The death late Wednesday of Ibrahim Coulibaly, head of the so-called Invisible Commandos,

Troops of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara have killed an insurgent warlord once loyal to the new president, in a new round of violence that highlights the difficulty of reuniting the West African nation edging back from civil war.


The death late Wednesday of Ibrahim Coulibaly, head of the so-called Invisible Commandos, could remove one of the many obstacles Mr. Ouattara faces as he tries to re-establish political stability and revive the economy of the cocoa-producing giant, two weeks after former president Laurent Gbagbo was pulled from a basement bunker at his residence. Mr. Ouattara and Mr. Gbagbo were engaged in an armed conflict after the latter refused to relinquish his president's post following his loss of in the November election.

Mr. Ouattara's government has been trying to restore electricity and water supply in Abidjan, the country's commercial hub, and to reopen the main ports to cocoa exports. Retail banks were scheduled to open for business on Thursday. The president called on civil servants to return to work early next week.

The new leader also has had to quell sporadic uprisings by Gbagbo supporters since the ex-leader's departure.

Although Mr. Coulibaly's forces helped oust strongman Mr. Gbagbo, they also have so far refused to lay down arms for his elected successor, Mr. Ouattara. And unlike many military commanders who pledged allegiance to Mr. Ouattara after Mr. Gbagbo's arrest, Mr. Coulibaly declined to do so.

He was expecting political reward in exchange for his help in ousting Mr. Gbagbo, people familiar with the matter said.

"You cannot expect a general to do the work and then be tossed aside," a top official within the Invisible Commandos said.

On Wednesday, government troops raided Mr. Coulibaly's stronghold in Abobo, a district in Abidjan. Mr. Coulibaly was killed during the subsequent fighting, a government spokesman said.

The death of Mr. Coulibaly, who once guarded Mr. Outtara's wife, could spark more fighting, should allies to IB—as Mr. Coulibaly called himself—opt to challenge the president's authority.

So far, residents in the Abobo area said Thursday that calm had returned to the area. They expressed hope that Mr. Coulibaly's death would mean the end of fighting between the Invisible Commandos and Mr. Ouattara's forces.

"This is going to make our lives easier," Daouda Doumbia, a 32-year-old electrician and Abobo resident, said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Coulibaly, 48 years old, previously had spear-headed a 2002 coup attempt against Mr. Gbagbo, which led to the country being cleaved into a government-controlled south and rebel-held north. He led a force of some 5,000 fighters.

The Invisible Commandos again became active after November's disputed presidential election. Though the United Nations certified results showing challenger Mr. Ouattara had won with 54% of the vote, President Gbagbo also claimed victory. The incumbent president later entrenched himself in the basement of a presidential residence in Abidjan. He was arrested by Mr. Ouattara's troops after U.N. and French forces crushed Mr. Gbagbo's last pockets of resistance.

Now, Ivory Coast prosecutors have launched preliminary criminal probes against Mr. Gbagbo, his wife and about 100 members of their entourage, government officials said. Prosecutors are seeking to determine their roles in the nearly five-month standoff that dragged the country into civil conflict.

Lawyers for Mr. Gbagbo said the former president was unduly held on house arrest.

"How can you restrict the freedom of a man when no charges have been laid against him?" asked Habiba Toure, one of five French lawyers hired to defend Mr. Gbagbo. Ms. Toure said the lawyers have had no direct contact with Mr. Gbagbo since he was arrested on April 11.

Government officials said Mr. Gbagbo was being detained following a decision by Ivory Coast's interior ministry aimed at preventing public unrest.

Any trial of Mr. Gbagbo would amount to a complex political and judicial equation because the former president still has many supporters in Ivory Coast and because several allies of Mr. Ouattara are suspected of being behind some of the mass killings that took place during the recent conflict.

Earlier this month, prosecutors at The Hague-based International Criminal Court said they were planning to launch an investigation into alleged widespread killings in Ivory Coast, a probe that could involve both sides of the conflict.

Mr. Ouattara has said judicial authorities would investigate all crimes, even if perpetrated by his own supporters.

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Libya angers Tunisia as conflict crosses border

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi battled rebels on Thursday for control of a border crossing into Tunisia, provoking an angry protest from Tunis as fighting spilled on to its territory.

Early in the day Gadhafi's troops stormed the Dehiba-Wazin crossing on Libya's western frontier, in what appeared to be part of a broader government offensive to root out rebel outposts beyond their eastern heartland.

Tunisia strongly condemned incursions by government forces, when Libyan artillery shells also struck the Tunisian side of the crossing, and demanded that the Libyans put a stop to them. "Given the gravity of what has happened ... the Tunisian authorities have informed the Libyans of their extreme indignation and demand measures to put an immediate stop to these violations," a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.

Rebels rapidly staged a counter-offensive for the border post they took only a week ago, and which controls the sole supply road for rebels in Libya's Western Mountains.

Both sides in the civil war, where Gadhafi is fighting to prolong more than four decades of rule over the oil-producing nation, also disputed whether government forces had overrun a remote desert town in the southeast of the country.

After weeks of advances and retreats by rebel and government forces along the Mediterranean coast, fighting has settled into a pattern of clashes and skirmishes.

Government troops again shelled the besieged rebel outpost of Misrata, where aid ships bring in emergency supplies and evacuate the wounded, killing at least nine civilians, one rebel spokesman said. There was no independent confirmation.

Rebel spokesman Abdelsalam said from Misrata that there had been sporadic clashes on the road to the port and shelling of residential areas. "Those areas are packed with civilians who fled the fighting in the city centre," he said.

"The ball is now in NATO's court. After Gadhafi's soldiers and snipers were driven out from the city centre and Tripoli Street by the rebel fighters, their strategy has been to shell the city from the outskirts. This can only be solved by NATO."

The western alliance has been conducting airstrikes on Libya under a UN Security Council resolution calling for civilians to be protected. But it has been reluctant to fire on Gadhafi's forces in Misrata for fear of hitting civilians, although rebels said on Wednesday it had destroyed 37 military vehicles overnight.

Having secured Misrata's port, rebels were bolstered by the arrival of a ship carrying humanitarian supplies including food and medicines, as well as at least one boat loaded with arms, a correspondent with Agence France-Presse reported.

Othman Belbeisi of the International Organisation for Migration said 1,091 people were evacuated to the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Thursday despite heavy shelling.

 

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NY jury finds Russian pilot guilty

The jury at  a federal court in New York found Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko guilty, Ria Novosti news agency reports.  The sentence will be announced in three months. 

The pilot, who was  scooped up by US officials in Liberia last year, taken to a Manhattan jail and  charged with an attempt to  smuggle cocaine to South America, Africa and Europe from Liberia and Venezuela.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has denounced the pilot’s arrest as a violation of international law.

Yaroshenko denies the charges.

 

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Family of slain German tourist returns to San Francisco

Nearly eight months after the stunning and still unsolved murder that shook The City, the family of a German tourist killed near Union Square was set to return to the place that has forever altered their lives.

Stefan Schröer of Minden, Germany, told The San Francisco Examiner he has no hard feelings toward San Francisco after his wife was shot dead on Aug. 8.

A gun battle between groups of teenagers at a nearby party erupted at Mason and Geary streets just before nightfall. Mechthild Schröer, 50, was shot amid the madness of flying bullets.

The couple had been on a three-week U.S. vacation to celebrate their wedding anniversary and Mechthild’s birthday. At the time of the shooting, they were searching for a restaurant.

No one has been held accountable for the murder. Arrests were made shortly after the killing, but the suspects were set free due to insufficient evidence.

Stefan Schröer has said he wants justice served, but added that the tragedy could happen in any city.

On Sunday, he was scheduled to return to The City with his two sons, Tobias and Jonas. He said he wanted to show his sons their mother’s favorite American city.

People have gone to great lengths to welcome back the Schröer family. Heartbroken locals have come forward with offers of hotel stays, dining and other accommodations.

Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco is providing a complimentary stay for the Schröers’ visit, which ends Thursday. Man J. Kim, owner of Union Square’s Lori’s Diner and Sears Fine Foods, offered complimentary dinner for the family.

Longtime San Franciscan Gerhard Woelke said he plans to lead the Schröers on a walking tour in The City, possibly over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito.

“It would be ‘wunderbar’ if San Francisco could give them a real warm welcome to the city,” said Woelke, a retired Lufthansa airlines employee who volunteers with the San Francisco Opera House.

District Attorney George Gascón plans to meet with the family and answer any questions he can about the murder investigation, his spokeswoman said. After the death, Gascón expressed shock that San Franciscans weren’t more outraged about the violence.

On Wednesday, a memorial service is set to be held for Mechthild at a German-speaking church in the area. The church’s pastor said the family wishes to keep the memorial private. The German Consul, which helped put together the memorial, is expected to attend.

Given the months that have passed since Mechthild’s death, the memorial will be “a celebration of life rather than a focus on loss and grief,” the pastor said.

 

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The world's largest atom smasher is rumoured to have found the Higgs boson, the subatomic particle otherwise known as the 'God particle'.

The speculation is based on a leaked internal note, said to be from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17 mile-long particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland.

The rumours started when an anonymous post disclosed part of the note on Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong.


While some physicists are dismissing the note as a hoax, others say the find could be a huge particle physics breakthrough in understanding the workings of the universe.

Physicist Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University said: 'If it were to be real, it would be really exciting.'

 
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The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by the particle physics theory known as the Standard Model. The Higgs boson, physicists believe, bestows mass on all the other particles and was crucial to forming the cosmos after the Big Bang.

It has long eluded physicists who believe it could explain why objects have mass.



Huge atom smashers — like the LHC and the Tevatron, at Fermilab in Illinois — have long been searching for the Higgs and other subatomic matter.

These accelerators slam particles together at enormous speeds, generating a shower of other particles.

The leaked note suggests that the LHC's ATLAS particle-detection experiment may have picked up a signature of the elusive Higgs.

The signal is consistent, in mass and other characteristics, with what the Higgs is expected to produce, according to the note.


Some other aspects of the signal, however, don't match predictions.

Mr Stone said: 'Its production rate is much higher than that expected for the Higgs boson in the Standard Model.'

The signal may be evidence of some other particle, Mr Stone said, adding: 'Which in some sense would be even more interesting, or it could be the result of new physics beyond the Standard Model.'

He pointed out that the note is not an official result of the ATLAS research team, so speculation about its validity or implications, therefore, may be a little premature.

Mr Stone said: 'It is actually quite illegitimate and unscientific to talk publicly about internal collaboration material before it is approved.

'So this "result" is not a result until the collaboration officially releases it.'


Nerve centre: Scientists have been analysing the bump data for more than a year at the main Tevatron control room

Other researchers joined Mr Stone in urging patience and caution before getting too excited about the possible discovery, Fox News reports.

Caltech physicist Sean Carroll said: 'Don't worry, Higgs boson! I would never spread scurrilous rumours about you. Unlike some people.'

Some researchers have already been casting doubt on the possible detection.

Tommaso Dorigo, a particle physicist at Fermilab and CERN, which operates the LHC thinks the signal is false and will fade upon closer inspection.

Mr Dorigo points out, for example, that scientists at Fermilab didn't see the Higgs signal in their Tevatron data, which covered similar ground as the ATLAS experiment.

He feels strongly enough to put his money where his mouth is.

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Plans have been drawn up to evacuate 700 British citizens from Syria,

Plans have been  drawn up to evacuate  700 British citizens from Syria, as President  Assad stepped up the suppression of his people yesterday.

William Hague threatened the British-educated dictator with punitive sanctions unless he ends the violence.

In a statement to MPs, the Foreign Secretary revealed he has put contingency plans in place to airlift stranded Britons from Syria.


Action: As plans to evacuate 700 Britons from Syria are drawn up, William Hague (left) has threatened Syria's British-educated dictator, President Assad, with punitive sanctions unless he ends the violence

Human rights groups estimate that about 350 people have died since pro-democracy campaigners took to the streets five weeks ago. Another 500 opposition supporters have been detained in raids by the security services.

Mr Hague warned that Syria was ‘at a fork in the road’ and continuing down the path of violent repression would lead to international reprisals.

Officials said Britain is discussing slapping travel bans and asset freezes on members of the regime in tandem with the European Union.

 


Mr Hague told MPs: ‘Syria is now at a fork in the road. Its government can still choose to bring about the radical reform which alone can provide peace and stability in Syria and for the long term, and we urge it to do so. Or it can choose ever more violent repression, which can only bring short-term security for the authorities there.

‘If it does so we will work with our European partners and others to take measures, including sanctions, that will have an impact on the regime.’

He added: ‘We are doing initial work on what action the European Union should take.’
The Foreign Office is advising against all travel to Syria, and has urged British nationals with no pressing need to remain to leave by commercial means immediately.

Some 700 British passport holders are in Syria, though some of them are dual nationals who do not wish to leave their families behind.

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks were yesterday reported to have poured into the city of Daraa, where the uprising against President Assad began, before dawn.

They opened fire indiscriminately on civilians, and tanks later moved in as electricity, water and mobile phone services were cut.

There were reports of bodies lying on the streets.

Knife-wielding security agents made house-to-house sweeps in what activists called a campaign to intimidate protesters.

Residents said an army brigade led by President Assad’s younger brother Maher had cut off roads, were shelling homes, storming houses and rounding people up.

Other crackdowns and arrest sweeps were reported on the outskirts of Damascus and  the coastal town of Jableh.

One resident in Daraa, Abu Khaldoun, said: ‘In the street I am in, there are around ten tanks. Their aim is just to destroy and destroy ... They are shelling homes and demolishing them.’

His cousin, Abu Tamer, said: ‘Maher al-Assad’s forces have spread everywhere and with their roadblocks Daraa has become a big prison.

‘You cannot go out without endangering your life.

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Fraudsters have obtained data on millions of online video gamers – including three million Britons - after targeting Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Fraudsters have obtained data on millions of online video gamers – including three million Britons - after targeting Sony’s PlayStation Network.
The electronics giant is contacting around 70 million customers warning that details including their names, addresses, dates of birth, passwords and security questions have been stolen.
Sony also admitted that the hackers may have gained access to people’s credit card details.
The network provides online video gaming services and allows streaming of films and music via the internet.
It requires members to submit credit card and personal details to subscribe.

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