Mubarak Medical Tests in France?

The London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds al-‘Arabi suggested yesterday that Husni Mubarak's trip to France (after a stop in Algeria) may have involved follow-up medical tests after his German hospitalization earlier this year. They suggest his health is deteriorating, perhaps from cancer, and that Gamal is definitely in line for succession.

The article, which appeared in the middle of Page One of yesterday's paper (PDF of the front page here; it's front page but "below the fold") (article is in Arabic), is not particularly sensational, and doesn't jump to an inside page, but in Israel, Ha'aretz has picked up the story and splashed it on the top of their website, with an article by Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff that doesn't really add anything of substance, but is actually longer than the article it is citing. (But if you don't read Arabic, it gives an English version.)

Rumor and speculation ks likely to intensify as we approach Parliamentary elections later this year. The length of Mubarak's German sojourn and his long recovery have fueled speculation that something is seriously wrong, but with little real evidence to date.