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AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Saturday denounced the two terrorist explosions that occurred near Ankara railway station earlier in the day, according to a Royal Court statement. 

The blasts claimed the lives of scores of innocent civilians, and resulted in the injury of many others. 

In a cable that King Abdullah sent to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, he expressed his deepest condolences and sympathies over the victims of the twin blast and he wished the injured a speedy recovery. 

In the cable, the King stressed Jordan's support of Turkey and its people, according to a Royal Court statement.

AMMAN — Jordan has condemned the recurrent Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians and violations to the sacredness of Islamic and Christian sanctuaries in Jerusalem.

On Saturday, the Lower House blamed the international community for "doing nothing to stop such racist, extremist policies", which, the lawmakers said, are prone to instigate more terrorism, violence and instability, and undermine all efforts to make peace in the region.

Jordanians will support the Palestinians’ perseverance in the face of the Israeli arrogance, the statement said, urging the international community, particularly the Arab and international parliamentary unions, to shoulder their responsibilities and pressure their governments to condemn and take action to end the Israeli assaults.

The Lower House thanked His Majesty King Abdullah for his supportive stance towards the Palestinians, and urged the Palestinians to stand firm in the face of the “criminal acts committed by the Israeli occupation forces”, voicing its sympathies with the families of those who died in the attacks and wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

The Senate said in a separate statement that the recent Israeli violations aim at stirring chaos and taking advantage of regional developments and the international community’s apathy to impose a new reality in the Palestinian territories by means of violence.

The Senate statement commended His Majesty’s diplomatic efforts to defend Jerusalem’s holy sites and the Palestinians’ right to establish their independent state. 

The government on Friday denounced the repeated Israeli acts of aggressions, responding to the killing of seven Palestinians on Friday at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza. 

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said the killings “hold proof of the occupying forces’ human rights violations. 

Momani, who is also the government’s spokesperson, called on the international community to intervene in order to stop the aggression of Israel, as the occupying force, and urged the world support an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil. 

Meanwhile, a statement by the Orthodox Consultative Council in Jordan and Palestine quoted Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, all Palestine and Jordan Theophilus III as commending His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts to preserve Jerusalem’s holy sites, praising the Hashemite role as custodians of these shrines.

The Engineers for Palestine and Jerusalem Committee in the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) organised on Friday a public rally in solidarity with Jerusalem, according to a JEA statement.

The demonstration was held at the Professional Associations Complex yard in cooperation with the Jordanian Commission to Defend Al Aqsa Mosque and other Holy Sites in Jerusalem.

Also on Friday, Jordanians rallied in front of Al Kalouti Mosque in Amman, and raised slogans demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Jordan and the end of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty. 

AMMAN – France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls is due to arrive in Amman Sunday as part of a regional tour that will also take him to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to the French Embassy in Amman and French media. 

While in Amman, the French premier is scheduled to meet high-ranking officials to discuss regional developments and the Syrian refugee crisis. 

According to the French Embassy in Amman, Valls will hold a press conference at the Prime Ministry.

He will also inaugurate a French primary school in Amman, the embassy said. 

The French premier is also scheduled to visit the Roman Catholic Church (Latin) in Marka to meet with Iraqi families displaced from Mosul, according to the Catholic Centre for Studies and Media in Jordan. 

Radio France International said that the four-day tour to the region starts with a visit to Egypt ,after that the prime minister will travel to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. 

The visit is also an opportunity for France to address its commitment to the fight against Daesh in Syria, said the French radio station.

AMMAN — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has for the third time this year revised its growth forecast for Jordan’s economy, expecting it to grow by 2.9 per cent in 2015.

In May of this year, the IMF projected the Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 3.8 per cent this year and 4.5 per cent in 2016. 

In August, however, the fund, in its seventh and final review under the Stand-By Arrangement for Jordan, revised the projected growth rate downward to 3 per cent based on the 2 per cent growth achieved during the first quarter of 2015.

In the second quarter of this year, Jordan’s GDP expanded by 2.4 per cent.

In its World Economic Outlook report issued Friday, on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual fall meetings held this year in Peru, the IMF said Jordan’s economy is expected to grow by 2.9 per cent this year and 3.7 per cent next year.

In its report, the IMF indicated that a 4.5 per cent growth rate would be achieved in 2020.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to be around 2.5 per cent this year, down from 2.7 per cent in 2014. Next year it is predicted to expand to 3.9 per cent.

IMF director of Middle East and Central Asia Department Masood Ahmed said in a press briefing Friday that spillovers from instability in various countries, such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, are taking a toll on economic growth in the region.

He also cited lower oil prices as another factor that hit regional economic growth.

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook foresees lower global growth compared to last year, with the global real GDP forecast to grow at only 3.1 per cent, down from 3.4 per cent last year. World GDP growth is expected to rebound to 3.6 per cent next year.

AMMAN — The University of Jordan dean council will award Indian President Pranab Mukherjee an honorary doctorate in political science on Sunday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Mukherjee will deliver an address at the certificate awarding ceremony, which will be held at the University of Jordan.

The award is in recognition of the president’s role in serving his country and the international community.

AMMAN — Irbid’s police on Friday detained two young men charged with assaulting a security officer at a mall in Irbid.

The police had received a complaint from a mall regarding an assault against a member of its security personnel while he was trying to prevent the two men from entering the mall, in accordance with mall regulations, under which young men are not allowed to enter the premises alone, especially during the weekend, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

Quoting a police source, Petra said the security officer was transferred to a nearby private hospital, where his condition was reported as moderate. 

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat on Saturday said his ministry is doing all it can to contribute to making the 2015 national population and housing census  successful.

Thneibat made his remarks at a workshop about the census, during which he mentioned that around 25,000 teachers from Education Ministry cadres will take part in the process, lasting from October 30 until November 10, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The census takes place every 10 years, Thneibat said, adding that it has no political goals. 

AMMAN — The Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) freedoms committee on Saturday held a demonstration in front of the Professional Associations Complex in solidarity with the youngest Jordanian prisoner in Israel, Mohammad Suleiman.

JEA President Majid Tabaa said Suleiman was sentenced to a 15-year prison term in Israel, along with an 80,000 shekel fine, a JEA statement said. He also urged the government to pressure Israel through severing diplomatic ties.

Suleiman was a 16-year old when he was arrested in March 2013 while visiting his relatives in the West Bank, his father told The Jordan Times in recent remarks.

AMMAN — Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani on Saturday said the 2015 draft elections law is a “leap” on the right track in political reform, responding to demands to cancel the one-person, one-vote system.

Momani, who is also government spokesperson, made his remarks during a panel discussion with representatives of popular movements in Jerash Governorate, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

With the referral of the 2015 draft elections law to Parliament, the government completed a set of political reform laws included in the Letter of Designation from His Majesty King Abdullah, Momani said.

AMMAN — Jordan’s production of olives is expected to increase this season to between 220,000 and 230,000 tonnes, at a rate estimated at 25 to 30 per cent compared to last year, Jordan Olive Products Exporters Association (JOPEA) Chairman Fayyad Zyoud said on Saturday.

He said a media campaign will be launched soon to encourage the public to buy olive oil from trusted sources, according to a JOPEA statement.