Former Vice President Walter Mondale hospitalized with flu: newspaper

(Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale has been hospitalized with the flu, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper reported citing former President Jimmy Carter. Carter was speaking at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis when he announced that Mondale had told him by phone that he was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Tribune reported. "He said [to] tell everybody he's doing well," Carter said to the crowd, according to the Tribune. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Representatives for the hospital were not immediately available to provide details. Mondale served under Carter during his 1977-1981 administration and later ran unsuccessfully for president against Ronald Reagan. The Tribune reported that Mondale, 87, underwent heart surgery last year, just days after his wife, Joan Mondale, died at the age of 83. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)