“The country that uses this crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative — and endows its people with more tools and basic research to invent new goods and services — is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road. We might be able to stimulate our way back to […]

It’s a hot and dusty day here at the dead sea but in case anyone’s interested, around eighteen 7iber-trained, young, citizen journalists from all over the Arab world, are right here at the World Economic Forum covering the three-day event and its sessions. We’ve got bloggers, live bloggers, flip cameramen, interviews, watweting and more. Check […]

AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan plans to begin work on a six-billion-dollar railway next year to bolster trade with its neighbours and create jobs for its cash-strapped population, Transport Minister Sahl Majali told AFP in an interview. “The 4.5-billion-dinar project is vital to Jordan because it will make freight movement faster and easier, cut transportation costs […]

Arabian Business just published it’s annual Most Influential Arabs list for 2009 and it’s pretty good popcorn reading. Like last year, only three Jordanians made the list, including Fadi Ghandour (who went up 52 spots to be ranked 27th), Samer Majali (38th) and Emad Hajjaj (who dropped 40 spots to be ranked 83rd). While Fadi […]

A main headline today, as most of you might know already, is the opening of a trial for two Jordanian men who are accused of plotting to kill an Israeli business man who runs a QIZ factory in Irbid. The two men were not able to go through with it, but not before security forces […]

International markets took a huge plunge yesterday, with the Dow Jones hitting its lowest point since 1997. Everywhere, even here in Jordan, people are feeling the financial pinch. Jobs are being lost and those who still have them are fighting to keep them. Salary raises are almost out of the question.
Except in the Jordan government.
The […]

With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology […]

On Monday, it was reported that a three year old in east Amman was kidnapped in the early morning with the kidnapper demanding 50,000JDs as a ransom. Ammon is reporting this as the first case of its kind in Jordanian history. Supposedly, the kidnapper had some sort of financial dispute with the grandfather in the […]

There’s an article today in the Jordan Times attempting to articulate the predicament many Jordanians have found themselves in this year: the rising price of Jordanian sheep. There has been a noticeable price difference between the local variety and the international variety coming mainly from Australia, and that difference is related the rising prices of […]

A bit of news has been spreading like wildfire these past few days in Amman: the new 8mb ADSL Internet connection from Orange. The advertisements have been popping up all over town and it naturally got me thinking about what such a leap in speed might mean for Jordan. Yes, it is not the most […]

Have you filled up your gas tank yet? More on 7iber.

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.black-iris.com%2F2008%2F11%2F17%2Fphoto-of-the-moment-ammans-gas-crisis%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Photo+Of+The+Moment%3A+Amman%26%238217%3Bs+Gas+Crisis%21′;
addthis_pub = ”;

This has probably been the most talked about issue these past few days on the Jordanian street: what’s happening with prices. Speculation is running abound as economists and columnists alike have all been turning the rumor mills of uncertainty. Gas prices have been on a decline for once and the line ups at gas stations […]

A common sight in Jordan has always been street peddlers. Typically, young Jordanians who weave through the traffic of cars stopped at a red light. In recent years I’ve noticed a change that has been occurring that is perhaps a metaphor for the bigger solution. Up until these past few years, the overwhelming majority of […]

Today is Blog Action Day and the global conversation this year is about poverty, so I thought it would be relevant to discuss poverty in Jordan. There are naturally a million angles to tackle. We could talk about the UN Human Development report and Jordan’s relatively impressive rankings. We could talk about public policy and […]

Of all the things Jordanians tend to talk about, it is simply interesting to see the global financial crisis rank first in coffee-house conversations. Some are arguing that this is the “end of America”, while others are looking at it from a more personal perspective: how will something that is so global affect Jordanians? Will […]

According to the latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Jordan now ranks 47 (2008), down rather significantly from last year’s position of 53. The Kingdom ranked 40 in 2006 and 37 in 2005 and 2004.
It should be noted that TI measures perceived corruption, employing a methodology that usually consists of surveys that poll experts, […]