Wye Mills - The US State Department issued an unusual statement yesterday declaring that Jordan's King Hussein, undergoing treatment for cancer in a US clinic, is improving despite an Israeli press report that the monarch is dying.
The statement, issued on the sidelines of the US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting in Maryland, said King Hussein "has been making good progress" under chemotherapy treatment for lymphatic cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Two Israeli newspapers reported earlier yesterday that King Hussein was "terminally ill and it is doubtful whether he will ever again actively assume his duties as head of state."