The World : Hirohito May Need Surgery

Japan’s 86-year-old Emperor Hirohito, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, may have to undergo surgery for an intestinal disorder, officials in Tokyo said. A team of physicians and members of the Imperial Household Agency are expected to decide by Monday whether to hospitalize Hirohito, who became emperor in 1926. His condition will not affect the state and diplomatic duties of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who left Japan to attend the U.N. General Assembly session in New York, said Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hideo Watanabe.