The bars are filled with tattooed ex-soldiers, young former officers and eastern European prostitutes. The men talk of the Iraq where they work for private security firms, and the women try to offer them an expensive escape.
Amman has become the service center for Western efforts to pacify and rebuild Iraq and Jordan's once faltering economy is booming to the point of overheating.
While many hotel guests are Jordanians, a large proportion are journalists, diplomats, soldiers, security guards and others who work in Iraq but use Amman as a base.
While most of the victims of Wednesday's suicide bombings were Jordanians, mainly at a wedding celebration, large numbers of Europeans and Americans were close to the explosion at the Grand Hyatt hotel. An al-Qaeda statement posted on the internet described the three hotels that were attacked as "filthy entertainment centers for the traitors and apostates of the umma [the Muslim world] and a safe haven for the infidel intelligence services."
The decision of King Abdullah II to support the war in Iraq and the continued US presence there has led to many economic benefits but it has placed the country squarely in the enemy camp in the eyes of Islamic fundamentalists and particularly Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born al-Qaeda leader.
The presence in Jordan of US special forces troops, employees of private security companies and western contractors for recuperation has made it an attractive target for militants fighting in Iraq.
Jordan has a porous border with Iraq, which is mostly uninhabited desert, and there is a large amount of traffic between the countries.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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