King and Prime Minister Abdullah

This week, Jordan’s King Abdullah II dissolved the lower half of Parliament, ordered his government to amend an unpopular election law and told them to prepare for general elections two years early. AFP/File/Filippo Monteforte “We instruct the government to immediately start planning for parliamentary elections, which should be transparent and fair, reflecting Jordan’s reform drive,” the King told Prime Minister Nader Dahabi in a letter, a palace statement said. “We instruct you to take all necessary measures for that purpose, including amending the elections law and developing all aspects of the electoral process.” The electoral law being mentioned refers to a controversial 1993 one-person-one-vote ... Read Full Story

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and Saudi King Abdullah agreed on the need to restart Middle East peace talks and took a firm stance on Iran, a French official said on Wednesday. In three hours of "deep" talks late Tuesday at Abdullah's Janadiriyah desert farm, north of Riyadh, the leaders "were agreed on the need for rapid steps to relaunch the peace process," an official of the French presidency told AFP. King Abdullah is "on the same wavelength" as France on the need to relaunch the peace process, the official said. Sarkozy arrived in the Saudi capital on Tuesday for an overnight stay to discuss ... Read Full Story

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Saudi Arabia today for a working visit to the country. He met King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud at the King Khalid International Airport, and was taken to the King’s farm in Janadriya, outside of Riyadh, where Sarkozy will spend the night. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/Pool The President’s main purpose on this visit is to urge Mideast peace talks to continue. “It is urgent because the current deadlock plays into the hands of extremists and each day the chance of peace is slipping away a little,” Sarkozy told a Saudi newspaper. At the same time, the King and the President probably ... Read Full Story

Jordan News Agency King Abdullah II and Queen Rania were at the 10th anniversary dinner banquet of the King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau today. The organization does advanced work in the defense industry, giving the army the latest in defense technology and equipment. Held at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center near the Dead Sea, the King and Queen learned how KADDB provides Jordan’s biggest exports and it is one of the Hashemite Kingdom’s main economic stimulations. Started in August 1999 by royal decree, KADDB is an independent military-civilian agency that works with such companies as Boeing, Hokir and Koch. Since the ... Read Full Story

A group of veteran Saudi activists rushed to launch a new political and human rights association on Monday, saying the government is already trying to stifle the move. Eleven activists sent a declaration about the creation of the Association for Civil and Political Rights to Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday night even though Saudi security officials had begun questioning potential signatories, Mohammed al-Qahtani, co-founder and a politics professor, told AFP. "The idea is to form a society to defend civil and political rights," Qahtani said. "The country is open now, rhetorically at least," he said, citing King Abdullah's programme of regular "national dialogues" on ... Read Full Story