SHIMON PERES HOSPITALISED

The Israeli President has been taken to the hospital after he briefly fainted on stage while speaking at an event in Tel Aviv.
Shimon Peres was answering questions from a crowd after a talk on young leadership when he passed out late on Saturday, paramedics told Israeli media.

• The 86-year-old statesman was treated by medics on the spot and then taken to the Tel Hashomer hospital for tests following his collapse at the Yitzhak Rabin Centre, they said.
• Dr Ari Shamis of the hospital told Channel 10 TV that Peres would be held in hospital overnight for observation, adding that he was not in danger and that he had "spontaneously regained consciousness."
• Peres's personal physician, who was attending him, was quoted by Israel's YNet news Web site as saying Peres was not gravely ill and would spend a night in hospital under observation before returning to his duties.
• "His condition is satisfactory," Rafi Valdan, said. "We are transferring him for monitoring for the night ... and I expect he'll be back at work tomorrow."
• Peres is not known to suffer from any health problems.
• He was elected to parliament on the Labour party ticket in 1959 and held a succession of Israel's most senior posts, including the premiership and the defence and foreign affairs portfolios before being elected in 2007 for a seven-year term in the nonpartisan, largely ceremonial office of president.

The Agencies