Amman - The reshuffled Jordanian government said Wednesday it was embarking on a new era of "openness" with the Islamic-led opposition in order to speed up political reforms, including the enactment of a new election law.

"Upon instructions from King Abdullah II, the government will be staging a new epoch of openness with all political parties and civilian society organizations in the run-up for the enactment of laws that boost democracy and reforms," newly-appointed Minister of Political Development Mussa Maaita said.

Amman - The United States on Tuesday extended a grant of 100 million dollars to Jordan under four aid agreements, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair al-Ali said.

The accords were signed by al-Ali and the US Ambassador in Amman Stephen Beecroft, who praised Jordan's pivotal role in shoring up stability in the Middle East.

He also renewed the commitment of the US administration of President Barack Obama to extend more financial and technical aid to Jordan in all spheres.

Amman  - The Jordanian government on Monday inked a memorandum of understanding with the British-Australian Rio Tinto group for the exploration and mining of uranium and other nuclear ores in the country, according to an official statement.

The document seeks to formulate the general terms for defining the areas were uranium and other nuclear metals can be found in the run- up for the signing of exploration and mining agreements with the conglomerate, the statement said.

It is the latest in a series of agreements that Jordan has entered into with world nuclear powers in its bid to develop a nuclear system for peaceful purposes.

Amman - A senior official of the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) on Sunday predicted that 2009 would be a difficult year for the global air traffic industry due to the deepening world economic crisis.

The revenues of the world's airlines are expected to go down by 5- 6 per cent, while the passengers traffic and cargo are expected to drop by 3 and 5 per cent respectively, Majdi Sabri, IATA's Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, told Jordan's official Petra news agency.

Amman  - A Jordanian dressed a donkey in red and placed it at the entrance of the city of Ramtha, 80 kilometres north of Amman, on Saturday 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.

Amman  - The Arab Bank Group, one of the Arab world's largest banking establishments, managed to increase its net profits after tax by 8.4 per cent in 2008, to 840 million dollars, the group's chairman Abdul Hamid Shoman said Saturday.

"The figure represents the best results to be posted by the group since its establishment in 1930 despite the fluctuations in prices and production costs that were triggered by the global financial crisis" in the last quarter of 2008, he added.