Ramadan will begin on Friday in most Arab countries, religious authorities announced, but in Oman and Syria as well as for Iraq's Sunni Muslims and in non-Arab Iran it will start on Saturday.

Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, were among those to announce a Friday start.

The United Nations said on Sunday that 480 Palestinian refugees have fled Syria to Jordan since the start of a revolt against President Bashar Assad's regime last year.

"The U.N. Relief and Works Agency have registered 480 Palestinian refugees who have sought refuge in Jordan since the beginning of the crisis in Syria," UNRWA spokeswoman, Anwar Abu Sakina, told AFP.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman has said Washington has evidence that Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah are bolstering Syria’s Assad regime.

Speaking in Amman, Feltman told reporters that Syrian President Bashar Assad is pegging his ruling Alawite minority against other sects and implementing his "own prophesy, which is moving Syria into more chaos and a civil war."

A senior U.S. official was in Beirut on Wednesday to inquire about the role of the Lebanese banking sector in the alleged transfer of Syrian money to Lebanon to escape sanctions imposed on Damascus by the United States and the European Union.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the Department of Treasury Daniel Glaser will hold talks with top officials to stress the need for Lebanese authorities to remain vigilant against attempts by the Syrian regime to evade the U.S. and EU sanctions (by resorting) to the Lebanese financial sector,” As Safir daily quoted U.S. sources as saying.

Jordan's government said Thursday it will not tolerate threats or attacks against diplomatic missions or news agencies, a day after an anti-Agence France Presse demonstration was staged outside the French embassy in Amman.

"The government will not allow threats or attacks against institutions ... particularly embassies and news agencies," Interior Minister Mazen Saket told al-Arab al-Yawm independent daily.

A Jordanian who confessed to killing his wife's alleged lover cut off the man's penis before putting it in a bag and handing it over to police, a judicial official said on Monday.

The 35-year-old man "lured the victim to a hotel room in downtown Amman, claiming that he wanted to resolve the issue about his wife quietly" on Saturday, the official told Agence France Presse.

The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) concluded Wednesday in Amman a series of consultation meetings to discuss the first draft of its upcoming report on an Arab Green Economy, due to be released in October 2011. The AFED report will address the transformations needed to achieve desired economic, social, and environmental sustainability goals in Arab countries. The report will address the enabling strategies and development policies for navigating a green transition in eight sectors: energy, water, agriculture, tourism, waste management, industry, cities/buildings, and transportation. The Arab Green Economy report is the fourth annual report by AFED, and follows publication of three reports, Arab Environment: Future Challenges in 2008, Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries in 2009, and Water: Sustainable Management of a Scarce Resource in 2010.

The consultation meeting in Amman was hosted by the University of Petra (UOP), under the patronage of its President H.E. Dr. Adnan Badran, Former Prime Minister of Jordan and Chairman of AFED Board of Trustees. Fifty officials, authors, experts, business executives and civil society organizations from Jordan and abroad addressed urban city planning, green buildings and tourism. They included H.E. Mr. Khaled Irani, Former Minister of Environment and Energy, H.E. Ms. Suzanne Afanah, Former Minister of Tourism, the report’s main editor Hussein Abaza, and a wide spectrum of participants from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Oman, UAE, Morocco, United Kingdom, USA and Sweden. The meeting discussed specific strategies to institutionalize green practices that reduce energy and water consumption and enhance the quality of life, while promoting economic growth and employment.

More than 100 people were injured Friday as pro-reform protesters and government supporters clashed in Amman, prompting police to use water cannons to disperse them.

Anti-riot police also broke up a protest camp for students and arrested several of them, a security official told Agence France Presse.

Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated peacefully in Amman and other cities after weekly prayers on Friday to press for political and economic reform, and demanding that the government resign.

"Egypt, the Arab nation salutes you. We urge your men to get rid of (President Hosni) Mubarak," an estimated 3,000 people chanted as they marched in Amman city center holding national flags.