Iraqi president in US for medical checks

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

Mr Talabani, a 73-year-old Sunni Kurd, boarded a plane in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles north-east of Baghdad. He arrived last night in Rochester, Minnesota, where he left a car surrounded by several security guards and entered the Mayo Clinic, local television showed.