Ali health fears dismissed

Boxing hero Muhammad Ali has allayed fears he is losing his on-going battle with Parkinson's Disease by making his first public appearance since June.

The 63-year-old, dubbed The Greatest, appeared in good spirits as US leader George W Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House.

Just days earlier, Ali's daughter Laila said: "I feel like the disease is progressing. Different things start happening as you get older. I have noticed a change in him, something that goes along with Parkinson's."

At the ceremony Bush honoured the boxer saying: "As Muhammad Ali once said: 'It's not bragging if you can back it up.' And this man backed it up.

"Across the world, billions of people know Muhammad Ali as a brave, compassionate and charming man.

"The real mystery, I guess, is how he stayed so pretty. It probably had to do with his beautiful soul."