Elder Bush and wife both doing better in Houston hospital

[WASHINGTON] Former President George HW Bush is now able to breathe unaided, and he watched the Trump inauguration on television from a Houston hospital along with his wife Barbara, a patient in the same hospital.

A statement released by the former president's office said he was "breathing well on his own" after a breathing tube was removed.

Mr Bush, who is 92, remained in stable condition at Houston Methodist Hospital, where he has been treated for pneumonia.

The statement, tweeted by Bush spokesman Jim McGrath, said the former president would remain in the hospital's intensive care unit for observation. He was initially hospitalised on Saturday.

It also said that Bush's 91-year-old wife Barbara, who was hospitalised Wednesday for what turned out to be bronchitis, "continues to feel better".

It said she was expected to remain in the hospital over the weekend as a precaution.

Another former president, their son George W Bush, was on the stand Friday in Washington during the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Mr Trump's election was traumatic for the Bush family - Jeb Bush, another son of the elder Bush couple, was originally seen as a strong contender for the Republican nomination before being bested by Mr Trump in a bitter campaign.

AFP