MIDDLE EAST

REPORTS: SHARON OPENS EYES AFTER HEARING GRANDSON’S VOICE

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Sharon briefly opened his eyes yesterday, relatives told doctors, though hospital officials warned there were no signs that the comatose Israeli leader was any closer to regaining consciousness. Israel TV said the prime minister opened his eyes as his son, Gilad, sat at his bedside playing a tape recording of Mr. Sharon’s grandson. A Sharon aide in touch with the family said the report was accurate.

– Associated Press

CHENEY ARRIVES IN CAIRO

CAIRO, Egypt – Vice President Cheney began a Middle East visit yesterday to confer with America’s allies in the region on the political process in Iraq and on the West’s standoffs with Syria and Iran. Mr. Cheney, who arrived here yesterday, meets today with President Mubarak before heading to Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah. Mr. Cheney added a stop Wednesday in Kuwait to pay his respects after the death of the country’s emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, over the weekend.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

IRAQ’S ELECTORAL COMMISSION SAYS 99% OF PARLIAMENTARY VOTE VALID

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s electoral commission ruled yesterday that more than 99% of the ballots from the December 15 parliamentary elections are valid, opening the way for a new government to start coming together.

An American Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing its two pilots. A bombing aimed at a convoy of American police advisers in the capital caused one death, while a car bomb killed five policemen and a 6-year old in Muqdadiya, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL ASIA

SUICIDE MOTORBIKE DRIVER KILLS 20 IN AFGHANISTAN

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber drove a motorbike into a crowd at a wrestling match in an Afghan border town yesterday, killing 20 people. It was the third deadly bombing in a little more than 24 hours in the Taliban’s former stronghold province of Kandahar. The assault came shortly after a bomb targeted a truck convoy of Afghan soldiers in Kandahar city, killing four people and wounding 16. On Sunday, a suicide car bomber in that southern provincial capital killed a senior Canadian diplomat and two Afghan civilians.

– Associated Press

WESTERN EUROPE

COURT URGES AUSTRIA TO RETURN KLIMT PAINTINGS STOLEN BY NAZIS

VIENNA, Austria – It was a seven-year legal struggle with dazzling stakes – five precious paintings by Austrian icon Gustav Klimt that a California woman says were stolen from her Jewish family by the Nazis. Now, an Austrian arbitration court determined the country is legally obligated to give the paintings to the heir of the family who owned them before the Nazis took over Austria, Maria Altmann, the Austria Press Agency reported. The court’s ruling is non-binding, but both parties have previously said they will abide by it.

– Associated Press

WEST AFRICA

LIBERIA’S NEW PRESIDENT PROMISES A BREAK WITH VIOLENT PAST

MONROVIA, Liberia – Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in yesterday as Liberia’s new president, promising a “fundamental break” with the West African nation’s violent past. With American Navy warships offshore for the first time since the civil war’s end, and first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Rice on hand in a show of support, the moment was met with thunderous applause from thousands of guests.

– Associated Press