King Abdullah appoints US-educated technocrat as PM

Jafar Hassan, now head of King Abdullah’s office and a former planning minister, replaces Bisher Khasawneh, a veteran diplomat and former palace adviser who was appointed nearly four years ago. Harvard-educated Hassan is a widely respected technocrat. He will face the challenges of mitigating the impact of the Gaza war on the kingdom’s economy, hard-hit by curbs to investment and a sharp drop in tourism (Read more at Middle East Monitor).