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Syria said it would withdraw its troops from Lebanon; some troops were then gathered in the Bekaa valley, which is where most are grouped in any case. Syrian withdrawal had been demanded by the United States, and then urged by Saudi Arabia, after Lebanese street demonstrations against the occupation. Hezbollah, the Islamist militant organisation, encouraged demonstrations in favour of Syria. American troops in Iraq shot at a vehicle carrying Giuliana Sgrena — an Italian hostage released from a month’s captivity — to the airport, wounding her and killing Nicola Calipari, a secret service man trying to protect her. Abu Bakar Bashir, said to be the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the south-east Asian affiliate to al-Qa’eda, was sentenced to only 30 months in jail for his part in a conspiracy that led to the murder of 202 people in the Bali bombings of 2002. Hong Kong awaited the resignation of its Beijing-appointed chief executive Mr Tung Chee-hwa. Elections in Moldova left control with the Communists, who seek closer ties with the European Union. The Deutsche Börse withdrew its offer for the London Stock Exchange after resistance by its own shareholders; the way was left open for the Paris-based Euronext stock exchange to have a go. Russia killed Aslan Maskhadov who, since 1994, had led Chechen armed resistance. Rival gangs fighting to control the drugs trade in the provincial jail at Higuey in the Dominican Republic started a fire that killed more than 130. Police in Zanzibar raided the homes of opposition politicians in the middle of the night and arrested 18, some of whom suffered broken arms, legs and skulls, according to their colleagues. A computerised tomography scan of the mummy of Tutankhamun found that the king had broken a leg shortly before his death at the age of 19. A 104-year-old woman, Mrs Cui Yu Hu, faces deportation to China from Australia because she is ineligible for an aged parent visa, having overstayed her tourist visa in 1995 when no airline would risk carrying her back because she was too old.
CSH
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