The king's illness has set off deep worries about the future in this Middle Eastern country ruled by Hussein's family since its founding in the 1920s as Transjordan.
"This issue is as popular with Jordanians as the Lewinsky affair with the Americans," legislator Mohammed Oueidi Abbadi says.
Concern isn't limited to Jordan. The pro-American Hussein has been a moderating influence in the region, and any instability in Jordan would be a potential snag to peace efforts.
The 62-year-old king's hospitalization at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., since July - his second bout with cancer in six years - has brought
talk of his possibly stepping down.
Hussein named his brother Hassan as successor in 1965, but rumors have spread about a change of mind. There also are rumors of dissension over the issue in the royal family and of the American-born Queen Noor maneuvering for her eldest son to be chosen king.
Jeff Almond, chair of the sheep subcommittee of the government advisory group on mad cow disease - formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy - said there is a "a distinct possibility" that sheep are infected.
The government would face the dilemma of risking public health or ordering the slaughter of 40 million sheep.
09-08-98
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