Jordanian prince put under house arrest

Jordan king has gone public with a royal rift with his half-brother and formalized the former crown prince’s house arrest, calling him “erratic” in an unprecedented harshly worded public letter published Thursday.

King Abdullah II said in a public letter that he had approved measures to detain Prince Hamzah in his palace and restrict his communications and movements, citing his half-brother’s “erratic behavior and aspirations.”

Abdullah and Hamzah are sons of King Hussein, who ruled Jordan for nearly a half-century before his death in 1999. Abdullah had appointed Hamzah as crown prince upon his succession but stripped him of the title in 2004.