Paris mayor makes first appearance since stabbing

Looking rested but moving stiffly, Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe attended Armistice Day celebrations on Monday, his first official appearance since being stabbed in the abdomen more than a month ago. Delanoe thanked his doctors and friends for their care and said he was feeling much better. "I've got to go step by step," he told reporters. "I never really stopped working, but I'm physically back in Paris, happy to be back in this city." The openly gay mayor, who spent some of his convalescence in the Basque region of France, was on the Champs-Elysees in Paris for ceremonies commemorating the 84th anniversary of the armistice signing that ended World War I.

Delanoe was stabbed October 6 during an elegant all-night party at Paris city hall that was open to the public. The 52-year-old mayor suffered injuries to the stomach, the intestines, and the major blood vessel that carries blood from the lower body to the heart. He was hospitalized for nearly two weeks. The suspect in the stabbing, Azedine Berkane, 39, told investigators he committed the crime out of dislike for homosexuals and politicians.