REPORT: 11 EXECUTED IN CHINA

HONG KONG (AP) Authorities have executed 11 people for drug trafficking in
the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, a newspaper reported.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court sentenced 17 people for
trafficking drugs in seven cases, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported
Thursday.

The six who escaped death sentences were given life terms, the paper said.
The eleven others were executed by gunshot immediately after their
sentencing Wednesday, it said.

The severe sentences are seen as evidence of the Chinese government's
determination to curb the fast-growing trade in illegal drugs.

China uses the death penalty more liberally than any other nation.
London-based Amnesty International recorded 1,876 court-ordered executions
last year, more than the combined total for the rest of the world.