Amman - The Jordanian government on Wednesday signed a memo of understanding w

Amman - The Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir Wednesday dismissed as "completely baseless" local Indonesian reports saying Jordanians had been detained there on charges of "human trafficking".

"The report about the detention of Jordanians in Indonesia on charges of human trafficking is completely baseless," Bashir told the Parliamentary Public Freedoms Committee.

"So far, we have not been informed by the Jordanian embassy in Djakarta of any detention of Jordanians," he said. "There are 14 Jordanian citizens in Indonesia. Some of them run offices for the recruitment of domestic helpers."

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  - The financial problems facing the US real estate mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not expected to have a "direct" impact on Arab markets, financial analysts said Monday.

"I don't think the difficulties suffered by the two US firms could have a direct impact on the Jordanian and other stock markets," Nizar Taher, head of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

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 top religious official on Saturday issued a fatwa (judgement) that bans electronic trading of currencies owing to the "financial risks" involved in such a type of business.

"Trading of currencies is a taboo and illegal from a religious viewpoint, given the financial risks involved in such transactions," Grand Mufti Nouh Salman said.

Earning profits from the trading of money, which is not seen as an asset under most interpretations of Islamic law, is frowned upon by many Muslim religious scholars.