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ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo, cornered in Abidjan by rival forces, faced being forcibly ousted on Friday as he missed a deadline set by recognised leader Alassane Ouattara to cede power. Amid reports of heavy fighting near Gbagbo's residence and presidential palace in what a resident described as a possible final assault, a spokesman for Ouattara's defence minister Captain Leon Kouakou Alla told AFP forces loyal to Ouattara had seized control of the country's RTI state television. "We took RTI, the Republican Forces are at RTI," Alla said. Several residents contacted by AFP confirmed that the television station was no longer broadcasting. As a 1900 GMT Thursday deadline set for Gbagbo to resign came and went, Gbagbo, deserted by his army chief, police and generals, faced a final showdown as Ouattara's army encircled the capital. "Laurent Gbagbo must step down to avoid a bloodbath. Hopefully he will or we will go and fetch him,&qu

The United Nations troops in Cote d'Ivoire have taken control of Abidjan airport, media reports said on Thursday. The reports quoted a security source as saying that the UN troops have taken control of the airport on Thursday as forces allied with Alassane Ouattara had entered the main city of Abidjan. Meanwhile, the Ouattara camp has given his presidential rival Laurent Gbagbo a 1900 GMT ultimatum to step down.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday told the House Armed Services Committee that no one will be able to predict how long the military mission in Libya will take. Libyan Rebels fire rocket in the front line on the road between Ajdabiyah and Brega as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi threatened to push them further away from strategic oil refineries in eastern Libya March 31, 2011. Rebels massed outside Brega on Thursday said their forces were still fighting Muammar Gaddafi's troops for control of the east Libya oil town. [asser Nouri/Xinhua] Gates said that as NATO takes control of the military mission, the United States will significantly "ramp down" its role in the operation. Exceptions would include providing unique capabilities that others cannot match in both kind and scale, such as electronic warfare, aerial refueling, and intelligence. Gates also told lawmakers that other nations rather than the United States should provide training or assistance to Liby

NEW YORK: A 12-year-old boy accused of trying to rip the head scarf off a Muslim classmate during recess has been charged in New York City with a hate crime. The boy appeared Thursday in family court with his father and his lawyer. He's a 6th-grader at a Staten Island middle school and is being charged as a juvenile. A call to his lawyer wasn't immediately returned. The boy's father says his son is also a Muslim. Police and school officials say the boy has a history of harassing the 13-year-old girl, taunting her and threatening her on at least four separate occasions. The police report says he asked, "Are you Muslim?" while trying to remove her scarf. The girl suffered minor injuries. If convicted, he faces 18 months in juvenile detention.

Sole command of military operations in Libya was passed to NATO early Thursday from United States. After overcoming internal division over whether to give NATO command of the campaign in Libya, the transition of authority was completed early Thursday, NATO Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement. "In line with the mandate of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, NATO's focus is on protecting civilians and civilian-populated areas against the threat of attack," he said. With a 28-member coalition and code-named "Operation Unified Protector," the NATO mission is under the command of Canadian Gen. Charles Bouchard, who will give orders from Naples, Italy. Stepping aside, the United States said it will reduce its involvement in the mission and keep to a supporting role. Testifying before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said American participation will be limited and would not in

Radioactive substance about 10,000 times the limit was found at the groundwater around the No. 1 reactor of the troubled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, local media reported Friday. A official with the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that the radiation level is "extremely high," according to Kyodo News report. Also on Thursday, the level of radioactive iodine-131 found in seawater near the nuclear power plant, about 240 kilometers northeast from Tokyo, has soared to its highest reading yet at a concentration of 4,385 times the legal limit. The Japanese authorities have been stepping up efforts to fix the plant crippled by devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Prince William has shown he can be a new kind of king. It is time to put away the cynicism and pledge our full-throated support A few short weeks from now, with the world looking on, William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor will exchange rings with Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, and much of Britain will rejoice. Yet, at such moments, certain voices this newspaper's included have long expressed dissent. All this mawkish celebration, they maintain, merely bolsters an anti-democratic institution based on privilege and patronage, a costly anachronism that ought to be abolished. That view is understandable. But it is time for them for us to reconsider. A decade ago, the Guardian prominently announced its commitment to republicanism . But Prince William has shown that he can be a new kind of king. That is why, in a significant change of course, we today pledge our full-throated support for the British monarchy. Let's face it: the current crop of world leaders is far from inspiring. A

BRITAIN'S possible future queen Kate Middleton has family ties to America's most famous Founding Father and the author of its national anthem, according to a book released on Wednesday. The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston released a book on Middleton's ancestry that shows she's an eighth cousin seven times removed of George Washington. She's also a cousin of Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." Among other notable relations detailed in "The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton:" Explorer Meriwether Lewis, World War II General George Patton and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres all are distant cousins. For example, she's DeGeneres' 14th cousin twice removed. Middleton also is a 14th cousin once removed of her fiance, Prince William. The genealogical society's marketing director, Tom Champoux, said a lot of Middleton's links to famous Americans can be traced through seven families that immigrated to the V

TRIPOLI, Libya: The biggest danger to Muammar Gaddafi is not the rebel forces struggling to march on his capital. It's more likely to be the crumbling of the remaining, fragile support for his regime. That is what makes the defection of foreign minister Moussa Koussa a heavy blow. He was part of a small circle of key insiders and family who have the most to lose if Gaddafi loses power. As those figures peel away, it makes the majority of his supporters, who have much looser ties, less certain that Gaddafi is capable of staying in power. The Libyan leader relies most on his immediate family and his tribe, the Gadhadhfa. But his tribe is a relatively small one among the estimated 140 tribes that predominate life in the North African nation of about 6 million. So he vitally needs the support of others, whose allegiance he has bought over the years by handing their members top political and security posts. Their loyalty is already fraying. International airstrikes hitting Gaddafi&

Exclusive: Contact with senior aide believed to be one of a number between Libyan officials and west amid signs regime may be looking for exit strategy Colonel Gaddafi's regime has sent one of its most trusted envoys to London for confidential talks with British officials, the Guardian can reveal. Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, visited London in recent days, British government sources familiar with the meeting have confirmed. The contacts with Ismail are believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight, amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy. Disclosure of Ismail's visit comes in the immediate aftermath of the defection to Britain of Moussa Koussa, Libya's foreign minister and the country's former external intelligence head, who has been Britain's main conduit to the Gaddafi regime since the early 1990s. A team led by the British ambassador to Libya, Richard

A GRAY-AND-WHITE cat by the name of Smokey has cat-apulted to fame with purring so loud it has been recorded at a potentially record-setting 73 decibels. Northampton College in central England that measured the sound said on Wednesday the sound peaked at 16 times louder than that of the average cat. By some estimates, that is about as noisy as busy traffic, a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner. The recording has been submitted to the Guinness World Records. The 12-year-old, feline first came to national attention last month when her owner, Ruth Adams, decided to run a local contest for the most powerful purr. That led ultimately to tabloid headlines like "Thundercat" and "Rumpuss."

Country closing gap with China by adding 181 million citizens in past decade which is equivalent to population of Brazil The first results from India's latest census the second biggest in the world were released on Thursday, revealing that the country has added 181 million new citizens in the last decade, making it home to 17% of the world's population. China remains the most populous country on the planet, with 1.34 billion, but India is closing the gap with 1.21 billion. The additional Indians found by the census are roughly equivalent to the population of Brazil, the fifth largest country in the world. One Indian state alone Uttar Pradesh now has a population of 199,500,000 people, just under that of Britain, France and Germany combined. However C Chandramouli, the census commissioner, told reporters in Delhi that the new count showed population growth in India had slowed. The 17.6% increase was down from 21.5% recorded in 2001. Though Indian economists and politicians

A group of scientists in California has released preliminary findings on how much the Earth is warming What happens when a group of scientists and statisticians leave the comfort of their own fields and wander headlong into one of the most fraught and ugly debates of modern times? The answer is slowly becoming clear, after a handful of academics at the University of California, Berkeley , came up with a plan to produce an independent assessment of global warming. For researchers used to the collegiate exchanges of campus life, the plan has all the makings of a first class ticket to Kill Zone 3 . The stated aim of the project is to publish a peer-reviewed assessment of global warming that is more accurate than those we have so far. Once the analysis is done, all the data and computer tools used to process the numbers will be made freely available on a website, so anyone with an interest can check them. Richard Muller, the Berkeley physicist who chairs the group , says that publishing a

Haulage supremo, who built up the Eddie Stobart empire, has died in hospital after suffering from heart problems Haulage magnate Edward Stobart, who ran the Eddie Stobart lorry empire for more than three decades, has died at the age of 56. Stobart was managing director of Eddie Stobart Ltd, a business started by his father Eddie in the 1950s. Eddie Stobart is now in his 80s. He died on Thursday morning at University hospital, Coventry, after suffering from heart problems. Stobart is credited with having built up the brand. He first became involved in the company towards the end of the 1960s, and oversaw its growth from a regional supplier in Cumbria to a giant of the haulage industry, with a cult following. From beginnings in agriculture and then as a road haulage company, the company has expanded into rail and air transport, as well as logistics management and warehousing. But haulage operations continue, with the distinctive trucks operating throughout Europe. The individually named

Youth hiding in south London shop when attackers opened fire, critically wounding a five-year-old girl, comes forward One of the youths thought to have been the target of the gang who shot five-year-old Thursha Kamaleswaran has contacted the police. The news came as sources revealed that up to 50 gangs operate in the area where Thursha and another bystander became innocent victims of a vicious turf war. Detectives investigating the shooting at the Stockwell Food and Wine Shop in south London on Tuesday night have called in territorial support group officers to reassure locals fearing revenge attacks. Chief Superintendent Nick Ephgrave called for people in the area to come forward if they have information about the "truly shocking event". A shopkeeper, believed to be Roshan Selvakumar, 35, was also hit, suffering a head wound during the attack. They were caught up in the violence when two youths attempted to hide in the store as they were being chased by three other youths on

After shock resignation from Berkshire Hathaway empire, David Sokol says he did nothing wrong in buying stake in Lubrizol oil company David Sokol, once seen as the favoured successor to Warren Buffett, has rejected claims of insider trading and defended his purchase of shares in a company shortly before it was bought by the billionaire. Speaking for the first time since his shock resignation from the Berkshire Hathaway empire was announced on Wednesday night, Sokol insisted he had behaved legally and honourably. Sokol told CNBC he had no influence over which companies Buffett invested in and that his decision to quit Berkshire was unrelated to his stake in Lubrizol. "I don't believe I did anything wrong," Sokol told CNBC. "I made an investment that I believed in. If I didn't believe in the company, I wouldn't have invested in it." Sokol told CNBC he had been contacted by bankers from Citigroup on 13 December last year. They suggested a number of potenti

Christopher La Jaunie, who shot film of PC Simon Harwood shoving newspaper vendor to ground, gives evidence Ian Tomlinson was "not confrontational at all" when he was "violently shoved" by a police officer at the London G20 protests, the man who filmed the incident told an inquest. Christopher La Jaunie, from New York, on Thursday said he was in the City for a conference and decided to take a colleague to watch the protests. Once the police brought dogs out on the streets he took out a compact digital camera and commenced filming. La Jaunie later passed his film to The Guardian, casting doubt on earlier police claims that Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor, who died within an hour of being struck by a police baton and pushed to the ground, had suffered a heart attack unrelated to his treatment. La Jaunie told Alison Hewitt, counsel to the inquest, that he was about 10ft from the police "frontline" when tension began rising shortly after 6.30pm on 1

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed the arrest of Umar Patek, suspected of playing a key role in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia. The Foreign Office spokesperson, Tehmina Janjua, confirmed at a press conference that an Indonesian national suspected to be involved in the Bali bombings has been arrested. "Counselor access would be given to the Indonesian High Commission and it is for them to identify the person," she said when asked about his arrest reports. She did not offer more comments. Nearly 202 people, many of them Australians, were killed and 240 others were injured in the Bali attacks in 2002. Pakistani security officials, requesting not to be identified, had earlier confirmed the arrest of the bomber and had described the arrest of Patek as very important in the country's campaign against the foreign terror suspects. An official said on Wednesday that Patek, who is believed to be also linked to series of other attacks in Indonesia, was

Foreign secretary says Libyan foreign minister travelled to UK 'under his own free will' and is voluntarily talking to British officials Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister who defected to the UK on Wednesday, will not be offered immunity from British or international justice, William Hague has said. The foreign secretary has seized on the defection to urge others to abandon Muammar Gaddafi's "crumbling" regime in favour of a "better future" for Libya. He also renewed his call to Gaddafi to step down, saying the loss of one of his closest allies, along with other defections to the opposition, showed the Libyan leader's regime was "fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within". "Gaddafi must be asking himself who will be the next to abandon him," Hague said. "We reiterate our call to Gaddafi to go." Hague gave further details about Koussa at the launch of the Foreign Office report on human rights in London,

Forensic examiner not allowed to practise for at least four months after botched postmortem delayed murder investigation The pathologist Dr Freddy Patel whose botched postmortem examination led to a delayed murder investigation has been suspended from the medical register for at least four months. The General Medical Council had pressed for him to be struck off but an independent fitness to practise panel in London determined that suspension for his misconduct and dishonesty would be "appropriate and proportionate". The council said Patel, 63, had been reluctant to consider asphyxiation in the murder case, had falsified his CV and failed to redress previous shortcomings. But lawyers for the forensic examiner argued he had taken steps to improve his professional conduct, and the panel accepted that his dishonesty fell towards the "lower end" of the spectrum. Patel was suspended from the register for three months last September because of his performance in other ca

NATO has taken over full command and control of military operations against Libya from the United States, a NATO official confirmedin Brusselson Thursday. NATO will make an announcement shortly, the official told Xinhua, adding Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO mission, code-named Unified Protector, would hold a press briefing this afternoon via video conference from the alliance's base in Naples, Italy. NATO members agreed on Sunday to take full charge of military operations in Libya, including arms embargo, a no-fly zone and protecting civilians and civilian-populated areas, ending a week of squabbling over the command structure mainly involving France, Turkey, the U.S. and Britain.

The scale of Ireland's latest banking black hole will be revealed at 4.30pm on Thursday Bank of Ireland, Ireland's oldest bank, is facing the prospect of being nationalised on Thursday afternoon one event on a day that is expected to bring untold carnage to the retail banking sector in Ireland and has already been dubbed Black Thursday. Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks shares have been temporarily suspended pending publication of the long-awaited stress tests at 4.30pm. These are expected to confirm another black hole in the four main Irish retail banks and lead to the fifth bailout of the country's banks since the 2008 financial crash. The Irish Central Bank and Irish Stock Exchange said they took the decision to suspend bank shares to "avoid the possibility of a disorderly market due to the circulation of information or rumours during the day and recognising that the banks may not comment on such information or rumours ahead of the Central Bank announcement th

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Wednesday wrapped up his three-day visit to Cuba, calling for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba and to travel restrictions between the two countries. "I think we should remove the embargo ... I hope for the future, all Cubans could be completely free (to travel to the United States) and U.S. citizens also will be free to travel to Cuba," Carter told reporters before leaving for Washington. Carter, who during his presidency allowed U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba and helped set up U.S. and Cuban offices in both countries to help facilitate family reunions, also called on Washington to remove Cuba from the list of countries that the U.S. government says support terrorism. Wednesday was the second time Carter met with former leader Fidel Castro. In 2002, Carter became the first former U.S. president to visit the island since the triumph of the 1959 revolution which put Castro in power. "It was a great pleasure for us to return to Havana,

LONDON: Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, one of Muammar Gaddafi's closest advisers and a former spy chief, defected and flew to Britain on Wednesday in protest at attacks by Gaddafi forces on civilians, a friend said. A British government source described his resignation as "a significant blow" to Gaddafi and Koussa's predecessor at the ministry said he was "part of the regime's spinal cord ... Koussa is a pillar of the temple". Koussa is the latest minister to defect after the revolt against Gaddafi's 41-year rule erupted last month and Western-led air strikes began to pound Libyan tanks and artillery being used against rebels fighting to hold territory. "Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role was to represent the regime internationally -- something that he is no longer willing to do," a British Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. He crossed the border into Tunisia on Monda

SANAA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa vowed on Wednesday to storm the Presidential Palace on Friday if President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to leave soon. Protesters show the slogan "Go Out" written on their palms in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, March 30, 2011. Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters rallied here calling for oustering President Ali Abdullah Saleh immediately. (Xinhua/Yin Ke) "Enough! Enough!" angry youth-led street protesters shouted, waving their hands towards the Presidential Palace. The crowds went out from their tents outside Sanaa University and marched along roads leading to the Presidential Palace for the first time in six weeks, aiming at urging Saleh to leave office immediately. "We will continue our rallies until Saleh and his corrupted regime go away," a female protester named Sayyida Ahmed told Xinhua in the march, "we want him to know that '

When heavy shelling from ground troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi drove rebels out of the key oil port of Ras Lanouf on Wednesday, some coalition members began to discuss the possibility of arming the opposition. The rebel, armed mostly with light weaponry and riding in pick-up trucks, said they were overwhelmed by the rocket bombardment from government forces and had to give up Ras Lanouf, a Mediterranean town in northern Libya. The withdrawal slowed the rebels' advancement along the coastal road toward the nation's capital of Tripoli. Airstrikes have neutralized Gadhafi's air force and pounded his army, but his ground forces remain far better armed, trained and organized than the opposition. Rebels have few weapons more powerful than rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and are no match for Gaddafi's tanks and longer-range heavy weapons. British Prime Minister David Cameron said, meanwhile, that his government has not precluded arming the retreatin

BEIJING: China has arrested another dissident on subversion charges, the third in a deepening security crackdown , his family said on Wednesday, while a Chinese-Australian writer who had disappeared in China contacted friends and said he was sick. Chen Wei, 42, a dogged critic of China's one-party system who lives in the southwest province of Sichuan, was arrested on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" , his wife Wang Xiaoyan said. "I received the notice yesterday afternoon, but I haven't had any other news about him, haven't been allowed to see him," she said. She did not know the precise reasons for the charge. Chen's arrest adds to evidence that the ruling Communist Party is determined to snuff out any risks of challenges to its power as it approaches a leadership succession in late 2012, when President Hu Jintao retires. In recent days, two other dissidents from Sichuan, Ran Yunfei and Ding Mao, were arrested for "inciting

David Sokol, considered the most likely candidate to succeed the billionaire investor, resigns after purchasing Lubrizol shares The heir apparent to business icon Warren Buffett's investment firm has quit under an oily cloud. David Sokol, long considered the most likely candidate to succeed the billionaire investor as the head of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, resigned after purchasing shares in an oil company that he suggested Buffett should buy. But Buffett moved to scotch rumours that the purchase had anything to do with the resignation. In a statement Buffett said Sokol had told him he owned shares in the chemical company, Lubrizol Corp, when they first discussed the deal in January. Buffett said that neither Sokol nor he felt that "his Lubrizol purchases were in any way unlawful" and that they were not a factor in his decision to resign. "Dave brought the idea for purchasing Lubrizol to me on either 14 or 15 January. Initially, I was unimpressed, but after hi