Breaking News: Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke.

[biological warrior]

Fox news has just reported that Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has suffered a second stroke. All they are sayng right now is that he was rushed to the hospital after a reported stroke.

[st.cronin]

:(

[biological warrior]

Sharon siffered a ''Significant Stroke.'' Israeli PM authorities transfered to Deputy PM.
http://www.cnn.com/

[Wolfpack]

I imagine this will create all sorts of political hell in Israel since Sharon was breaking away from Likud to form his own party. If this stroke is either incapacitating or fatal, who moves into the big chair?

Also, anyone wish to lay side bets on whether this is being portrayed as a triumph of Allah's will in certain other parts of the Middle East right now?

[biological warrior]

I imagine this will create all sorts of political hell in Israel since Sharon was breaking away from Likud to form his own party. If this stroke is either incapacitating or fatal, who moves into the big chair?

Also, anyone wish to lay side bets on whether this is being portrayed as a triumph of Allah's will in certain other parts of the Middle East right now? It is gonna be a mess over there the coming days, weeks and, months.

[JonInMiddleGA]

If this stroke is either incapacitating or fatal, who moves into the big chair?

Best I can tell, the ruling party can choose the new leader (how Golda Meir & Shimon Peres became PM's)

[JonInMiddleGA]

NOTE: This is from the website of the Israeli PM's office (i.e. Sharon's website)

http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/Spokesman/2006/01/spokeidk030106.htm

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will on Thursday, 5.1.06, undergo a heart catheterization at Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem; he will be anesthetized.

Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon spoke this afternoon, with Attorney-General Meni Mazuz and updated him on the operation, including the need to anesthetize Prime Minister Sharon. It was decided, in agreement with the Prime Minister, that the Prime Minister would transfer his authority to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday morning for the duration of the operation and recovery, which the doctors estimate at approximately three hours.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20060104/D8EU4A484.html

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a cerebral hemorrhage Wednesday and was receiving breathing assistance while under general anesthetic, a hospital official said. Power was transferred to his deputy.

Sharon, 77, suffered a "significant" stroke and was brought to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital from his ranch in the Negev desert, an official said. Channel 2 TV said Sharon was suffering from paralysis in his lower body and was taken into the hospital on a stretcher.

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the hospital's director general, said Sharon was under general anesthetic and was receiving breathing assistance while doctors assessed his condition.

A few minutes later, Mor-Yosef emerged to say that initial tests showed Sharon had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, or bleeding in his brain.

Addressing reporters in English, Mor-Yosef said Sharon had "massive bleeding and was being transferred to an operating theater."

[biological warrior]

MSNBC is reporting that Sharon has suffered a cerebral hemmorhage and, is now in surgery.

[st.cronin]

I imagine this will create all sorts of political hell in Israel since Sharon was breaking away from Likud to form his own party. If this stroke is either incapacitating or fatal, who moves into the big chair?

Also, anyone wish to lay side bets on whether this is being portrayed as a triumph of Allah's will in certain other parts of the Middle East right now?

No bet. I've already heard somebody say that HERE, in america.

[Klinglerware]

It is gonna be a mess over there the coming days, weeks and, months.

Could be another lost opportunity re the peace process, since it seems that Sharon was the only one with both the will and the political capital to negotiate with the Palestinians...

[biological warrior]

Could be another lost opportunity re the peace process, since it seems that Sharon was the only one with both the will and the political capital to negotiate with the Palestinians... No doubt about it. This peace process seemed promising, who knows what the new guy will do.

[biological warrior]

Reports say Sharon has irreversable brain damage and again in the operating table. this as of 6 January 06.

[terpkristin]

From CNN.com: Bleeding in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's brain has been stopped and scans show improvement after a third round of surgery to treat a major stroke, a hospital official said. The 77-year-old leader remains in critical condition, according to Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director general of Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital. "The intracranial pressure was reduced," Mor-Yosef said. "Some of the clots were drained from the previous operation."Of course, there is still a LONG way to go, but this is optimistic on at least some small level..

/tk

[terpkristin]

Sharon had to have another surgery today, according to CNN.com. Apparently, part of his intenstines were getting gangrenous (apparently can happen to those in a coma), and they had to take out a portion of his intestines.

link (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/11/sharon.update/index.html)

Sharon survives emergency surgery

Hospital: 'No immediate danger' to his life; coma is 'key problem'

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's life is in "no immediate danger" Saturday after emergency surgery for alarming damage in his intestinal tract, according to a hospital spokesman.

Doctors removed about 20 inches (50 cm) -- or a third -- of his large intestine, which had turned gangrenous, said the director of Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, in a briefing to reporters.

"The key problem is his lack of consciousness," not the intestinal damage, Mor-Yosef said. He said Sharon has yet to emerge from the coma he's been in since his massive stroke on January 4. (Watch Mor-Yosef describe Sharon's condition after emergency surgery -- 4:10 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/world/2006/02/11/sot.sharon.hospital.presser.cnn','2006/02/18');))

Mor-Yosef described Sharon's condition as "serious, it's stable, it's critical," but that there was "no immediate danger" to his life. He has been transferred to intensive care.

The deterioration of the intestinal functions generally strikes those who are unconscious or who do not move for a long time, Mor-Yosef said.Infection and a decline in blood supply contribute to gangrene, he explained.

Doctors first detected that Sharon's abdomen was swollen on Friday. After a CT scan showed extensive damage to his intestine, doctors rushed him into surgery, Mor-Yosef said.

The four-hour surgery is Sharon's seventh since his massive stroke. There was fear that Sharon would not survive the procedure, Mor-Yosef said.

But the surgery was successful, with "no complications," said Mor-Yosef.

The 77-year-old Sharon had a feeding tube inserted in his stomach on February 1.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told CNN "the White House is closely following the situation and keeping Prime Minister Sharon in our thoughts and prayers."

Sharon's stroke sent shock waves through Israel's fragile political landscape at a sensitive time in Middle East events, just weeks before an Israeli parliamentary vote on March 28 and Palestinian elections on January 25, in which the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas won a landslide victory. (Full story (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/26/palestinian.election.1604/index.html))

During Sharon's hospitalization, his powers as prime minister were transferred to Ehud Olmert, his longtime loyalist and a former Jerusalem mayor. Kadima party legislators also elected Olmert as interim party leader. (Olmert's bio at a glance (javascript:CNN_openPopup('/interactive/world/0601/popup.olmert/frameset.exclude.html','770x576','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,width=770,height=576');))

Sharon founded Kadima in November after leaving the Likud party, which included members who strongly opposed his plan to withdraw Israeli troops and setters from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

Before his stroke, polls had shown that with Sharon at the helm, Kadima would win the largest block of seats in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, in the March elections, making it likely he would remain prime minister.

CNN's Guy Raz contributed to this report.







/tk