31.   A Russian policeman was meanwhile shot dead near Shelkovszhaya, in northern Chechnya, Interfax said, quoting local pro-Russian police officials.

32.   Another man was shot dead near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip late Wednesday.

33.   Another Palestinian was shot dead near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip in unclear circumstances late Wednesday.

34.   An Israeli court set free Monday one of four Jewish settlers arrested after a Palestinian protestor was shot dead near their West Bank home.

35.   Azreki Mansouri was shot dead near his home on Sunday.

36.   Two days later three other Copts were found dead near Abu Qurqas.

37.   The woman was found dead near where the couple had pulled off the road in the San Jacinto mountains for a brief stroll.

38.   Two teenage sisters, one of them engaged to a policeman, were shot dead near the Algerian capital at the weekend, the newspaper Liberte reported here Monday.

39.   Two cross-country skiers trapped in a blizzard were found dead near a Lake Tahoe area ski resort Saturday.

40.   Isidro Usabiaga, a Basque building entrepreneur who was married with three children, was shot dead near his home in Ordizia, south of here.