Samata waits anxiously as the chicken flutters in its death throes waiting to see how it falls.

BBC: Ghana witch camps: Widows' lives in exile

But these are probably just quirks of consensus, not its death throes.

ECONOMIST: Germany

"Iridium tried to work with smaller partners and, in its death throes, assembled its own in-house sales force, " explains Andy Radlow, Globalstar USA's director of marketing.

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Indeed, Ms Davidson hints at such a prospect in her speech today when she says "the much-derided and little-understood Barnett Formula is already in its death throes".

BBC: Line in the sand no more