Jordan ends emergency laws that stifled public freedoms
Amman, Jordan Reuters Jordan on Sunday ended laws enacted at the start of COVID-19 that gave the authorities powers to enforce a state of emergency that rights groups said were used as an excuse to suppress civic and political liberties. A royal decree approved a cabinet decision to annul the state of emergency passed nearly […]
Syria’s Assad meets senior Arab lawmakers in Damascus
Damascus, Syria Reuters A delegation of senior Arab parliamentarians met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday, another sign of thawing ties after more than a decade of isolation over the conflict in Syria. The heads of the Iraqi, Jordanian, Palestinian, Libyan, Egyptian and Emirati houses of representatives, as well as representatives from […]
Israelis, Palestinians pledge to curb violence at Jordan meeting
Updated: 11:25am (AEST)Amman, JordanReuters Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged to de-escalate surging violence after meeting on Sunday, issuing a joint statement in which Israel said it would halt discussions about new settlement units in the occupied West Bank for four months. Attended by senior US, Jordanian and Egyptian officials in addition to the Israeli and […]
Struggling in Jordan, Syrians choose to move to refugee camps
Beirut, LebanonThomson Reuters Foundation Unemployed and hit by rising fuel and electricity prices, some Syrian refugees in Jordan are making a painful choice: moving to the refugee camps they thought they had left behind. Abdallah Hasan al-Jaseem, a father of an almost two-year-old child, gave up on living and working outside the Zaatari camp and […]
“Guinea pigs”: In Jordan, refugees scan irises to collect aid. But is it ethical?
NAZIH OSSEIRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports that while biometrics and blockchain technology help Syrians access UN cash, rights groups are voicing concern over consent and data use…
Jordan unveils $US100 million master plan for the second millennium of Jesus’ baptism
Amman, Jordan RNS Jordan has launched a $US100 million master plan aimed at attracting one million Christian pilgrims to celebrations of the second millennium of the baptism of Jesus in 2030. The ambitious plan was unveiled by a not-for-profit foundation created by the Jordanian government to develop the “Bethany beyond the Jordan” area, on the […]
In Jordan camp, Syrian refugees choose school over child marriage
Mafraq, Jordan Thomson Reuters Foundation Chatting enthusiastically in a classroom at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, a group of Syrian teenage girls share stories about married friends – some with babies already, and of their own lucky escapes. Fatima was 14 when she got engaged, but had second thoughts and broke it off. Sixteen-year-old […]
The Long Read: The River Jordan – Rich in holiness, poor in water
MARIAM FAM, of Associated Press, reports on concerns over the decline of the river in which Jesus was baptised…
Patriarch of Jerusalem’s edict puts unity on Holy Land’s Christmas in doubt
Amman, JordanRNS The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, whose authority extends over some 130,000 Middle Eastern Christians, has posted a memo on the patriarchate website that appears to overturn a 45-year-old agreement with Western Christian churches to unify the celebration of Christian holidays. Since 1975, Western and Eastern Christians in Jordan, the Palestinian territories (with the […]
Postcards: Jordan’s water crisis deepens as climate changes, population grows
HAMS RABAH and SULEIMAN AL KHALIDI, writing for Reuters, report on the water crisis in the Middle Eastern nation…