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A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

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Members of the U.S. Army Old Guard place a flag at each of the over 220,000 graves of fallen U.S. military service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery, May 24, 2012. Memorial Day will be commemorated this weekend across the United States. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY)

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Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY ANNIVERSARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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Students show emotions at the 2012 Joplin High School commencement ceremony inside the Leggett and Plant Athletic Center at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri, May 21, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS EDUCATION)

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Abdallahi no longer Mauritania leader: TV statement

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NOUAKCHOTT | Wed Aug 6, 2008 7:52am EDT

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - A "State Council" led by Mauritania's former presidential guard chief said on Wednesday President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was no longer president.

"Statement No. 1" from the council, which was broadcast by Gulf-based al-Arabiya television, annulled what it described as the "former president's" previous decree sacking several top military officers. State television was taken off air.

Those sacked by Abdallahi included presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, who the statement said chaired the state council. Shortly after the sackings were announced soldiers seized Abdallahi and other government officials.

(Reporting by Inal Ersan and Firouz Sedarat in Dubai, writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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