THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The King of Saudi Arabia has left a New York hospital to recover from back surgery.
King Abdullah left the hospital on Tuesday evening "for his New York residence for a period of convalescence and physiotherapy," the Saudi court said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
Saudi television showed the king, about 86 years old, together with Abdullah al-Rabeeah, the health minister, walking with difficulty and smiling at hospital staff.
There was no mention of when the king would return to Saudi Arabia.
As head of a government led by several princes in their 70s and 80s, many also suffering chronic health problems, Abdullah's travelling to the United States for treatment sparked quiet speculation about the future of the leadership in many Saudi circles.
He flew to New York on November 22 and was operated on two days later at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a debilitating herniated disc complicated by a haematoma that put pressure on his spine. >>> | Wednesday, December 22, 2010
