Casting ballots

JORDANIANS voted on Tuesday in parliamentary elections which King Abdullah II hopes will bolster his country's democratic credentials.

The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is by far the country's largest organised political party, has fielded 30 candidates after boycotting the last parliamentary poll in 1997.

Analysts and independent politicians say it is likely to win nearly a quarter of the 110 seats.

Government election spokesman, Faisal Shboul, said 31 per cent of those eligible had voted nearly halfway through the ballot.

The first parliamentary poll since the king came to power five years ago, the election is not likely to threaten Jordan's largely tribal rule, although the Islamists say they will call for a more critical approach to the United States and Israel.

Gaddafi's reform plans

LIBYA's prime minister has been sacked and replaced with the former economy minister after appeals by Muammar Gaddafi for radical reform of the socialist-style economy, the top legislative body said on Saturday.

The African Unity Ministry, reflecting Libyan leader Gaddafi's passionate pan-Africanism, was also scrapped as part of the cabinet reshuffle announced by the General People's Congress.

The moves by the congress, replacing Prime Minister Mubarak Abdullah Al-Shamikh by former Economy and Trade Minister Shokri Ghanem, followed calls by Gaddafi for reforms, possibly leading to what the legislative body referred to as some type of "popular capitalism".

Gaddafi has cautiously begun to open up the North African country's oil-dependent centralised economy to the local private sector and outside investment in the past four years.

Rooting out resistance

THE US army has detained 371 people in the Baghdad area and northern Iraq as part of Operation Desert Scorpion aimed at rooting out armed resistance, a military spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

"In Tikrit and Kirkuk, coalition forces conducted 36 raids and detained 215 individuals," Sergeant First Class Mayra O'Neil said.

"In the Baghdad area, coalition forces conducted 11 raids and detained 156 individuals," she said.

The US military has also confiscated banned heavy firearms, including 18 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), in addition to 121 rifles, 19 pistols and four machine guns, O'Neil said.

"Operation Desert Scorpion is the Combined Joint Task Force 7 operation designed to isolate and defeat remaining pockets of resistance that are seeking to delay the transition to a peaceful and stable Iraq," US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement.

Crown prince challenge

THE DEPOSED crown prince of Ras Al-Kheima Emirate in the United Arab Emirates has described his octogenarian father's decision to replace him as "unsound".

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohamed Al-Qassimi, one of the world's longest-serving rulers, decreed Saturday to replace his oldest son, Sheikh Khalid, who is in his 50s, with his younger half brother, Sheikh Saud, 47.

In scenes unfamiliar to this conservative emirate, hundreds of people marched Saturday from the dethroned heir Sheikh Khalid's palace to his father's residence, chanting they would only accept Khalid as crown prince.

On Monday, roads leading to Sheikh Khalid's palace were barricaded and army tanks kept cars and passers- by at bay.

"I will not give up my right. I will not leave my house under any circumstances and this decision [of being replaced] is unsound," Sheikh Khalid told hundreds of supporters who gathered late Sunday at his palace. He asked the rulers of other emirates and neighbouring countries to mediate.