Riot police fired water cannons and tear gas as they drove protesters out of Istanbul’s Taksim Square and neighbouring Gezi Park today, an intervention that came shortly after the prime minister warned that security forces “know how to clear” the area.

Turkey’s prime minister has lashed out at protesters behind a two-week sit-in at an Istanbul park in a boisterous speech to tens of thousands of his supporters.

THE Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison yesterday after more than 29 years behind bars and proclaimed he was a messenger of God and the world will end this century.

The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison today after completing his sentence for crimes committed in Turkey.