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Sharon's sedation to be cut off

JERUSALEM, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Doctors in Jerusalem on Wednesday completely stopped the flow of sedatives for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is recovering from a massive stroke.

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Israel Radio said the effects of the medication are expected to wear off within 36 hours, at which point doctors at Hadassah University Hospital will be able to assess his neurological condition.

Tuesday night, hospital director Shlomo Mor-Yosef told reporters there were encouraging signs in the 77-year-old's condition.

"These are neurological changes that show slight improvement in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's brain functioning," he said.

Sharon's sons also spoke to him and he responded with an increase in blood pressure, doctors said.

The damage to Sharon's brain is believed to be in the right hemisphere, which controls the left side of his body, Ha'aretz reported.


Two more bird-flu deaths reported in China

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BEIJING, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- China has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu with the deaths of two more Chinese, bringing the number of avian influenza deaths there to five.

Authorities said a 10-year-old girl in the southern Guangxi Autonomous Region and a 35-year-old man in the eastern province of Jiangxi died in December from complications from the disease, the BBC reported Wednesday.

On Monday, a 6-year-old boy in the central province of Hunan was reported to be the country's eighth human bird flu case. He is said to be hospitalized in critical condition.

The state news agency Xinhua reported that poultry raised by the boy's family had died before he became ill.

In Guizhou province 42,000 birds have been culled in to prevent the spread of the disease.

More than 70 people in Southeast Asia have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu since late 2003. The virus also has spread to parts of Europe, with Turkey reporting two new human bird flu deaths this week.


Pope's attacker may be in danger

ROME, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The man who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II is to be released from a Turkish prison Thursday, but his life may be in danger, an Italian judge has warned.

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Mehmet Ali Agca, 48, served 19 years of a life sentence in Italy for attempting to assassinate the late pope in St. Peter's Square in Rome in 1981.

He was pardoned in 2000 and extradited to Turkey, where he has been serving a 10-year sentence at Kartal high security prison in Istanbul for murdering a Turkish journalist in 1979.

He is to be released early for good behavior.

Ferdinando Imposimato, the retired judge who investigated the murder attempt on the late pope, said Agca's life could be in danger because "he knows too much," The Times of London reported. He told The Times that he was convinced the murder had been planned in Moscow.

Investigators into the assassination attempt allege that Eastern European agents were involved, and that there were other gunmen in the square at the time of the shooting.

Three Turks and three Bulgarians were tried in 1986 for involvement in the plot, but were acquitted for lack of evidence.


Pakistan hit by 5.1-magnitude earthquake

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit northern Pakistan and the Kashmir region bordering India Wednesday morning.

There were no immediate reports of damage inflicted by the quake, which struck around 10:49 a.m. local time.

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The epicenter was located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of the northern city of Peshawar, Pakistan's Meteorological Department reported.

Aid workers are still working in the area to help survivors of an Oct. 8 earthquake that killed 87,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless.

That earthquake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, and has been followed by more than 1,500 aftershocks in the past three months.

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