunday to explore for oil in the country's extensive oil shale deposits. Natural Resources Authority director Maher Hijazin told the Jordanian news agency late Wednesday that Shell will spend $540 million in the project's initial exploration, assessment and design before commercial operation Hijazin says the concession agreement will be concluded on the sidelines of the Mideast World Economic Forum this weekend at the Dead Sea.

May 10th, 2009 Pope celebrates mass in sports stadium in JordanAMMAN, Jordan — Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating an open air mass in a sports stadium in the Jordanian capital. Catholics from across the Middle East are attending the service.

May 3rd, 2009 Jordan hotel owner agonizes over what to feed popeAMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian hotel owner preparing a lunch for the pope spent five weeks coming up with a choice of five menus for the upcoming visit and is still agonizing over what could go wrong — just as he did when John Paul II visited nine years ago. Said Sawalha said the Vatican chose a light meal of beef medallions, vegetables and pineapple cake, a menu designed to keep the 81-year-old Benedict XVI's energy up on his Holy Land tour starting later this week in Jordan.

April 26th, 2009 Jordan sees new war if US does not act quicklyAMMAN, Jordan — Jordan's king urged President Barack Obama Sunday to take a more forceful role in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, warning of a new Mideast war if there is no significant progress in the next 18 months. Speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," King Abdullah described the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as the core problem of the region and solving it would help the U.S.

February 14th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Pope Benedict XVI will pay an official visit to Israel in May this year, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Sunday. 'The entire Israeli government welcomes the visit,' Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said.

February 14th, 2009 AMMAN - A Jordanian dressed a donkey in red and placed it at the entrance of the city of Ramtha, 80 km north of Amman, to express his rejection of celebrations marking Valentine's Day, the daily al-Dustour reported Sunday. 'The move is intended to send a clear message to all that celebrating Valentine's Day is strange to our religion, traditions and culture,' Ayman Quaider told the paper, which published a picture of the donkey wrapped with a red piece of cloth and with red roses fixed to its ears.

January 21st, 2009 AMMAN - King Abdullah II of Jordan Wednesday issued instructions for authorities to take 'urgent and immediate steps' to facilitate entry of Iraqis to the country and grant them residence permits, the royal court said. He made the remarks as he presided over a meeting of top officials to discuss moves for easing measures which have been adopted by the Jordanian border authorities over the past months to limit the influx of Iraqis to the Hashemite Kingdom.

January 1st, 2009 HYDERABAD - Tension prevailed at the US consulate here Friday as around 1,000 people staged a demonstration protesting Israel's air strikes on Palestinians in Gaza. About six protestors were injured as police caned the crowd that tried to barge into the newly-inaugurated consulate building in the high-security Begumpet neighbourhood.

December 27th, 2008 AMMAN - Thousands of people participated in rallies across the Middle East Sunday to protest Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and to show support for Palestinians caught in the attacks. Some of the larger protests were in the capitals of Yemen and Jordan.