A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Sharon reacts to taped voice of grandson
JERUSALEM - Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes twice yesterday after family members played a tape of his grandson's voice, aides said, raising hopes the stroke victim may be emerging from a coma.
Mr Sharon (77) is not expected to return to political life, but some medical experts said the eye movement could be a positive sign if the ailing leader shows repeated responses to such stimuli. - (Reuters)
Video shown of downed US craft
BAGHDAD - Islamic militants released an internet video of what they said was a missile shooting down a US helicopter near Baghdad on Monday, killing the two crew in the second downing of an aircraft in three days. - (Reuters)
Agca 'unfit for military service'
ISTANBUL - Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul in 1981, is unfit for his military service, Turkish television has quoted a military hospital as saying, days after he was freed from an Istanbul jail.
Yesterday's decision leaves Agca at liberty, pending an appeal from the justice ministry against his early release from prison. - (Reuters)
Suspected Islamist held in Spain
MADRID - Spain's High Court has remanded the alleged ringleader of a group of suspected Islamists accused of recruiting fighters to send to Iraq to carry out suicide bombings for al-Qaeda, a judicial source has said.
Omar Nakhcha was also suspected of having helped three of the suspects in the Madrid March 11th train bombings escape Spain. Another 14 suspects, some of whom were based around a mosque, were remanded at the weekend.
The group is also believed to have recruited an Algerian who killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2003. - (Reuters)
You say euro, but Malta says ewro
VALLETTA - The Maltese government has said the European currency will be referred to as the "euro" in all legislation and official documents, rebuffing appeals by linguists to adopt ewro for Maltese language official texts.
Tonio Fenech, junior minister for finance, said there was nothing wrong in the currency being referred to ewro in ordinary parlance. - (Reuters)
Women could be C of E bishops
LONDON - The Church of England could see the appointment of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury under proposals published yesterday for the consecration of women bishops. All bishops' posts, including the See of Canterbury, would be legally open to women as part of a scheme suggested in a Church of England House of Bishops document. - (PA)
Conservatives take big lead
VANCOUVER - Canada's opposition Conservatives have taken a huge lead over the ruling Liberals and will have little trouble winning the January 23rd election, two new polls show.
The Strategic Counsel poll for CTV and the Globe and Mail newspaper put Conservative support at 40 per cent, with the Liberals trailing with a lowly 27 per cent. - (Reuters)