Tests on Arafat find no signs of leukemia

CLAMART, France (AP) -- Initial results from a battery of tests on Yasser Arafat found no signs Saturday of leukemia, a Palestinian diplomat said, and blood doctors were still probing the cause of the ailing Palestinian leader's dramatic deterioration in health.
After being rushed from the West Bank to a French military hospital, the 75-year-old Arafat "spent a very good night" and awoke Saturday "in very good humor, rested," said Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France.
"The doctors exclude, already from what he has done in terms of exams, any possibility of leukemia," Shahid told reporters. "I repeat: the doctors exclude for the time being any possibility of leukemia."
Earlier, a Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity had said there was a strong possibility Arafat was suffering from the bone and blood cancer and that a team of French physicians specializing in the disorder examined the Palestinian leader for a second day Saturday.
Spoke to reporters
Shahid, speaking in several languages to reporters outside the Percy military training hospital southwest of Paris, did not take questions or explain what she meant by "for the time being" or whether results from further tests on leukemia were pending.
In Arabic, she said other tests also have "not shown any sign of other dangerous disease." But "there are other possibilities, and we are still exploring," she added in English.
In an interview with Palestinian Satellite Channel television, Shahid said Arafat spent half the day undergoing medical treatment and spoke by phone to his young daughter, Zawhwa, in Tunisia.
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