Police have used tear gas and water cannon to push back crowds of protesters who defied a warning by Turkey’s prime minister and gathered in Istanbul and Ankara on the anniversary of last year’s nationwide anti-government demonstrations.

Activists have presented a list of demands they said could end days of anti-government demonstrations that have engulfed Turkey, as trade unions joined in the outpouring of anger, shouting slogans and wielding banners calling on the prime minister to resign.

The discovery of 74 skeletons in a mass grave in Guatemala have prompted the start of a criminal investigation against a former army colonel who ran the military outpost where the remains were found, victims said today.

Arabs accused the United States of having double standards on human rights as anger grew today over images of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling American troops.