video transcript

Renowned Berlin Charite Hospital. Sources say Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was transferred here for treatment after suffering a stroke earlier this week. A car with Iraqi diplomatic license plates was seen leaving the hospital campus. The 79-year-old Kurdish statesman was admitted to a Baghdad hospital on Monday night. Officials from his office say his condition has improved. Talabani has often mediated among Iraqi Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, and in a growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the country's autonomous Kurdish region. It was uncertain whether he would be able to return to his post, and his potential exit from politics is raising concerns about what could be a messy succession battle. A year after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, the Arab-led central government and the Kurdish region are increasingly divided over oil and land in a rift that threatens to escalate into open conflict.