Former secretary of state hospitalized with heart attack

NEW YORK - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.

Kissinger, 77, was admitted to New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center on Wednesday.

''He's doing well, and is expected to be there for a few days,'' hospital spokeswoman Kathy Robinson said Thursday.

She said the German-born former diplomat and scholar, who had bypass surgery in 1982, was being treated for ''a limited heart attack.'' She provided no further details.

Kissinger, secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, used secret diplomacy in playing a pivotal role in establishing a U.S. dialogue with Communist China. After the 1973 Middle East war, he negotiated agreements between Israel and two of its Arab foes, Egypt and Syria.

Much of his foreign policy focused on the Soviet Union, trying to ease tensions through detente and agreements on limiting nuclear weapons.

In 1973, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with North Vietnamese chief negotiator Le Duc Tho for the accord that allowed America to pull out of Vietnam.

But he was denounced for the 1970 American invasion of Cambodia. And he was criticized for authorizing wiretaps of reporters' telephones in an effort to cut down on government leaks.

Since leaving office, he has worked as a consultant and written his memoirs and other books.