Sharon Blinks But Fails To Awaken

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem where Ariel Sharon is being treated, updates reporters on 10 January (epa) 16 January 2006 -- An Israeli hospital official says Prime Minister Ariel Sharon moved his eyelids today, but he remains in a coma 12 days after suffering a massive stroke.

A spokesman at Jerusalem's Haddasah Hospital said Sharon blinked both eyes, but the medical significance of this is not clear.

Sharon is still listed in critical but stable condition. However, outside experts question his ability to recover because he has failed to respond to efforts to awaken him from a medically-induced coma.

Yesterday, the 77-year-old Israeli leader underwent a tracheotomy that doctors hoped would help wean him off a respirator that has been helping him breathe since the stroke.

He also has been taken off sedatives.

(AP, Reuters)