In what has got to be one of the silliest stories of the new decade thus far - a move to name a street in Al Mazar after former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, has been revoked after a great deal of interference by the Jordanian government, supposedly lead by the Kuwaiti foreign ministry. It is […]

Several days after international media reports, vis a vis CIA officials, indicating Humam Balawi, a Jordanian, as being the bomber who killed seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, Sharif Ali, a video of him has surfaced on Al Jazeera. The video is very short, but in it, Balawi, in traditional suicide bomber fashion, sends […]

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It has undeniably been the talk of the town here in Amman, to say nothing of the local virtual spheres; an interesting contrast to the local mainstream media that has remained relatively hush-hush about the death of Sharif Ali bin Zaid. Initial reports suggested that eight people had died in a suicide attack, which […]

An interesting editorial in today’s Al Rai highlighted the story of government employee, Mohammad Nsour, who turned down a JD50,000 bribe delivered to him in a suitcase - mafia style. The employee helped authorities in capturing the bribers in the end. But weeks passed after the incident and not a single official called the employee […]

Just heard the news about an hour ago that Samir Rifai, who as of yesterday headed the Jordan Dubai Capital corporation, has been appointed as the next Prime Minister of Jordan. I don’t really know what to say about this piece of news. It is, from at least this citizen’s point of view, not the […]

Melody TV has been producing, what are probably some of the funniest and most creative commercials I’ve ever seen aired in the Arab world. The irony here perhaps, is that these creative commercials are about creativity in the Arab world, or the lack there of. They depict an Egyptian film studio that is home to […]

AP Photo - Jordanian children wait for their turn to have a ride on a wood traditional swing during the second day of Muslim’s Eid al-Adha, in Amman, Jordan, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009.
The thing about Eid is that it’s a time when people typically spend two full days visiting each other. In Amman, they go […]

It’s the political news of the week, perhaps even the year here in Jordan, and it has come as a surprise to most. HM King Abdullah’s decision to dissolve the Lower House of Parliament and call for early elections is a move that few anticipated. At least in any realistic context. Criticism of the […]