Sharon able to breathe on his own

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began breathing on his own and moved slightly yesterday but remained in critical condition as doctors started bringing him out of sedation to assess brain damage from a severe stroke.

Hadassah hospital director Shlomo Mor-Yosef said that while Mr Sharon's responses had been "increasingly significant" as his medical team gradually reduced his level of sedation to bring him out of an induced coma, he remained unconscious.

"We cannot say he is out of danger," chief surgeon Felix Umansky told reporters, adding that Mr Sharon had not yet opened his eyes five days after suffering the stroke.

However, for Israelis keeping anxious vigil for the 77-year-old leader many had seen as their best hope for resolving their conflict with the Palestinians, yesterday's hospital bulletins yielded news of improvement in his condition.

Two children arrived at the hospital gates with their uncle and put up a sign saying: "Ariel Sharon, please wake up."

"He is still connected to respirators that help him but the Prime Minister is breathing spontaneously," Mr Mor-Yosef said. "This is the first sign of some sort of activity in his brain." He later said Mr Sharon had responded to pain stimuli by slightly moving his right arm and right leg and that further tests were planned in coming days.

The process of weaning Mr Sharon off sedation is critical for gauging the extent his faculties have been impaired and his chances for survival. But outside experts say there is no guarantee he will come out from under anaesthesia.

Mr Sharon's surgeons say there is a good chance he will live. But medical consensus is he has suffered too much damage to ever return to politics, an arena he has dominated like no figure since founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

The loss of Mr Sharon, who raised peace hopes by pulling settlers and soldiers out of Gaza in September after 38 years of occupation, creates a void in the Middle East peace process.

Mr Sharon had been kept in a coma since Wednesday to aid healing after emergency surgery to stop bleeding in his brain. Neurosurgeons will be now looking for further responses to pain and touch and whether he reacts to spoken commands.