Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has left a New York hospital in "good health" after a month of treatment, state media said on Wednesday, showing pictures of the elderly monarch walking down a corridor. Media gave no date for when King Abdullah, who is around 87 and had arrived at the hospital in a wheelchair, might return home.
However, the kingdom is keen to show its allies in Washington and elsewhere that there will be no power vacuum as health problems beset its octogenarian rulers. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the monarch would stay in New York for recuperation and physiotherapy for an unspecified time, following two operations after a blood clot complicated a slipped disc problem.
"King Abdullah left the Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday evening ... as God gave him good health," the agency said. Saudi state television showed King Abdullah slowly walking in what appears to be the first footage of the king for weeks. Television showed only his upper body and it was unclear whether he was being supported.