Hosni Mubarak(egyptian president) dead?

rumors buzzing around saying that egypt's president could be gravely ill or even dead. can anyone confirm this?

source

I just called the Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C.
www.egyptembassy.net...

I got a recording at the information line, but the Chancery answered right away.
The man asked how he could help me through broken English, and when I asked for information on the President's health he didn't want to talk anymore.

I was very polite, and just inquired as to the health of Mr. Mubarak. He said he couldn't help me, and to call for information tomorrow because there was no one that could talk to me.


If he is ill or dead it will be in the main media pretty fast.

I just got off the phone with the Egyptian Embassy.

I've been assured that the President is in good health and on vacation. I did some looking on the web as well and found this story:

Photos of President Hosni Mubarak touring a remote industrial zone near his summer beach home were published Thursday in Egypt's main state-owned newspapers, as government media sought to dispel speculation about his health.

Images of the president, who is 79, accompanied by his ministers as he toured textile factories in the northern industrial zone of Borg el-Arab on Wednesday, also ran on Egyptian television.

The highly publicized visit to the zone near the Mediterranean coast came the same day that the state-owned weekly magazine al-Massawer published a cover story discounting the widespread health speculation across Egypt in recent days.

"Political rumors are being used as a weapon to incite people's worries," wrote the magazine's editor Abdel Qader Shouheib.
www.iht.com...

I'll keep an eye on this in case anything changes or they are trying to cover up anything. Let's face it, the guy is one of the oldest leaders of a country, and they may not want word to get out if he is ill.

what would be the effect over there if he were to die?