ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Riot police used teargas in Istanbul and Ankara on Sunday to try to prevent anti-government demonstrators from regrouping ahead of a rally by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party.
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Menem: 7 years jail for arms smuggling
Argentina: Ex-president gets 7 years in prison for arms smuggling
By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
June 13, 2013 — Updated 2020 GMT (0420 HKT)
Former Argentine President Carlos Menem says he is innocent.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Carlos Menem, 82, is sentenced to seven years for arms smuggling
- The ex-president is a senator and has immunity from prison
- Lawmakers could vote to strip him of his immunity
(CNN) — An Argentine court has sentenced former President Carlos Menem to seven years in prison for his role in illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia.
An appeals court found Menem guilty of aggravated smuggling earlier this year.
Menem, 82, is serving as a senator and has immunity from going to prison, but lawmakers could vote to strip him of that protection.
On Thursday, the court also sentenced former Argentine Defense Minister Oscar Camilion to 5½ years in prison.
Menem was Argentina’s president from 1989 to 1999. He has maintained his innocence.
The case against him and other government officials began in October 2008. Hundreds of witnesses testified, according to judicial officials.
In 2011, a court absolved him of charges that he violated international weapons embargoes, but prosecutors won an appeal earlier this year.
Prosecutors alleged that Menem authorized the illegal sales of weapons to Ecuador and Croatia between 1991 and 1995.
Both Ecuador and Croatia were involved in armed conflicts at the time, and prosecutors said the weapons sales violated United Nations and Organization of American States embargoes.
In 2011, Menem told judges at a Buenos Aires court that his actions as president were “limited to signing decrees exporting weapons to Venezuela and Panama.”
“From there, all the proceedings that were carried out were out of control of the president,” he said.
Journalist Ivan Perez Sarmenti contributed to this report from Buenos Aires.
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Explosion at U.S. chemical plant
Multiple injuries in explosion, fire at Louisiana chemical plant, official says
By Michael Pearson and AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN
June 13, 2013 — Updated 1620 GMT (0020 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Residents near the plant are being told to stay inside, parish official says
- NEW: Company confirms injuries, but can’t say how many
- Video from WAFB showed flames and a plume of thick black smoke over part of the plant
(CNN) — A Geismar, Louisiana, chemical plant exploded and caught fire Thursday, causing multiple injuries and forcing authorities to evacuate the area around the facility, officials told CNN.
Authorities ordered residents within a two-mile radius of the plant to stay inside while crews battled the fire, Ascension Parish spokesman Lester Kenyon said. A Louisiana State Police dispatcher had previously told CNN the area around the plant was being evacuated.
The fire was still burning near midday Thursday but had been “greatly diminished” through the work of emergency crews at the plant and firefighters, the plant’s owner, The Williams Cos., said in a statement.
The company confirmed injuries in the explosion and ensuing fire but said it did not know how many people had been hurt, or how severely.
The Iberville Office of Emergency Preparedness said six people had been injured and taken to hospitals by helicopter, according to CNN affiliate WAFB in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was unclear if there were additional injuries.
Earlier video broadcast by WAFB showed flames and a plume of thick black smoke rising over one part of the plant. At least one other plume of smoke or steam could be seen rising from another part of the plant.
According to the company website, the plant produces approximately 1.3 billion pounds of ethylene and 90 million pounds of polymer-grade propylene each year, according to the company’s website.
The station, citing state police, said two state routes have been closed near the plant, which is about 30 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.
See also: Cause of Texas explosion “undetermined”
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Turkey offers vote on fate of Gezi Park
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: “Such issues can be settled through dialogue,” Turkey’s president says
- Ruling party official floats referendum on park’s future
- Thousands of lawyers hold rallies over attorneys arrested at protests
- Pro-Erdogan rallies are scheduled in four countries, a news agency reports
Are you there? Share your story on CNN iReport, but please remember to stay safe.
Istanbul (CNN) — A leader of Turkey’s ruling party held out the possibility of a vote on what to do with the Istanbul park where planned razing triggered two weeks of anti-government protests, but said demonstrators must leave the park.
“The Turkish government will not accept Gezi Park protests to be continued forever,” Huseyin Celik, deputy chairman of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, said after meetings with a delegation of “popular artists” involved with the demonstrations. His comments were carried by the semi-official Anadolou News Agency.
Celik said the government could hold a referendum on the redevelopment of the park, the last green space in central Istanbul — but he urged the demonstrators to “walk out.”
The meetings took place a day after riot police used massive amounts of tear gas, water cannons and stun guns to break up protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. Police also shot tear gas canisters into nearby Gezi Park, violating a promise not to do so.
Fireworks amid protests in Taksim Square
Clashes intensify in Turkey
Tensions high in Turkey after clashes
Arwa Damon: People in Turkey angry
Leaders of the protests skipped Wednesday’s talks. One of them, Eyup Muhcu, said those attending the meeting are friendly with Erdogan‘s government. Meanwhile, thousands of lawyers marched out of their offices in several cities to rally against the arrests of attorneys in the protests.
With no sign of negotiations on the horizon, Turkey, a NATO ally with a democratically elected government, could see fighting grip more of the country. And harsh actions against protesters could strain Erdogan’s strategic friendships with much of the West — relationships that are particularly critical in light of the civil war ravaging Turkey’s neighbor, Syria.
“The real challenge for the government of Turkey, as now the international focus is on this crisis: How do they get the people behind me to agree to go home?” CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh reported Wednesday from outside Gezi Park, seat of the demonstrations. “That requires compromise, conciliation.”
On Wednesday morning, Paton Walsh saw someone being taken out of the park on a stretcher. But things were calm in the area, with morning rain having washed away some of the debris from events the night before.
Traffic in the major square was nearly back to normal. While police were in position, they looked relaxed, CNN’s Arwa Damon reported. Police worked to dismantle barricades that demonstrators in the square have used as they’ve battled police in recent days.
Reporters being held
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Wednesday that two of its reporters, Sasa Petricic and Derek Stoffel, were being held by police.
The network said it had been in contact with them, and they said they were “OK.” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has expressed concern to Turkey’s ambassador, the CBC reported.
Turks living in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Albania who support Erdogan plan rallies of their own Friday, Anadolu reported.
Opinion: Past and future collide in Turkey clashes
But the anti-Erdogan protests show no sign of abating.
What began in late May as a demonstration focused on the environment — opposition to a plan to build a mall in Gezi Park — has evolved into a crusade against Erdogan that’s spread around the country.
Protests in Turkey rock Mideast
Watson: Erdogan is known as vindictive
Zakaria: ‘It is a culture war’
Attorneys in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities gathered in front of government buildings for rallies, CNN Turk reported.
Some called on Istanbul’s chief prosecutor to resign.
Government officials, however, insisted that while peaceful protests are allowed, those who use violence were being detained.
“If these people have objections to the government’s project for Gezi Park and Taksim Square, they are welcome and we can listen to their ideas. Such issues can be settled through dialogue and within the framework of the law, not resorting to violence,” President Abdullah Gul told reporters.
Erdogan’s government has no problem with ecologists who started protests to save Gezi Park from bulldozers, but takes action against Marxist extremists, who have lobbed rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, said Ibrahim Kalin, the prime minister’s chief adviser, referring to the latter as “troublemakers.”
“Anywhere in the world, they will not be considered peaceful protesters,” Kalin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. He said some were associated with a group that carried out an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in February.
The police reaction has been no different from that of security forces’ methods against similar groups at Occupy Wall Street protests in the United States, he insisted.
“The police obviously have the mandate to establish public order,” Kalin said, just like they do in Spain, Sweden and Britain.
Letters from Turkey, with pride
International criticism
Experts and human rights groups say Erdogan’s government lags when it comes to human rights and freedom of expression by opponents.
“Prosecutors and courts continued to use terrorism laws to prosecute and prolong incarceration of thousands of Kurdish political activists, human rights defenders, students, journalists and trade unionists,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a 2013 report on Turkey.
Turkish journalists are afraid to write anything critical of the government, and media companies are slapped with huge tax fines for covering uncomfortable topics.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Turkish authorities have targeted journalists with detention for covering the protests.
Erdogan’s dilemma is in how he handles those who did not elect him, said CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “He has come to believe that he speaks for all of Turkey.”
Why Taksim Square matters to Turks
Those who are against him are handled in “too authoritarian” a manner, Zakaria said Tuesday on “Piers Morgan Live.”
The prime minister has said he will not back down.
“They say the prime minister is harsh,” Erdogan said Tuesday, referring to his detractors. “I’m sorry,” he told a gathering of his own party. “The prime minister is not going to change.”
Erdogan is tightening his grip on power, adding authority to the office of the presidency, which he hopes to hold in coming years.
Former U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said he believes the protests could have something to do with Erdogan’s ambitions.
There may be “forces joining in here, whose aim it is to prevent him from achieving his ambition of becoming the next president of the country,” he told Morgan.
What’s driving unrest and protests in Turkey?
CNN’s Ivan Watson, Nick Paton Walsh, Gul Tuysuz and Arwa Damon reported from Istanbul; Josh Levs, Ben Brumfield and Greg Botelho reported from Atlanta.
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Clashes as Turkish police move into square; PM says won’t yield
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish riot police moved on Tuesday into the central Istanbul square at the heart of 10 days of anti-government protests, firing tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters armed with rocks and fireworks.
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Clashes as Turkish police move into square; PM says won’t yield
WWII German bomber raised from sea
World War II German bomber raised from sea
By Brad Lendon, CNN
June 11, 2013 — Updated 1410 GMT (2210 HKT)
A World War II German Luftwaffe Dornier 17 aircraft is lifted from the English Channel off the coast of Kent on Monday, June 10. The bomber was shot down during the Battle of Britain in 1940.A German Luftwaffe Dornier 17 bomber is seen in flight in this undated World War II era archive photo provided by the Royal Air Force Museum.
A German Luftwaffe Dornier 17 bomber is seen in flight in this undated World War II era archive photo provided by the Royal Air Force Museum.The aircraft is lifted from the waters of the English Channel. It was first spotted on the floor of the channel by divers in 2008.
The aircraft is lifted from the waters of the English Channel. It was first spotted on the floor of the channel by divers in 2008.The plane will go on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in London.
The plane will go on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in London.The cockpit of the aircraft is seen after it was raised by the salvage crew.
The cockpit of the aircraft is seen after it was raised by the salvage crew.Salvage workers inspect the bomber after it was lifted from the water.
Salvage workers inspect the bomber after it was lifted from the water.HIDE CAPTION
German bomber lifted from English Channel
German bomber lifted from English Channel
German bomber lifted from English Channel
German bomber lifted from English Channel
German bomber lifted from English Channel
German bomber lifted from English Channel
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- German bomber was shot down during Battle of Britain
- Pilot made emergency landing in English Channel
- Divers discovered the plane in 2008
(CNN) — A World War II German bomber, likely the last of its kind, has been raised from the bottom of the English Channel and will be restored for display in a British museum.
“It has been lifted and is now safely on the barge and in one piece,” Ajay Srivastava, a spokesman for RAF Museum, told the BBC.
The Royal Air Force shot down the Dornier Do-17 twin-engine medium bomber of the German Luftwaffe on August 26, 1940, during the Battle of Britain. It was one of 1,500 built by Germany and the last known to be in existence, according to the RAF Museum.
Germany employed more than 400 Dornier 17s during the Battle of Britain, and 200 of those were lost. Most wrecks were melted down and recycled into making planes and armaments for Britain, according to the museum.
The plane raised Monday was damaged in a battle with RAF Defiant fighters as it tried to attack airfields in Essex, the museum said. Its pilot made a belly landing on Goodwin Sands in the channel off Kent, and the plane sank upside down in about 50 feet of water. The pilot and another crew member who survived the crash were taken prisoner and sent to prisoner-of-war camps in Canada, the museum said. Two other crew members died.
The plane remained undisturbed on the floor of the English Channel until divers spotted it in 2008.
“The aircraft is in remarkable condition — considering the events surrounding its loss plus the effects of spending so many years under water,” the museum’s website says. “Other than marine concretion it is largely intact, the main undercarriage tires remain inflated and the propellers clearly show the damage inflicted during their final landing.”
The museum then stepped in with a nearly million-dollar effort (about 600,000 pounds) to raise the craft and launch a restoration project.
“The discovery of the Dornier is of national and international importance. The aircraft is a unique and unprecedented survivor from the Battle of Britain. It is particularly significant because, as a bomber, it formed the heart of the Luftwaffe assault and the subsequent Blitz,” Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, director general of the RAF Museum, says on the museum’s website.
“The Dornier will provide an evocative and moving exhibit that will allow the museum to present the wider story of the Battle of Britain and highlight the sacrifices made by the young men of both air forces and from many nations,” Dye says on the website.
Once the plane is ashore, it will be soaked in a citric acid solution to stop corrosion, the first step in a restoration process expected to take two years.
The plane then will go on display at the RAF Museum in north London.
See the RAF Museum’s website with the complete story of the German bomber
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Three killed in Iraq bombing
3 killed in Iraq bombing
By Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
June 8, 2013 — Updated 1002 GMT (1802 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The bombing occurred in southwestern Baghdad
- At least 20 others are injured
(CNN) — At least three people were killed and 20 others wounded when a car bomb exploded Saturday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, police said.
The bombing occurred near a clinic in al-Bayaa in southwestern Baghdad.
Violence has escalated in the nation in recent months.
Iraqi and international leaders fear that tensions between Sunnis and Shiites could escalate and bring a return of a full-blown sectarian war.
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At least 6 dead in California shootings
Los Angeles Police Department officers along with Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies search the campus of Santa Monica College after a reported shooting on Friday, June 7. A car with windows shattered by bullets sits in front of a partially burned house where two bodies where found. Authorities believe the incident may be related to the shooting on the campus of Santa Monica College.
A car with windows shattered by bullets sits in front of a partially burned house where two bodies where found. Authorities believe the incident may be related to the shooting on the campus of Santa Monica College.An inspector stands outside the partially burnt house where two bodies were discovered near the Santa Monica College campus.
An inspector stands outside the partially burnt house where two bodies were discovered near the Santa Monica College campus. A Los Angeles County SWAT team sharpshooter circles the campus in a helicopter.
A Los Angeles County SWAT team sharpshooter circles the campus in a helicopter.Los Angeles Police Department officers deploy around the campus.
Los Angeles Police Department officers deploy around the campus. Students rush to safety after shots were fired.
Students rush to safety after shots were fired. California Highway Patrol officers work to contain the scene.
California Highway Patrol officers work to contain the scene.Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies search the grounds.
Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies search the grounds.Backpacks and food are left behind after students fled the campus.
Backpacks and food are left behind after students fled the campus. Police gather during the search of the campus.
Police gather during the search of the campus.SWAT officers conduct a search at the college after the shooting.
SWAT officers conduct a search at the college after the shooting. Women leave campus after the shooting.
Women leave campus after the shooting. A police officer helps search the campus.
A police officer helps search the campus.HIDE CAPTION
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
Shooting at Santa Monica College
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- As many as six are slain; gunman also died
- A woman says the suspect had “a big shotgun”
- Wounded people are at UCLA Medical Center, the hospital says
- Rampage ended at Santa Monica College
(CNN) — [Breaking news update: 7:45 p.m.]
Of the six people killed during a shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California, on Friday, all but two of the victims are believed to have been randomly targeted by a gunman, city Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks told reporters.
[Breaking news update: 7:40 p.m.]
A “person of interest” is in custody, Seabrooks told reporters. She did not specify why authorities wanted to talk to the man.
[Breaking news update: 7:34 p.m.]
As many as six people have been killed in a shooting rampage in Santa Monica, California, that ended Friday in the library of Santa Monica College with the suspected gunman also dead. Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said there was as many as six incidents across the city, culminating at the college.
[Previous coverage, 7:15 p.m.]
At least three people were killed Friday in shootings in Santa Monica, California. Authorities were investigating whether a shooting at a college and another at a residence were linked.
Of six people wounded, a woman died and another person was in critical condition and undergoing surgery, Dr. Marshall Morgan, chief of emergency medicine at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, told reporters Friday afternoon.
After gunfire on the campus of Santa Monica College, a suspect was taken into custody, according to Sgt. Richard Lewis, a police spokesman. Witnesses told CNN a man they believed to be a gunman was shot and lay motionless on the ground.
An eyewitness on campus, Jason Garrett, told CNN the suspected shooter was dressed all in black and appeared to be wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle.
A female witness — who was shaken up by the ordeal and asked not to be identified — said she heard a noise, realized it was a gunshot, then took off running.
Then, in a hallway, she saw a dark-haired man whom she initially mistook for a police officer but later realized was the shooter. The man — who she said was wearing black combat boots and what appeared to be a bullet-proof vest — was quiet and walking casually.
“(He had) a big shotgun,” the woman said.
She and a colleague eventually realized something wasn’t right and ran in the opposite direction. “Multiple” gun shots rang out at one point, in an exchange of gunfire the woman described as like a war zone.
Authorities continued to search for a possible second gunman, Officer Vince Ramirez told CNN. The search was on the campus and in the surrounding area, officials said.
Witness: He started blasting rounds
The school was put under lockdown.
The gunman got off at least one shot inside the campus library, several witnesses told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS.
Priscilla Morales, who was in the library, told CNN she heard three gunshots. “I was so scared and thought literally I was going to die.”
Meanwhile, the bodies of two men, believed to have been shot, were found inside a burning house in Santa Monica, near the college, Santa Monica Fire Capt. Jeff Furrow told CNN.
One woman, shot and injured, was found in a car outside the house.
A woman who lives across from the house, in a normally quiet neighborhood, said she saw a man in a vehicle driving away from the burning residence.
Reid Rosson told CNN the man was in the passenger seat, after apparently commandeering the vehicle with the driver still at the wheel. The injured woman was in a car that had ran onto a sidewalk, she told “The Situation Room.”
Authorities also were investigating a shooting that targeted a bus in Santa Monica. Two passengers were injured, Suja Lowenthal, a Big Blue Bus spokeswoman, told CNN.
Officials did not say whether the incidents are connected.
President Barack Obama was in Santa Monica for a fundraiser just a 10-minute drive from the campus, KCAL/KCBS reported.
CNN’s Miguel Marquez reported from Santa Monica and Chelsea J. Carter and Phil Gast reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Cheri Mossburg and Traci Tamura contributed to this report.
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No pardon for Peru’s Fujimori
No pardon for imprisoned former president in Peru
By CNN Staff
June 7, 2013 — Updated 1913 GMT (0313 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Family members argued Alberto Fujimori should be released for medical reasons
- They filed a request for a humanitarian pardon
- Country’s current president turned them down
(CNN) — Imprisoned Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori won’t receive a pardon because the nation’s current president determined that he does not have a terminal illness, officials said Friday.
President Ollanta Humala made the decision for that reason and the fact that one of the charges Fujimori, 74, was convicted of cannot be pardoned, the country’s justice minister announced.
In October, family members requested a humanitarian pardon for Fujimori, saying he should be released from prison because of health problems. He is serving four concurrent sentences, the longest of which is 25 years, for corruption and human rights abuses.
Fujimori underwent surgery September 19 for a recurring lesion in his tongue and returned to the clinic nine days later because of problems with scarring of the wound, the state-run Andina news agency reported at the time.
2011: Longtime Peruvian fugitive turns himself in
Family members say the ex-president, who has suffered from mouth cancer, will die if he remains a prisoner. Human rights activists have said that granting a pardon to the former strongman would be an insult to victims of his regime, Andina reported.
2009: Ex-Peruvian president sentenced for giving spy chief $15 million
Fujimori is a polarizing figure in Peru, the country he led from 1990 to 2000. His strong hand is credited with defeating the Shining Path terrorists who destabilized the country, and his austere economic policies reined in hyperinflation.
But stability had a cost, which in his case was an authoritarian streak that included the killing of civilians. After winning a third term whose constitutionality was challenged, he was finally brought down by an Andean-sized corruption scandal.
In 2009, a special supreme court tribunal sentenced him to 25 years in prison for authorizing the operation of a death squad responsible for killing civilians.
In separate trials, Fujimori was found guilty of breaking into the home of a former spy chief to steal incriminating videos, taking money from the government treasury to pay the spy chief, authorizing illegal wiretaps and bribing congressmen and journalists.
2009: Former Peruvian president sentenced to fourth prison term
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At least 20 killed in China bus fire
Report: At least 20 killed in southeast China bus fire
By CNN Staff
June 7, 2013 — Updated 1501 GMT (2301 HKT)
(CNN) — A bus caught fire in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen on Friday, killing at least 20 people at injuring more than 30 others, state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing local officials.
The vehicle was on an elevated bus lane and more than a quarter-mile from a bus stop when the flames started, an official in the coastal city told Xinhua.
It wasn’t clear what started the fire. Witnesses said they heard explosions 10 minutes after the fire started, according to Xinhua.
A picture of the bus, published on Xinhua’s website, showed a badly charred interior. An injured passenger told Xinhua that she smelled gasoline while on the bus, and then saw a fellow passenger breaking a window in an attempt to get out.
The incident is under investigation, Xinhua reported.
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