Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke

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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a "significant" stroke Wednesday, a hospital official said, after Sharon was taken to the hospital from his ranch in the Negev desert.

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, is under general anesthetic and is receiving breathing assistance and was being taken for treatment. Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon said Sharon's authorities have been transferred to his vice premier, Ehud Olmert.

In a brief statement outside the hospital, Mor-Yosef said Sharon had suffered "a significant stroke," adding that he was "under anesthetic and receiving breathing assistance." A few minutes later, Mor-Yosef emerged to say that initial tests showed Sharon had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, or bleeding inside his brain.

Addressing reporters in English, Mor-Yosef said Sharon had "massive bleeding and was being transferred to an operating theater."

Channel 2 TV said Sharon was suffering from paralysis in his lower body. Analysts on Israeli TV stations said he life could be in danger. Channel 2 TV said he was taken into the hospital on a stretcher.

Sharon, 77, is extremely overweight, but doctors checking him after the mild stroke Dec. 18 found him otherwise in good health. Since then, his doctors said in a briefing a week ago, Sharon has lost several kilograms (pounds).

The dramatic downturn in Sharon's health comes as Sharon runs for re- election on March 28 at the head of a new centrist party, Kadima, and he enjoys a wide lead in the polls. The party's strength is centered on Sharon himself, and if he were forced to leave the scene. Israel's political scene would be thrown into turmoil.

Sharon's office said his personal physician was with him. He was taken by ambulance, a drive of more than an hour from his ranch in the Negev Desert in Israel's south, instead of by helicopter.

On Dec. 18, Sharon was taken to Hadassah Hospital from his office after suffering a mild stroke. Doctors said he would not suffer long- term effects from the stroke, but they discovered a birth defect in his heart that apparently contributed to the stroke.

Security agents and police spread out around the Jerusalem hospital before Sharon arrived, setting up a security perimeter.

Since the first stroke, Sharon has been receiving blood thinners to try to prevent a recurrence of the clotting that caused the stroke.

Sharon was to check into the Jerusalem hospital on Thursday for the procedure _ repairing a tiny hole between the upper chambers of his heart. Doctors said the blood clot that briefly lodged in Sharon's brain on Dec. 18, causing the stroke, made its way through the hold and from there to a cranial artery.

How will this affect the Middle East and the Iranian issues?