Jordan’s king appoints Harvard-educated aide to serve as prime minister

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s King Abdullah II has tapped a longtime aide to serve as the kingdom’s new prime minister. The Royal Court said the king has asked Jafar Hassan to form a new government. Hassan is a former planning minister and the current head of Abdullah’s office. The Harvard-educated Hassan is to replace the outgoing prime minister whose Cabinet resigned Sunday in the wake of a parliamentary election. Hassan must now cobble together a new Cabinet to confront a series of challenges. Those include a struggling economy and widespread public anger over the Israel-Hamas war. An Islamic party emerged as the largest faction in last week’s parliamentary election. That happened in part because of the anger over the war in Gaza.