Arafat assures the world he is 'OK'

As a battery of doctors carried out tests on him, Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat sent a message from his bedside on Thursday, saying he was okay.

"The president wants to tell the Palestinian people and the whole world that he is okay and there is no need to worry about him," Munib al-Masri, a businessman close to Arafat, said after a meeting with him.

Arafat's deteriorating health had sparked concerns over who would replace the 75-year-old leader.

Two teams of medics were due to arrive from Jordan and Egypt to examine Arafat, while his wife Suha was also travelling from Tunis in Tunisia to be by his bedside.

Officials said Arafat had been able to join morning prayers for Ramzan at his Ramallah compound, where he has been kept under house arrest by Israel for almost three years.