Amman - Two Argentine women were on Tuesday each sentenced to seven and a half years in jail by Jordan's State Security Court after they were found guilty of attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country, the daily al-Dustour reported Wednesday.

The women, whose identities were withheld, were also fined 5,000 Jordanian dinars (7,062 dollars) each, the paper said.

The tribunal initially sentenced them to a 15-year imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dinars each, but reduced the punishment due to the "young age" of the defendants.

Amman  - Jordan's government came under fire Tuesday for returning its ambassador to Israel, just two weeks after Israel halted attacks on the Gaza Strip which prompted massive protests in Jordan.

"At a time when Jordanians are looking to see the government sever ties with the Zionist entity, the government hurried to close the file of the Israeli holocaust and took this step which runs counter to the people's will and sentiment," said Murad Adayleh of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party.

Amman - Gulf-region investors might be attracted to put their money into Jordan as they withdraw investments from increasingly shaky Western markets, the head of Jordan's state-run investment agency said Tuesday.

"Jordan has a good opportunity to gain from the new flow of Gulf investments as a result of the world financial crisis," said Maan Ensour, CEO of the state-run Investment Promotion Corporation (IPC), in an interview with the official Petra news agency.

Amman - The Egyptian authorities have refused to allow a Jordanian parliamentary delegation to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Deputy Speaker of the lower house of parliament Abdullah Jazi said Monday.

He said that the deputies, who were scheduled to leave to the beleaguered Palestinian territory on Monday, were asked by Cairo to use the Karam Abu Salem crossing, which is controlled by Israel.

Amman - US Middle East envoy George Mitchell conferred Saturday with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir and said that the administration of US President Barack Obama would give "priority" to the Middle East peace process, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

"The US envoy asserted that the US administration is giving priority to the Middle East and to a serious effort towards the resumption of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis in the run-up for the two-state solution," the statement said.

Amman - The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, has sent a congratulatory message to US President Barack Obama suggesting the bases upon which the new administration can bring about a "positive change" in ties with the Arab and Islamic worlds, an IAF statement said Thursday.

"We extend a hand yearning for an even-handed relationship (with the United States) based on justice, fairness and a world dominated with mutual respect and dialogue among cultures and civilizations," the IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid said in the letter.