Nightly News   |  February 01, 2011

Jordan's King Abdullah fires government

As turmoil in Egypt reverberates throughout the region, Jordan's King Abdullah dismissed his government on Tuesday and asked a new prime minister to begin the process of instituting reforms. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.

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>> tunisia, where this may spread in the arab world . we've mentioned nations like jordan , saudi arabia , while speaking of jordan , the king there, king abdullah today absolved his own government seen by many as a preempttive strike. martin fletcher is in amman, jordan tonight.

>> reporter: that's exactly the preem preempttive strike by king abdullah . he fired his entire cabinet and appointed a new prime minister. he's an ex-general, former ambassador to turkey, very proamerican. many are saying this may be more of the same. he was a prime minister himself just a couple years ago briefly. now, the question here is, the protesters last week were calling for more -- lower food prices, that was the main issue. only recently escalated the demand for political change. now that the king has done this. will those -- the new government be enough to satisfy the protesters? all eyes now are on egypt, whatever happens in egypt, if it gets more violent there, it could happen here too. i have to say, brian, support in jordan for the king is unchanged.

>> all right, martin fletcher , in amman, jordan . martin, thanks.