Amman - Jordan and Morocco on Monday denounced Israel's continued building of settlements in the Palestinian territories and expressed support for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The remarks came in a joint communique issued by the Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and his Moroccan counterpart Abbas al-Fasi at the end of the annual meeting of the Joint Higher Jordanian-Moroccan Commission.

Amman  - Arab stocks lost further ground this week as investors were cautious over the persistent Iranian nuclear standoff and the half-year results of listed firms, financial analysts said Friday.

However, they expected regional bourses to recover in the coming couple of weeks when semi-annual results are expected to be out.

"We believe political developments and uncertainty as to the second quarter results still put downward pressure on stock prices," an Amman-based portfolio manager told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Amman - The deficit in Jordan's balance of trade grew by 37.9 per cen

Amman - Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Saturday headed to Paris to lead his country's delegation to the Euromed Union summit due to open there Sunday, an official statement said.

Dahabi will deputise for King Abdullah II, who is currently on a private visit to the United States.

The Jordanian premier will deliver a speech at the meeting that "underlines the importance of boosting ties between the European Union countries and Middle East and North African states with a view to working together to achieve peace and prosperity for their peoples," the statement said.