
Turkish court convicts Istanbul mayor of insulting an official
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is being held in a prison west of Istanbul since March 23, is expected to appeal the verdict, which is part of several ongoing legal proceedings against him.
The case, which predates his arrest, stems from comments he made on Jan. 20 in which he criticized Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akin Gurlek, accusing him of targeting opposition figures through alleged politically motivated investigations.
The court on Wednesday convicted Imamoglu of insulting and threatening Gurlek but acquitted him of the charge of publicly identifying him with the intent of making him a target.
Imamoglu, regarded as the main challenger to Erdogan's more than two-decade-rule, has denied the accusations.
The mayor was arrested alongside other politicians from the main opposition party as part of investigations into alleged corruption. His arrest triggered the largest street protests in Turkey in more than a decade.
Despite being behind bars, he was officially nominated as the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP. Elections are due to be held in 2028, but may come sooner.
The arrests have drawn widespread criticism from opposition leaders, who argue that the charges are politically motivated. Imamoglu himself has described the trial as 'punishment, not justice,' and accused the judiciary of acting under government pressure.

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San Francisco Chronicle
10 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Police clash with anti-government protesters in Serbia over student expulsion
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Protesters clashed with police on Tuesday in a southwestern Serbian town following the reported forced expulsion of a group of students from a faculty building where they had been camping for months as part of nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Hundreds of protesters in Novi Pazar chanted slogans against Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic and demanded that the students be allowed to return to the building. Protesters threw bottles at police who responded with batons and shields. Police said in a statement they were attacked and acted with restraint while preserving public peace. Officers later withdrew as the students chanted 'victory.' The students alleged that the unidentified men who broke into the state university building between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Tuesday, with faculty officials, were members of a private security company in nearby Kraljevo. Videos of the alleged break in were posted on social media. Parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabic said the intervention was requested by the faculty management. Tensions are high in Novi Pazar, a multi-ethnic town some 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the capital Belgrade. There is a divide between Bosniak Muslims, who make up the majority of the population, and Serbs which stems from ethnic wars in the 1990s triggered by the breakup of former Yugoslavia. Student-led demonstrations first erupted in Serbia after the collapse of a concrete canopy collapse at a renovated train station killed 16 people in November. Many blamed the tragedy on alleged widespread corruption in state-run infrastructure projects. Vucic has stepped up pressure on universities to curb the protests challenging his increasingly authoritarian rule. A large student-led gathering in Novi Pazar in April was seen as an important step toward bridging the ethnic divide there.

Associated Press
11 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Police clash with anti-government protesters in Serbia over student expulsion
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Protesters clashed with police on Tuesday in a southwestern Serbian town following the reported forced expulsion of a group of students from a faculty building where they had been camping for months as part of nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Hundreds of protesters in Novi Pazar chanted slogans against Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic and demanded that the students be allowed to return to the building. Protesters threw bottles at police who responded with batons and shields. Police said in a statement they were attacked and acted with restraint while preserving public peace. Officers later withdrew as the students chanted 'victory.' The students alleged that the unidentified men who broke into the state university building between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Tuesday, with faculty officials, were members of a private security company in nearby Kraljevo. Videos of the alleged break in were posted on social media. Parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabic said the intervention was requested by the faculty management. Tensions are high in Novi Pazar, a multi-ethnic town some 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the capital Belgrade. There is a divide between Bosniak Muslims, who make up the majority of the population, and Serbs which stems from ethnic wars in the 1990s triggered by the breakup of former Yugoslavia. Student-led demonstrations first erupted in Serbia after the collapse of a concrete canopy collapse at a renovated train station killed 16 people in November. Many blamed the tragedy on alleged widespread corruption in state-run infrastructure projects. Vucic has stepped up pressure on universities to curb the protests challenging his increasingly authoritarian rule. Most faculties in Serbia have restarted lectures and exams in recent weeks to avoid a study backlog but street protests persist, with protesters demanding snap parliamentary elections. A large student-led gathering in Novi Pazar in April was seen as an important step toward bridging the ethnic divide there.


The Hill
40 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump Environmental Protection Agency moves to repeal finding that allows climate regulation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule would rescind a 2009 declaration that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The 'endangerment finding' is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the proposed rule change on a podcast ahead of an official announcement set for Tuesday in Indiana. Repealing the endangerment finding 'will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America,' Zeldin said on the Ruthless podcast. 'There are people who, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country,' Zeldin said. 'They created this endangerment finding and then they are able to put all these regulations on vehicles, on airplanes, on stationary sources, to basically regulate out of existence, in many cases, a lot of segments of our economy. And it cost Americans a lot of money.' The EPA proposal must go though a lengthy review process, including public comment, before it is finalized, likely next year. Environmental groups are likely to challenge the rule change in court. Zeldin called for a rewrite of the endangerment finding in March as part of a series of environmental rollbacks announced at the same time in what he said was 'the greatest day of deregulation in American history.' A total of 31 key environmental rules on topics from clean air to clean water and climate change would be rolled back or repealed under Zeldin's plan. He singled out the endangerment finding as 'the Holy Grail of the climate change religion' and said he was thrilled to end it 'as the EPA does its part to usher in the Golden Age of American success.' Tailpipe emission limits also targeted The EPA also is expected to call for rescinding limits on tailpipe emissions that were designed to encourage automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Environmental groups said Zeldin's action denies reality as weather disasters exacerbated by climate change continue in the U.S. and around the world. 'As Americans reel from deadly floods and heat waves, the Trump administration is trying to argue that the emissions turbocharging these disasters are not a threat,' said Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'It boggles the mind and endangers the nation's safety and welfare.' Under Zeldin and Trump, 'the EPA wants to shirk its responsibility to protect us from climate pollution, but science and the law say otherwise,' she added. 'If EPA finalizes this illegal and cynical approach, we will see them in court.' Three former EPA leaders have also criticized Zeldin, saying his March announcement targeting the endangerment finding and other rules imperiled the lives of millions of Americans and abandoned the agency's dual mission to protect the environment and human health. 'If there's an endangerment finding to be found anywhere, it should be found on this administration because what they're doing is so contrary to what the Environmental Protection Agency is about,' Christine Todd Whitman, who led EPA under Republican President George W. Bush, said after Zeldin's plan was made public. The EPA proposal follows an executive order from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report 'on the legality and continuing applicability' of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some congressional Republicans hailed the initial plan, calling it a way to undo economically damaging rules to regulate greenhouse gases. But environmental groups, legal experts and Democrats said any attempt to repeal or roll back the endangerment finding would be an uphill task with slim chance of success. The finding came two years after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling holding that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Passing court muster could be an issue David Doniger, a climate expert at the NRDC, accused Trump's Republican administration of using potential repeal of the endangerment finding as a 'kill shot'' that would allow him to make all climate regulations invalid. If finalized, repeal of the endangerment finding would erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could prevent future administrations from proposing rules to tackle climate change. 'The Endangerment Finding is the legal foundation that underpins vital protections for millions of people from the severe threats of climate change, and the Clean Car and Truck Standards are among the most important and effective protections to address the largest U.S. source of climate-causing pollution,' said Peter Zalzal, associate vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund. 'Attacking these safeguards is manifestly inconsistent with EPA's responsibility to protect Americans' health and well-being,' he said. 'It is callous, dangerous and a breach of our government's responsibility to protect the American people from this devastating pollution.' Conrad Schneider, a senior director at the Clean Air Task Force, said the Trump administration 'is using pollution regulations as a scapegoat in its flawed approach to energy affordability' and reliability. He and other advocates 'are dismayed that an administration that claims it cares about cleaner, healthier and safer air is seeking to dismantle the very protections that are required for those conditions,' Schneider said. ___