Monday, January 9 2006 14:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jerudalem: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began breathing independently today (Jan 9, 2006) after doctors started waking him from his coma, a hospital official said.

"The Prime Minister started immediately to breathe on his own but he's still hooked up to a respirator," Hadassah Hospital director Dr Shlomo Mor-Yosef said.

Mor-Yosef said the process of weaning Sharon from sedation could take hours or days.