IVORY COAST DEATH AND POST ELECTION TENSION

Ivory Coast's self-declared President Laurent Gbagbo has until midnight Friday to step down or an amnesty deal offered by his challenger will expire. A spokesman for Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of November's presidential runoff election, said that Ouattara told African leaders at a meeting earlier this week that he was willing to offer Gbagbo amnesty in return for ceding power. Ouattara set the December 31 deadline thinking that the African leaders representing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would return to Ivory Coast on Thursday, said his spokesman Patrick Achi. The three-man delegation, however, is not set to travel back to Abidjan until Monday. They will again ask Gbagbo to relinquish his post or face a military ouster, Nigerian defense spokesman Col. Yerima Mohammed said Friday