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CAIRO -- President Obama may have hoped that his embrace of the democracy movement sweeping the Arab world might revive the warmth his name evoked after his speech to the Muslim world two years ago. But across the region, many said his soaring words and financial pledges did little to undo their disappointment at his apparent equivocation during the early days of the Arab revolt. ''Everybody still has it in the back of their minds how America flip-flopped in their position toward these Arab revolutions,'' said Amr Jarrad, 28, a banker in Amman, Jordan, recalling when the White House at first appeared to stand by its ally, Hosni Mubarak, during the Egyptian uprising. ''If you were so good in supporting autocratic regime, why can't you be so good in telling them to leave?'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It might be too much to call it a miracle, but the government of this ancient metropolis that rolls out over seven sun-burned hills has managed something that until now seemed impossible. It built sidewalks that are easy to walk on. But wait, Amman has achieved something else, too! It has put in park benches. And not just in parks, but right there, on those new, flat sidewalks that do not end suddenly, for no apparent reason. Sidewalks and benches are easy to dismiss as discretionary conveniences, unnecessary urban flourishes. That is especially true considering how people here need so much -- better jobs, better schools and better health care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If you were to slow everything down, this is what you would see: scoop of sauce, pinch of onions, scoop of tomatoes, shovel in some meat, roll it all up in a pita. But who has time to slow down? The crowds are always pressed up against the gate -- in the searing heat of a Jordan summer day or the desert chill of a cold winter night -- outside Reem, a hole-in-the wall takeout place with a reputation for the best beef and lamb shawarma sandwiches in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For all of the animosity, mistrust and lack of understanding between the West and the Muslim world, this small Middle Eastern country has demonstrated that most people here have the capacity to laugh at themselves -- and at jokes about bodily functions, too. When comedians from North America faced a theater packed with Arabs this month and poked fun at the local practice of marrying a cousin, tweaked Palestinians as being skilled stone throwers, feigned fright at an audience member named Osama, everyone laughed, and laughed hard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent days, King Abdullah II, popularly perceived in the West as being among the most enlightened Middle East leaders, has dismissed the prime minister and replaced him with a palace aide and loyalist, dissolved Parliament and postponed legislative elections for a year. The king's decisions were widely seen here as an effort to free the government from a recalcitrant legislature so it could push through financial measures viewed as essential to shoring up an economy burdened by debt and deficit. The Parliament, dissolved midway through its term, had opposed cuts in spending and the reduction of business taxes, key components of the government's financial plan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Muhammad Fawaz is a very serious college junior with a stern gaze and a reluctant smile that barely cloaks suppressed anger. He never wanted to attend Jordan University. He hates spending hours each day commuting. As a high school student, Mr. Fawaz, 20, had dreamed of earning a scholarship to study abroad. But that was impossible, he said, because he did not have a ''wasta,'' or connection. In Jordan, connections are seen as essential for advancement and the wasta system is routinely cited by young people as their primary grievance with their country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the reactions of the people of Jordan on the suicide bombings which rocked three hotels, killing 58 people and injuring many others.

The article provides information on the bomb blasts that struck three hotels in Amman, Jordan on November 9, 2005.

AQABA, Jordan -- A mysterious rocket that may have been launched from the Egyptian desert slammed into this Red Sea resort on Monday morning, and Jordanian officials said it killed a taxi driver and wounded five others. The missile struck in the roadway next to the InterContinental hotel at the northern edge of the city. Across the border, at the northern entrance to the Israeli resort of Eilat, the police found the remains of another rocket, leading to suspicions that the one that struck Aqaba had been aimed at its neighbor but veered off course. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JERUSALEM -- Israel worked Wednesday to defuse rising international anger by agreeing to a rapid release of all detainees -- including those suspected of attacking its soldiers -- taken after the deadly nighttime raid of six ships seeking to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip. By early Thursday, planes carrying hundreds of activists, along with the bodies of the nine killed in the raid, flew to Turkey and Greece, as others were released through Jordan. Hundreds of relatives and well-wishers cheered outside the airport as they landed in Istanbul, Turkish television showed, while the deputy prime minister stood atop a bus, declaring that ''diplomacy had resulted in success for now'' but that ''these murders'' would be pursued ''within the scope of law.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the condemnation of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Amman, Jordan in November 2006 to meet with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq.