Amman  - Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said Thursday that the security pact being negotiated with the United States was a "purely national issue" and that Baghdad rejected any external interference in its contents.

"The security agreement with the United States is a purely national issue and thus we cannot accept any meddling that injures Iraq's interests," Bolani told reporters before the opening of a meeting that groups Interior Ministers of Iraq and eight neighbouring countries.

"The security agreement is subject only to the vision of the Iraqi government," he added.

Amman- Jordan's trade deficit grew by 37.8 per cent in the first eight months of the year, to 4.66 billion dinars (6.58 billion dollars), according to official statistics released on Monday.

That compares with a deficit of 3.381 billion dinars in the same period of 2007.

Economists attribute the widening trade gap mainly to a 35.3 per cent rise in the country's imports, which totaled 8.303 billion dinars in the first eight months of 2008. That compares with a total of
6.39 million dinars in the same period of last year.

Amman  - King Abdullah II of Jordan left Amman on Saturday

Amman- Jordan's minimum wage will be raised by 36 per cent as of January 1, to 150 dinars (212 dollars) from the current 110 dinars, the labour ministry said Wednesday.

Labour Minister Bassem al-Salem said an ad hoc panel, recently set up to discuss the issue, had decided to raise the minimum wage to 150 dinars in view of the steeply rising inflation in the country.

The state-run Department of Statistics earlier this week put at 15 per cent the country's average inflation rate in the first nine months of the year.

Amman - Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Monday urged Israel to stop all settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, saying such practices "do not serve the quest of peace".

Dahabi was speaking at a meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Robert Serry. He also urged a continuation of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians "regardless of political developments".