Amman - The deficit in Jordan's balance of trade grew by 43.4 per cent in the first seven months of the year, to 4.222 billion dinars (5.96 billion dollars) from 2.944 billion dinars in the same period of 2007, according to official statistics released Saturday.

The trade deficit expansion was blamed by economists mainly on a 38.2 per cent rise in imports, which stood at 7.259 billion dinars in the first seven months of 2008 compared with 5.252 billion dinars in the same period of last year.

Amman- Swicorp, a diversified financial services firm based in Saudi Arabia, acquired a 20-per-cent interest in Jordan Aviation for 180 million dollars, the airline's president and CEO Mohammad Khashman was quoted as saying Thursday by Jordanian daily al-Rai.

The takeover is part of Jordan Aviation's expansion plan which also involves the purchase of 16 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars, he said.

"Two aircraft have already been introduced into the service while eight will start operating in the coming months and six others before the end of the year," Khashman said.

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- 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.