Jordan's king inaugurates newly elected parliament February 10, 2013 - 15:36 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Jordan's king has inaugurated the kingdom's newly elected parliament with a pledge to press ahead with democratization, but added that he will help choose the next prime minister despite the choice having been formally given to the legislature. According to The Associated Press, Abdullah II's speech was delivered on Sunday, Feb 10, to lawmakers elected last month. Government officials say that this legislature will have more power than any of its predecessors, in line with a reform process meant to forestall any large-scale Arab Spring unrest. But the Jan 23 polls were boycotted by the best organized opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and yielded a body dominated by inexperienced independents. An official said that the king wanted to avoid "political chaos." Partner news  Top stories U.S. officials say they want to advance efforts to start talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders. The international conference, backed by Russia and the U.S., aims to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria. Nuland, a career foreign service officer who was until recently State's top spokesperson, was expected to be nominated the post. Alkhatib said Assad should respond within 20 days and that he should then be given a month to dissolve parliament.   Partner news |  Latest news Israeli security expert says Syrian hacker attack foiled  Israel refuses to comment on the strike but officials at the time said Iranian missiles set for Hezbollah were hit.Gyumri to host Europe Day celebrations The celebrations will feature a small information fair, with EU project representatives to brief the visitors on the initiatives launched.1st Armenian interactive fairy tale available for iPhone/iPod Touch The tale sparked great interest in Diaspora. Such projects, namely interactive version of “Alice in Wonderland”, are popular abroad.Expert says Russian FM’s remarks in context of Madrid Principles No decisive developments will follow the meeting between Russian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, David Jamalyan said. |
