Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's latest brain scan showed some improvement and his doctors said yesterday that they would bring him out of an induced coma within a day to assess brain damage. One of his surgeons ruled out the possibility of Sharon returning to office.
Sharon, who suffered a debilitating stroke last week, remained in critical condition yesterday at Hadassah Hospital. But his vital signs, including intracranial pressure, were normal, Dr Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the hospital's director, said after doctors completed a new brain scan of Sharon.
"His condition is still critical but stable, and there is improvement in the CT picture of the brain," Dr Mor-Yosef said. He did not answer questions from reporters and gave no prognosis.
But one of Sharon's surgeons, Dr Jose Cohen, was quoted as saying that while Sharon's chances of survival from the stroke are high, his ability to think and reason would be impaired.
"He will not continue to be prime minister, but maybe he will be able to understand and to speak," the Argentina-born Cohen said in comments published yesterday by the Jerusalem Post. His remarks reinforced the widespread belief that Sharon's days as prime minister are over.
A senior official at Hadassah suggested that even Cohen's dire assessment might be too optimistic.
"There was expression of hopes and thoughts ... in which some people expressed optimism," Dr Yair Birenboim, the No. 2 administrator at Hadassah, told Israel Army Radio. "That was definitely an expression that we think was premature."
Birenboim is not directly involved in Sharon's treatment, but is briefed on the prime minister's condition, hospital officials said.
Sharon has been hospitalized since suffering the stroke on Wednesday night. He has undergone two rounds of surgery to stop bleeding in the brain and to relieve pressure inside his skull.
also see story:
Palestinians mourn Beirut refugee massacre in 1982
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS