SPANISH KING HAS SUCCESSFUL HIP OPERATION

MADRID: Spain’s 74-year-old King Juan Carlos had successful hip replacement surgery on Friday (Saturday in Manila), the royal palace said, after two operations on the other hip caused by a fall during a controversial African elephant-hunting safari. The left hip replacement surgery was needed because the king had been suffering from arthritis, the statement said. The Spanish monarch was kept in hospital overnight for observation and doctors will decide how much longer he needs to stay. The monarch first revealed the need for the operation during a Spain-Latin America summit in Cadiz, southern Spain, last week. It was the sixth operation in two years for the king.