Amman - The Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Karen AbuZayd, on Wednesday urged donor countries to contribute "significant additional pledges" to enable the agency to come to grips with "a grave and imminent financial crisis".

AbuZayd made the appeal during the concluding session of a two-day meeting in Amman that brought together donors and host governments, NGOs and other UNRWA stakeholders.

Amman  - Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir met Monday with a visiting delegation of German lawmakers and stressed Berlin's role in pushing forward the peace negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

"The minister underscored the importance of the European Union's role, particularly that of Germany, both on the international and regional levels, in spurring the Middle East peace process and giving a hand to the Palestinians and Israelis to enable them reach a peace agreement," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

Amman - Fifty German-speaking women carrying the first name "Petra" visited the ancient city of Petra on Monday as part of a Jordanian plan to spur European interest in the rock-carved city which last year became one of the world's New Seven Wonders, according to the state-run media.

The 50 were among 1,000 women from Germany, Austria and Switzerland who responded to an advertisement on the website of the Jordanian Tourism Promotion Authority to take part in a competition entitled "Petra to Petra", the TPA Director General Nayef al-Fayez said.

Belgrade - A Royal Jordanian jet airliner safely made an emergency landing in Belgrade Saturday late afternoon, Serbian television RTS reported.

The Airbus A310-300 with 154 passengers and 14 crew flying from Amman to London requested to land after losing pressure in the cockpit, the Belgrade airport confirmed.

The passengers were due to be flown to London by another Royal airplane during the course of the evening, it said.

Amman - Arab stock markets plummeted across the board on Tuesday as global recession fears and falling oil prices helped to fuel already dwindling confidence and panic selling, financial analysts said.

The plunge was led by the Saudi and the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges where lack of cash and departure of foreign investors reportedly put enormous pressures on the psychology of investors, they added.

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of the Saudi stock exchange tumbled 5.21 per cent led by the petrochemical conglomerate, the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), as well as the banking and construction sectors.

A rare print of New York - The United Nations headquarters prepares to lock down one more time this year when the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and US President George W Bush and Israeli President Shimon Peres attend a two-day conference on religion and peace, it was announced Monday.

Close to 70 government delegations will meet Wednesday and Thursday in the UN General Assembly for the "promotion of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation of peace."