AMMAN, 21 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - The Jordan-Iraqi border at Karama closed on Monday and remains so after 89 Palestinian refugees from Iraq, including 42 children, tried to enter Jordan, according to the UNs refugee agency in Amman, UNHCR.Full report

AMMAN, 20 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - "The first three days after our arrival we had nothing to protect us from the rain and the cold," said Khabati Mohammadi, one of 191 Kurdish-Iranian refugees stuck since January 2005 at the Karama border crossing between Jordan and Iraq.Full report

AMMAN, 15 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Jordanians in 40 out of 101 of the country’s municipalities live below the poverty line despite an overall decline in national poverty levels over the past few years, according to a senior government official. Twenty of these municipalities, meanwhile, are considered extremely poor.Full report

AMMAN, 13 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Lawyers and human rights activists condemned on Monday the execution of two prisoners sentenced to death by a military court for the murder of a US diplomat, saying the conviction was dependent on confessions based on torture.Full report

AMMAN, 7 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Officials from the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in Jordan have urged around 200 Iranian-Kurdish refugees stuck on the Iraqi side of the Jordan-Iraq border to move to a new settlement in the northern Iraqi governorate of Arbil.Full report

AMMAN, 6 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Some 7,000 underprivileged families from Zarqa, one of Jordan’s poorest governorates, located 15 km east from Amman, will now be able to own homes following the recent launch of a major government housing project. Full report

AMMAN, 28 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Local opposition figures are hoping that a draft law governing the formation of political parties will be passed by parliament next month, ushering in a new era of political liberalisation.Full report

AMMAN, 23 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - A three-month long rights campaign in Jordan has revealed that women are unable to seek access to justice due to financial burdens and social norms.Full report

AMMAN, 9 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - A leading Jordanian rights group has launched the country's first ever public campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of early marriage.Full report

AMMAN, 7 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - On the eve of a meeting between US President George Bush and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, rights activists have urged Amman to take steps to end torture, especially that allegedly committed by the General Intelligence Department (GID), the institution responsible for intelligence services in the kingdom.Full report

JORDAN: Year in Review 2005 – Democratic developments

JORDAN: Year in Brief 2005 – A chronology of democratic developments

JORDAN: The fight against drug addiction reaches women

JORDAN: Focus on land reclamation

JORDAN: Focus on Iraqi refugees

IRAQ: Briefing paper on food security

IRAQ: Briefing paper on power

IRAQ: Briefing paper on water and sanitation

IRAQ: Briefing paper on Education

IRAQ: Briefing paper on health