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| Israel's ex-PM Ariel Sharon dies | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died aged 85 after spending eight years in a coma following a stroke. | Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died aged 85 after spending eight years in a coma following a stroke. |
| Mr Sharon was a giant of the Israeli military and political scene, but courted controversy throughout his long career. | Mr Sharon was a giant of the Israeli military and political scene, but courted controversy throughout his long career. |
| He was being treated at the Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. A hospital statement is expected shortly. | He was being treated at the Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv. A hospital statement is expected shortly. |
| On Thursday doctors announced that Mr Sharon's condition had deteriorated. | On Thursday doctors announced that Mr Sharon's condition had deteriorated. |
| The BBC's Kevin Connolly, in Jerusalem, says Ariel Sharon's life was intimately entwined with the life of the country he loved. | |
| He fought in Israel's war of independence in 1948, and from that point until he slipped into a coma in 2006 it seemed there was hardly a moment of national drama in which he did not play a role, our correspondent says. | |
| The 85-year-old, who became PM in 2001, was suffering from a malfunction of several organs including the kidneys, doctors said on Thursday. | |
| Mr Sharon's health was showing signs of "a slow and gradual deterioration" and his life was in danger, they added. | |
| He had been in a persistent vegetative state since a stroke in 2006. | He had been in a persistent vegetative state since a stroke in 2006. |
| As prime minister, Mr Sharon presided over some of the most turbulent times in Israeli-Palestinian history, a Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000 and an Israeli military crackdown after peace talks collapsed. | |
| To many Israelis, Mr Sharon was a heroic warrior, having led decisive campaigns in the 1967 and 1973 wars. |