WORLD : Shot Bonn Official Back on Job

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, using a wheelchair, today attended his first Cabinet meeting since an assailant shot him six weeks ago.

“It is a happy day,” said Chancellor Helmut Kohl, welcoming the 48-year-old Schaeuble. Kohl said he would offer Schaeuble a Cabinet post if the Christian Democrats win Sunday’s elections as expected.

Schaeuble, who had been mentioned as a possible successor to Kohl as chancellor, still wears a bandage on his jaw where one bullet hit him. The other bullet struck his spinal cord, and his legs are paralyzed.

The accused gunman, Dieter Kaufmann, was said by authorities to have a history of drug abuse and mental problems. Kaufmann, 37, is in custody but has not yet been charged in the Oct. 12 shooting at an election rally.