- ABUJA (Reuters) - Organizers of the Miss World
pageant said Friday they were moving the event from Nigeria to London after
more than 100 people died in Muslim protest riots in the West African state.
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- "Miss World Organization and Silver Bird Productions
Limited, organizers of the 2002 Miss World pageant, have decided to move
the grand finale to London, England," the organizers said in a statement.
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- "This decision was taken after careful consideration
of all the issues involved and in the overall interests of Nigeria and
the contestants participating in this year's edition," it added.
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- Pageant spokeswoman Stella Din said the London pageant
would take place on December 7, the same date as had been originally scheduled
for the event in Nigeria.
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- The statement made no specific reference to the riots,
which were sparked by an article in a Nigerian newspaper suggesting the
Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the Miss World beauty
queens.
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- Fighting raged Friday in the city of Kaduna in the mainly
Muslim north of the country.
-
- The Nigerian Red Cross said the death toll was at least
105 by Friday morning. Witnesses later spoke of more killings by civilians
and security forces.
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- The Red Cross said 3,000 people had been displaced and
hundreds injured.
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- The violence erupted Wednesday when rampaging Muslims
burned the offices of the independent Lagos-based newspaper This Day in
Kaduna. The newspaper had published the article and later apologized.
-
- Eyewitnesses said fighting spread from mainly Muslim
districts to Christian-dominated areas Friday, despite a 24-hour curfew.
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