Amman - King Abdullah II of Jordan is to visit Spain and a number of Latin American countries starting October 18, the royal court announced Wednesday.

The monarch, who will be accompanied by Queen Rania, will visit Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras and Cuba.

Amman

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday received a message from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir seeking the backing of the Hashemite Kingdom against genocide charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, according to a royal court statement.

The letter was relayed to the monarch by the Sudanese Justice Minister Abdel-Basset Sabdrat, who expressed Khartoum's "keenness on coordinating with Jordan with a view to finding a solution to the present crisis with the ICC."

Amman- Jordan's King Abdullah II conferred on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and called for progress to be made on core issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The monarch expressed Jordan's backing to the Palestinian Authority's efforts aimed at finding just solutions to all final statues issues, particularly Jerusalem and the refugees," a royal court statement said.

Abbas told reporters after the meeting that he had briefed King Abdullah on the outcome of his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Amman- Jordan's King Abdullah II will visit Paris later this week for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the latest Middle East developments, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said Monday.

"Jordan looks with special interest and appreciation to France's effective role in reactivating the peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides," Dahabi told a delegation representing the Jordanian-French Parliamentary Friendship Society.

Amman - King Abdullah II