Chirac recovering in hospital

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac is in good health after spending the weekend in a Paris hospital with a blood vessel problem, doctors said.

Chirac, 72, cancelled his appointments for a week after slipping discreetly into hospital late on Friday following what his aides described as a "vascular accident" affecting his vision and accompanied by migraine.

"The president had a good night. His general condition and his tests are very satisfactory," the Val de Grace military hospital said in a statement. The medical bulletin did not name Chirac's condition nor specify any of the treatments used.

It said Chirac would stay in the army teaching post, where French leaders are traditionally treated, for several days.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who saw Chirac on Saturday, said he was "standing up, walking about his room".

He dismissed criticism that Chirac had spent the first night in hospital without anyone in the government -- including Villepin -- being told. Doctors had simply wanted to be cautious about their diagnosis, he told LCI television.

Medical experts say a "vascular accident" could involve bleeding or clotting in an artery or vein near the eye, leading to double vision or other eyesight problems.

Most people usually recover but the doctor who treated Chirac's predecessor, the late Francois Mitterrand, for cancer has described it as a warning that he may need to slow down.

The illness is another blow for Chirac after a string of political defeats have left him looking isolated and barely able to contain a succession struggle in his own ranks.

Anxious to portray him in command of government business, Chirac's office said he had received his top civil servants on Sunday and had particularly asked for updates on a major Paris apartment block fire that killed at least 14 people overnight.

There has been no mention of any temporary transfer of power. Under French law, the president of the Senate would take over if the president were incapacitated, however briefly.

- REUTERS