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Since Monday, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan have been in Washington, DC where they have been meeting with politicians and participating in forums. This is the second working visit to the United States for Their Majesties since last year’s Arab Spring.
 Click here to see more photos of the press conference The King met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday and the two held a brief press conference in the Oval Office. They discussed Syria and the ongoing Mideast Peace Process.
Both leaders denounced the violence in Syria. King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, and Obama agreed that they were “continuing to see unacceptable levels of violence inside that country” and went on to say that the U.S. will “continue to consult very closely with Jordan to create the kind of international pressure and environment that encourages the current Syrian regime to step aside so a more democratic process can take place inside of Syria.”
The King was asked about the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, and he answered, “We have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that we can bring the Israelis and Palestinans out of the impasse.”
Accompanying the Jordanian King and Queen is their eldest son, Crown Prince Hussein. After his father finished meeting with President Obama, Hussein and the King met with Vice President Joe Biden and the Secretary of Defense. These meetings are likely meant to prepare the Crown Prince for his future role as King of Jordan. After all, he will be 18 years old later this year.
While her husband and son were visiting with Washington’s most powerful, Queen Rania was not sitting around. On Tuesday, she attended a United Nations Foundation luncheon at the Newseum. As a board member, Rania discussed ways to make the world better for women and for children.
Her Majesty later attended the event 10×10 – Educate Girls. Change the World.
For Wednesday, King Abdullah met with Treasurer Timothy F. Geithner and talked about the U.S. – Jordanian economic links, and the possibility of providing financial aid to the Hashemite Kingdom. Also at the meeting was Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh.
Also that day, the King met with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who called for Abdullah to do the following:
“Jordan has not yet appointed an ambassador to Israel in the year and a half since the previous ambassador moved on, and I would strongly encourage you to do so,” she told him.
Ros-Lehtinen also agreed with him that the Syrian President should resign.
“I share that view because Iran is certainly doing all it can to keep Syria afloat but the people are rising up,” she said.
On Thursday, King Abdullah II will address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Sources: USA Today, The Royal Forums, Petra, AFP
In a quiet ceremony in Amman Thursday, Jordan’s Prince Hamzah married pilot Basma Bani. The bride, age 26, is a Canadian who’s parents are Jordanian.
 See more photos of the wedding here For the wedding, King Abdullah II, Queen Rania and Queen Noor were in attendance, as well as the bride’s family.
A lunch banquet was held at Basman Palace after the ceremony.
This is the second marriage for the former heir to the Jordanian throne. Hamzah was previously married to a distant cousin, Princess Noor, whom he has a daughter with. The two quietly divorced a few years ago.
The Prince became the Crown Prince of Jordan upon the death of his father, the late King Hussein. But in 2004, King Abdullah II dismissed Hamzah of his position and made his son the Crown Prince.
Source: Petra, The Royal Forums
 Click here for a list of more photos On Sunday, the King of Jordan presided over the 10th anniversary of the King Abdullah Fund for Development (KAFD). The fund serves over a million people throughout the Hashemite Kingdom.
During the ceremony, King Abdullah awarded several private and public sectors and civil institutions which support the KAFD.
His Majesty also honored students from the Samma Comprehensive Girls School and the National School for Girls for their winning of a software applications development contest. The competition had girls between the ages of 15 and 17 to develop cell phone programs and applications.
The King Abdullah Fund for Development began in 2001 and was set up in order to support Jordan through human and infrastructure development.
Source: Petra
 Click here to view more images Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan was an honoree at Thursday’s 2011 UNICEF Ball held in Los Angeles. She took home the Woman of Compassion award, something she was pleased to win.
“Humbled by UNICEF’s Woman of Compassion tribute today esp as King Hussein my model of compass leadership&UNICEF is ultimate compass org,” the Queen wrote on Twitter.
Noor was among many Hollywood celebrities that night including Nicole Ritchie, Brooklyn Decker, Rose McGowan, Matthew Morrison, Jenna Elfman and Jayma Mays.
Sources: Twitter, Gossip Center
The Queen of Jordan gave out her annual Excellence in Education today at the Applied Science Private University in Amman. Since 2005, Queen Rania has been awarding her country’s teachers, and in 2009, began awarding principals as way to improve education in the Hashemite Kingdom.
 Click here to see more photos This year, 25 teachers and 7 principals received their Excellence in Education awards.
“Change for us is an opportunity,” Her Majesty told those at the university’s the conference center. “An opportunity to learn from the past, and set modern plans for our future.”
“Teach them responsibility,” The Queen told the teachers and principals. “Teach them how to transform their love for Jordan into constructive work, so Jordan and they can grow together.”
The ceremony for this award included a screening of a couple of documentaries which showcased what is expected from a Jordanian educator.
The Teacher’s award began in 2005, and the Principal’s award is biannual. This year, nearly 2,000 applicants for teachers and 282 applicants for principals came in from all over Jordan.
Source: Petra
The Queen of Jordan spoke Wednesday about the need for education at the Opening Ceremony of the Fourth High Level forum on Aid Effectiveness in the South Korean port city of Busan.
 Click here to learn more “We are in a constant continuum of change which is altering the context of development,” said Queen Rania while stressing the need for smart aid towards education.
“Education is more than a right; its a resource,” she said. “It can combat almost every global humanitarian challenge today.”
The Queen went on to say how 67 million children worldwide are unable to attend classes, there are too few teachers and outdated curricula, and many students graduate without the skills needed for a fast changing world.
Rania also highlighted that women need to be encouraged because they “contributed more to global GDP than either new technologies or the emerging economies of China and India.”
Also on Wednesday, Her Majesty visited a teacher’s college and an elementary school in Busan. Kim Sang-young, president of Busan National University of Education, told her about the admissions process, training courses and operations.
Queen Rania was certainly impressed by the South Korean system. “Korea is a prime example of how the power of education can transform a nation,” she told Kim.
“We, Jordan, are facing similar challenges that Korea experienced decades ago. I strongly believe that the single most important element in education is the quality of the teachers.”
She also expressed her envy over how popular and competitive it is to be licensed teacher in the country, whereas in Jordan, teaching is not too many students’ desire.
The Queen was in South Korea for the 4th High-Level International Forum on Aid Effectiveness. She was one of the VIP guests along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-moon, and for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Sources: Petra, Korea Times
In an interview with the BBC, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said that Syrian President Bashar Assad should resign. This makes the King the first Arab leader to make such a call.
 Click here to see more images at Daylife.com “If Bashar (Assad) has the interest of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life,” Abdullah said.
His Majesty also added that if he were Assad, he would step down and he “would make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo that we’re seeing.”
Syria did not respond to the statements.
It comes days after the Arab League voted to suspend Syria because of the attacks on protesters that the United Nations believes over 3,000 have died since mid-March.
The Arab League will discuss the suspension further this Wednesday.
Source: AP, Washington Post
At the shores of the Dead Sea, Jordan’s King Abdullah II opened this year’s Word Economic Forum, which is intended for the Middle East. As part of his opening speech, His Majesty talked about the need for 85 million jobs in the region, and also he highlighted the Arab Spring.
 Click here to view more photos “This year’s events have opened the way to positive change, but in many places, also created painful economic dislocations. Strategies are urgently needed, and they must take place across the board – in economic life, in politics and policies, in social life and cultural values,” he said.
“Democracy is an entry to real reform,” he went on to say. “Where people can come together as citizens and stakeholders: assembling in political parties; formulating platforms; building consensus. There is no one path forward from this gate. Solutions must and will be home grown, in each of our own countries.”
King Abdullah also discussed the need for a Palestinian statehood and the acceptance of Israel as way for peace and stability in the region.
 Click here to view more photos At the end of his speech, the King gave his condolences to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who’s heir and brother, Crown Prince Sultan, passed away Saturday.
Watching and listening to his speech in the front row was Queen Rania and Spanish King Juan Carlos. The King of Spain is in Jordan for a few days as a guest of King Abdullah II.
This Forum was originally scheduled for February. But because of the uprisings and protests in the Middle East, it was rescheduled for October.
Sources: Reuters, Petra News Agency
On Sunday, 70 members of Jordan’s Parliament demanded that King Abdullah II dismiss not only Prime Minister Maarouf al-Bakhit, but also the cabinet, for failing to implement reforms.
 Click here for image gallery at Daylife.com The King told his PM, whom he appointed back in February, to step down Monday, and now he has been replaced by Dr. Awn al-Khasawneh, a judge at the International Court of Justice. This is the third time this year that Jordan has had a new PM.
The difference between Bakhit and Khasawneh is that the new PM is respected by most Jordanians, whereas Bakhit was disliked by tribal leaders and Islamists.
Former military general Bakhit also angered the populace when he made it against the law to accuse someone of corruption. That was seen as anti-freedom of speech, something many Jordanian protesters wanted earlier this year.
Khasawneh, age 61, has worked at The Hague since 2000 and negotiated the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty in 1994. He is expected to start right away on setting up a new cabinet.
A spokesman for retired military service members, Gen. Ali Habashneh, said, “Awn Khasawneh is known for his integrity, and has no corruption issues in his past like the rest, and more importantly, he has very high legal capabilities, which is essential now in this phase of constitutional amendments, laws and legislation which will define the future of Jordan.”
Another seat that has been changed is the Intelligence Chief. King Abdullah gave that over to Maj. Gen. Faisal al-Shobaki, a longstanding intelligence operative.
Source: NYTimes, BBC
On Saturday, King Abdullah II of Jordan reiterated his country’s support for Libya’s National Transitional Council. He did so as met with Mahmoud Jibril, the head of the provisional government, as a way of strengthening the links between the two countries.
 Click here for original article at Petra The King also pledged assistance in helping Libya with medical and humanitarian aid. Jibril came to Jordan to request such help.
“The Libyan people now face the challenge of rebuilding their state and institutions, starting with the establishment of a national army, as well as the restoration of security to the country,” he said.
Jibril thanked King Abdullah in the presence of senior Jordanian officials, such as the army’s joint chiefs of staff General Mishaal al-Zaben and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
Jibril also said Judeh will visit Tripoli in the next few days to underline Jordan’s pledge and to find ways Libya could strengthen closer ties with Arab countries.
“Jordan is one of the most important Arab countries in terms of responding to Libyan needs and contributing to reconstruction efforts,” said Jibril
Also while in Jordan, Jibril toured Amman’s hospitals where 700 Libyans are being treated after fighting Gaddafi’s forces.
Jordan was one the first Arab countries to recognize the NTC as a representative of the Libyan people.
Source: Petra, Monster and Critics
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