Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration but his life is not in danger, his office said yesterday, a day after he was flown to Jordan for medical tests.
"The initial results of the medical tests showed that his condition is completely normal and stable. There is no need to worry. The vital and basic parts of his body are all in good condition," a statement said.
Talabani was admitted to the specialist King Hussein Medical Center in Amman on Sunday after being flown from Sulaimaniya in northern Iraq. A close aide to Talabani, who is in his early 70s, denied media reports he had had a heart attack.
The statement said Talabani fell ill due to a heavy workload. It said he would undergo further medical tests in Amman.
A US official in Washington said on Sunday Talabani had been taken to Jordan on a medically equipped US military transport plane. Talabani's post is largely ceremonial but he is an influential figure at home and in Washington.
Rivalries
The former Kurdish guerrilla leader is involved in political efforts to quell sectarian rivalries in Iraq while US troop reinforcements attempt to root out militant groups in Baghdad and avert a slide into all-out civil war.
A deadly explosion ripped through a meeting hall in the Iraqi ministry of public works yesterday during a visit by Vice President Adel Abdel Mahd.
Medics at a nearby hospital said at least four people were killed, including two women, and 26 wounded in the blast, but a member of the vice presidential party said that the Shiite leader was himself unhurt.
Bombs
US troops in Iraq have found a huge haul of armour-piercing bombs of a kind which Tehran has allegedly smuggled to Shiite militias, hidden alongside Iranian mortar shells.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
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RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of