Jordan picks firms for ambitious canal project linking Dead Sea with Red Sea

Jordan said Monday it had chosen five international consortiums to build the first phase of a multi-million-dollar canal linking the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea.

Jordan signs agreement with UAE company on solar power plant

Jordan signed an agreement Saturday with a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company to build a 200-megawatt photovoltaic plant, the largest solar plant in Jordan, said a statement from Jordan's Ministry of Energy.

Israel's Dead Sea will dry out by 2050: experts

The world famous Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth and also the planet's saltiest body of water will dry out by the year 2050, experts have warned.

Jordan's first nuclear power reactor to be ready by 2025

Jordan on Saturday said its first nuclear power reactor will be ready by 2025 to meet rising demand for electricity, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Jordan says unable to support Syrian refugees alone

Jordan said Sunday it is incapable of servicing Syrian refugees without support from the international community, reported the state-run Petra news agency.

Jordan gets 30 mln euros loan from Germany to finance water projects

Jordan signed a 30 million euros soft loan agreement with the German Development Bank to finance water projects, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Dust storm causes flight cancellations in Cyprus

Thick desert dust affecting Cyprus for a second day forced the cancellation of landings at Larnaca airport on the southeastern shores of the island, an official said on Tuesday.

The Dead Sea is dying

 On the Dead Sea's coast in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers, Palestinians and tourists make the downhill trek from the former waterline to its new resting place.

Jordan in full gear to face unprecedented heat wave

Jordan said Monday that it was taking all necessary measures to face the unprecedented heat wave which caused power cuts countrywide and the closure of several major highways.

72°C in Iran, 51°C in Iraq but rain in KSA (Saudi Arabia) and UAE (United Arab Emirates)

A heat wave is pushing temperature, to soar to 72°C in Iran and 51°C in Iraq, 52 in Jordan, 48 in Tunisia.

Israel, Palestine, Jordan unite to save revered river (video Al Jazeera)

In a rare show of political unity, Israel, Jordan and Palestine have united for a common cause: to clean up the Jordan River.

Israel's Greatest Ecological Catastrophe Unfolding in Arava Desert

The crude oil spill in the Arava Desert, southern Israel, is 'twice as bad as initially estimated,' according to the Israeli Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company....

"The volume of crude oil that spilled into the Arava Desert last week is 60 percent larger than the amount that was originally reported, the company responsible for the pipeline acknowledged on Sunday night," Haaretz, the Israeli news agency reported.

Oil pipeline bursts near Israel-Jordan border.(the reason for the spill was under investigation)

An oil pipeline rupture has caused thousands of cubic metres of crude oil to spill into the Arava desert in southern Israel near the border with Jordan, officials said Thursday (Dec 4). The incident took place just north of the Red Sea resort city of Eilat and 500m from the frontier. 

The spill was "a couple of kilometres long", according to an Israeli environment ministry spokeswoman who was unable to give more specific information.

Israel signs 15-year natural gas deal with Jordan

REUTERS - Israel will sign a deal to supply natural gas from its Leviathan field to Jordan for 15 years, Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said on Wednesday.

Shalom said the agreement comes after many meetings with Jordanian officials but gave no other details.

An industry official who asked not to be identified said the deal was worth about $15 billion.

Jordan oks mega oil shale project

Jordan's cabinet on Sunday approved an agreement to build a mega oil shale power plant in the Kingdom, Jordan's energy minister Mohammad Hamed said.

"The agreement will be signed between the Jordanian government and an international Estonian-Malaysian consortium within two weeks, and it's the first of its kind in the region," the minister said.

Jordan has over 40 billion tons of oil shale in reserves and the 2.4-billion-US dollar power plant will produce electricity through direct oil shale burning, the minister said.

Northwest Saudi Arabia enjoys rare snowfall

Rare snowfall in the north-west of Saudi Arabia on Sunday drew local residents and visitors to scenic mountainous areas to enjoy the spectacle.
Snow fell intermittently from dawn in the city of Tabuk near the Jordanian border, coating nearby mountains and roads with a sheet of white.

Dead Sea: Environmentalists Question Pipeline Rescue Plan

An "historic" agreement between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians is supposed to save the shrinking Dead Sea. But some environmentalists believe the plan to pump water from the Red Sea could do the salt lake more harm than good.

Even as it shrinks in size, the Dead Sea, a turquoise blue shimmering salt lake, remains a mystical place. Boat jetties jut out into nothingness, abandoned as the water has retreated further and further; each year the level dropping by a meter. The Dead Sea is dwindling to nothing, deprived of water by humans.

Israel, Jordan, Palestinians to sign Red Sea-Dead Sea deal

AFP - Representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians will on Monday sign a "historic" agreement to link the Red Sea with the shrinking Dead Sea, an Israeli minister said.
Energy and Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom told army radio that under the agreement to be signed at the World Bank in Washington, water will be drawn from the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea.
Some will be desalinated and distributed to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians, while the rest will be transferred in four pipes to the parched Dead Sea, which would otherwise dry out by 2050.