NPR

Jordan's Prime Minister Resigns Amid Protests Against Austerity

King Abdullah appointed economist Omar Razzaz as his new prime minister. It will be up to Razzaz to defuse a crisis over a plan that would levy income tax even on those earning $11,000 a year.
Protesters demonstrate outside the prime minister's office in Amman late on June 2, as security forces stand on alert.

The biggest protests in years in Jordan brought down the country's prime minister and his cabinet Monday.

After four nights of anti-government protests in Amman and other cities, Jordan's King Abdullah II summoned Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki to the palace, where Mulki tendered his resignation.

Jordan's education minister Omar Razzaz, a Harvard-educated economist, has been appointed the new prime minister and will name a new cabinet. It will be up to him to defuse a crisis over a tax plan — for Jordanians, the last straw in a long list of burdensome austerity measures imposed in the midst of

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