His Majesty King Abdullah’s meeting on Thursday with a number of local business and economy leaders highlighted the challenges facing the country, particularly the economy. “Today, we are facing enormous challenges on more than one front, foremost of which are econom

Now that the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has crumbled and negotiations between the two have come to an abrupt end, it is high time that the UN Security Council got serious about the situation and started acting as per the mandate it is invested with. This main UN

Jordan is one of the safest countries in the region, and we pray that it remains so, but some practices shatter our calm and peacefulness even though they are committed in a celebratory manner. We are talking here about festive fire and using firecrackers, which often shatter th

Traffic jams have, unfortunately, become a common sight in Amman, taxing motorists’ patience and skills not only during peak hours but at any time of the day, and much of the night. Traffic congestion increases considerably during the summer as hundreds of thousands of exp

Youth unemployment, in Jordan as everywhere else in the world, is a major crisis in the making that threatens the stability of the country if not attended to swiftly and effectively. According to the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, some 30 per cent of the you

Despite the prime minister’s repeated appeals to the Jordan Teachers Association not to go ahead with its open-ended strike, it still observed a period of work stoppage yesterday. At a very recent press conference, the prime minister said that “it is unacceptable to

The August 15 UN Security Council resolution on the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), of late called Islamic State, is wide in scope, covering practically all dimensions of the threat posed by this terrorist entity. Also included in the resolution condemning

The government’s decision on Wednesday to request introducing two amendments to the Constitution raised question marks as to the reasons and the timing. Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour explained that these proposed amendments pertaining to the Jordan Armed Forces, the Minis

The newly elected president of Iraq, Fouad Massoum, designated Haider Al Abadi, the prime minister, to form a new government as speedily as possible, giving hope that there is an opportunity to stabilise Iraq and bring its political situation to a more normal state. The former p