Family and close friends of comatose Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon have been marking his 78th birthday with subdued visits to his hospital bedside.
Other well-wishers filed into the Jerusalem hospital, bringing flowers, cards and prayers for the recovery of Sharon, who suffered a stroke on 4 January as he campaigned for re-election on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians.
Sharon's birthday comes one month before Israel goes to the polls in a general election on 28 March, in which the Kadima movement he founded six weeks before his stroke is predicted to emerge the strongest power.
