Jordan's king reshuffles cabinet to tackle inefficiency and corruption

Amman: The King of Jordan has reshuffled his Cabinet in a bid to eliminate inefficiency and corruption as part of his drive for reforms.

The key changes made by King Abdullah II included sacked the education minister, who was accused of being inept amid a computer glitch in high school scores and the agriculture minister, whose subordinates were found guilty of embezzlement.

The king also appointed Jordan's current ambassador to Israel, Ali Ayed, as the new information minister. It is not clear who would take up Ayed's post in Israel.

Cabinet reshuffles are frequent in Jordan but Wednesday's was the first under Prime Minister Samir Rifai, who took office last December and pledged to fight corruption and speed up reforms.