The Lord of the Rings theaterical version will debut in Toronto on Feb, 2nd 2006. Of course I will be knee deep in research papers and plus I will probably be too broke to go. Not to mention the fact I don’t have a suit nor white skin. I think you need to have both […]

The US has condemned the arrests of 26 gay men during a raid on a party at a hotel in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month.
Washington also warned the UAE that any attempt to administer hormone or psychological treatment would break international law.
Police launched on Tuesday disciplinary proceedings against an officer who published photos […]

Because really, what’s life without a little jail time?
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You can also put up a support button for the “Dont Bomb Us” AlJazeera blog.
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In related news…
- In Pakistan: Journalists, lawyers and human rights activists staged a […]

For the second time since the Amman bombings, hundreds of clan members of the Bani Hassan tribe, which Zarqawi can trace his roots to, have disowned him publically in a letter printed in the Jordanian newspapers bearing 370 signatures which I’m guessing is all the papers would allow them to print. This was done again […]

Palestine has long been known as the land of the olive tree, a plant embedded in the soil that requires a less than moderate amount of water yet still provides for millions of people. It is a national livlihood for Palestinians.
Recently dozens of illegal Israeli settelers snuck into the Palestinian village of Salem, near Nablus, […]

A visitor to my blog emailed me yesterday to ask me several questions about Amman as he is planning on visiting the city soon. Two of the questions were geographical in nature. The first about getting a map of Amman and the second was concerning “West Amman”.
Now a few months ago the first question […]

King swears in new gov’t By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
- The Cabinet, a mixture of technocrats and politicians, includes nine ministers who served in the former Cabinet of Adnan Badran, four public figures who previously held ministerial posts and 10 newcomers representing public and private sector as well as the civil service.
- […]

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New Goverment, November 27th 2005
1- Dr. Marouf Bakhet Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
2- Ziad Fareiz Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. *
3- Abdul Ilah Khatib Foreign Minister. *
4- Nader Thherat Minister of Municiapal Affairs.
5- Eid Al Fayez Minister of Interior. *
6- Husni Abu Gheida Minister of Public Works and Housing.
7- Khaled […]

A little over a month ago I blogged about “Jordan’s Mysterious Money History“. Today I want to offer a little something from the stamp world.
What I like about stamps is that their ability to depict a nation’s history. There are pieces of Jordan’s history embedded between the frames. Some are strange, some are tragic, some […]

So it’s snowing in Toronto this week, something which is a bit rare. In fact the last time I remember it snowing in November was when I was perhaps 12 years ago. This batch will probably melt by the end of next week but I took a walk outside to maximize the oppertunity […]

Many interesting devolopments have happened this week since the Daily Mirror’s exclusive on a secret memo that Bush wanting to bomb Al Jazeera and Tony Blair talking him out of it.
Al Jazeera staffers have launched a Blog.
Wadah Khanfar, head of Al Jazeera, has gone to London to seek talks with Tony Blair.
The two men who […]

This is a story I found rather interesting which centers around Australian model Michelle Leslie who was arrestted in Bali, Indonesia for carrying 2 estacy tablets. There were allegations that she was in the company of Anindra Bakrie, son of Indonesia’s Economic Minister, who was let go by police immediately. In a signed statement given […]

Has it been talked to death? Well I am resurrecting the discussion because it merits some further considerations. And it’s my blog and I’ll blog if I want to.
A recent study on Jordanian newspapers showed that there is in fact a lack of local political news coverage. This comes out to be 24 per […]

Excerpts of His Majesty King Abdullah’s Letter of Designation to Prime Minister-designate Marouf Bakhit:
â??I designate you to form a new government that would translate our vision of reform, continue work, correct what can be deemed as a defect or unintentional failure and learn lessons from shortcomings.
The aspirations of our people as well as […]

The latest appointment of Bakhiti as the new Prime Minister has drawn some rather interesting first impressions that range from the catious to the pessemstic. However, I did not want to dive into a detailed post earlier this morning about the Prime Minister and the direction the government will go in from here […]