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/ 12 December 2003

Abidjan gunbattles leave 19 dead

Eighteen black-clad assailants and one Ivorian soldier were killed in overnight gunbattles in the heart of the main Côte d’Ivoire city of Abidjan, Defence Minister Rene Amani said on Friday. Attacks in three areas around the city have cast a pall on efforts to end a 14-month political and military crisis in the country.

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/ 12 December 2003

Qorei, Sharon to meet amid violence fears

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qorei are expected to meet next week, amid fears of renewed violence as seven religious Jews were wounded on Friday in a Palestinian attack at a West Bank holy site. ”I believe that the meeting will take place within days,” Qorei said in a media interview.

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/ 12 December 2003

Thailand moves to death by injection

Thailand on Friday carried out its first executions by lethal injection after abolishing the firing squad, putting to death three drug traffickers and a murderer at the notorious Bang Kwang jail. However, London-based rights group Amnesty International condemned Friday’s executions.

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/ 12 December 2003

Sending out an SOS

If Peter Tebainea had wanted a quick response, he chose the wrong way to get his message across. He was a court clerk on the Pacific island of Butaritari when he stuffed a plea for help in a bottle and threw it into the sea. More than three years and several thousand kilometres later, the bottle finally turned up in southern Spain.

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/ 12 December 2003

Kenya tackles terrorism to save tourism

Rights groups in Kenya have criticised the government’s decision to introduce an anti-terror law to tackle terrorism. The groups say the proposed Bill has been imposed on Kenya by the United States government as a result of two terror attacks witnessed by the country in the past five years.