Arabic is the official language. English is taught to all students and is widely spoken.

In 1946, the population was about 400,000; in 1997, it reached 4.6 million, a figure twice that of 1981. After the 1967 war with Israel and Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, there were sudden and massive influxes of Palestinian Arab refugees, who now make up more than two-thirds of the population.

The Emirate of Transjordan was the name given to this small state when it was recognized in 1921, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration.

Jordan has an area of about 35,475 square miles (91,900 square kilometers). It lies in the center of the Middle East, sharing its northern border with Syria, eastern border with Iraq, it's southern and eastern borders with Saudi Arabia, and western border with the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and Israel.

July 9 2010
Chinese food safety officials have seized 64 tonnes of raw dairy materials contaminated with the toxic industrial chemical melamine.

July 9 2010
Recent amendments to the Jordanian Penal Code stipulate a ban on the death penalty for crimes of armed insurrection and starting fire

July 9 2010
Iran's government is denying reports that an Iranian woman convicted of adultery will be executed by stoning, though her death sentence may still be carried out by some other method.

April 30,2010
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama’s national security adviser will visit the Middle East for high-level talks this week, joining a renewed U.S.

January 13 ,2010
Herta Mueller, winner of the latest Nobel Prize for Literature, called on Germany on Monday to find and prosecute former agents of Romania's Securitate communist secret police.

December 10 2009
World equities were generally weaker on Thursday, adding to five sessions of losses, although Europe rebounded after recent hits over some of the region's more vulnerable

31 August 2010
AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Rania celebrates her birthday today, marking a year of achievements and accolades at the national and international levels.

31 August 2010
AMMAN - The government has said that it remains committed to renewable energy, with senior officials studying various financing plans to utilise alternative energy resources in the Kingdom.

16 August 2010
Tens of women from Jerash Governorate have become self-sufficient entrepreneurs thanks to the National Goodwill Campaign.

16 August 2010
Despite high temperatures and the physical toll of fasting, no sooner had Ramadan begun than citizens started to queue in front of bakeries to buy qatayef, the holy month's signature sweet.

16 August 2010
The first plane carrying Jordanian assistance to Pakistan arrived on Sunday, bringing humanitarian aid and medical staff to assist in relief efforts in flood-stricken regions.

10 August 2010
The Agriculture Ministry is calling on fruit and vegetable producers to cut back on exports ahead of Ramadan as the recent heatwave has impacted the local supply of various vegetables, according to officials.

31 August 2010
Cities across Egypt have been hit by daily blackouts during the past two weeks, sparking protests and calls for the electricity minister to be sacked.

31 August 2010
Colombo, Sri Lanka , A Saudi employer and his wife, who are accused of torturing a Sri Lankan housemaid by hammering nails into her body, have been arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, officials at the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry said Monday.

16 August 2010
Lebanese security officials say they have shot and killed the suspected leader of the militant Sunni Islamist movement Fatah al-Islam.

16 August 2010
Israeli troops have begun demolishing a concrete wall erected nine years ago to protect a Jewish settlement on the outskirts of east Jerusalem at Gilo.

16 August 2010
Authorities in Bahrain have arrested four Shia Muslim activists on security related charges, officials say.

10 August 2010
The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has made public what he says is evidence of Israeli involvement in the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.

16 August 2010
China's health ministry said a clinical investigation has found no evidence that milk powder made by a Chinese company caused three infant girls to grow breasts, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

16 August 2010
Tens of thousands of Roman Catholic worshippers were evacuated from Lourdes in southwest France after a bomb threat, officials with the Notre Dame de Lourdes confirmed Sunday.

16 August 2010
Russia has imposed a ban on grain exports until the end of the year, after a severe drought and a spate of wildfires devastated crops.

10 August 2010
Rescuers in north-west China are continuing a frantic search for more than 1,100 people missing after a huge landslide that has claimed 337 lives.