Amman- The Jordan Phosphates Mines Co., one of Jordan's two main mining firms, scored a nearly 600-per-cent increase in profits in the first nine months of the year, Chairman of the JPMC Board of Directors Walid Kurdi said Tuesday.

Kurdi put the firm's net profits in the first three quarters of the year at a record of 203.6 million dinars (288 million dollars), compared with 31.3 million dinars in the same period of 2007.

Amman - Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad on Monday opened the the new Jordan-based Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) in the presence of a number of prominent scientists from across the world.

The centre would provide the Middle East with "several facilities for basic scientific research and applications that will help boost sciences and technology" in the region, Jordan's Nuclear Energy Commission Chairman Khalid Touqan said at the opening.

Amman - King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday rejected Israel's excavations at al-Magharebah Gate in East Jerusalem as an "illegal" step that could affect the Islamic nature of the holy city.

Abdullah made the remarks during a meeting with the visiting UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, a royal court statement said.

"The monarch asserted the illegality of the Israeli moves at al-Magharebah Gate and urged Israel to abide by the relevant international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention of 1954," according to the statement.

Amman - Most Arab stock markets rebounded in the last two days of the week curtailing losses they incurred earlier.

But analysts said Friday regional bourses would remain "cautious" pending developments on world markets after the US Fed's decision to slash interest rates by 50 basis points.

"I believe Arab stock markets will continue to assume vigilance because investors are still lacking in appetite for risk and alert to what takes place on leading world markets," Wajdi Makhamreh, Chief Operating Officer of the Amman-based Sanabel International Holding, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Amman - A Jordanian delegation is expected to make efforts to mend diplomatic fences with Syria during a visit Wednesday.

The delegation of ranking Jordanian officials departed Wednesday to relay a message from King Abdullah II to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on "issues of mutual interest," a royal court statement said.

Jordan's king is interested in improving ties with Damascus after strained relations over the past few years, analysts say. Part of the strain comes from Jordan's efforts to stay in the good graces of the United States, which has often pressured the country to take pro- Western stances that have, at times, hurt relations with Syria.