In the news

WORLD

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Some 700,000 Turks waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul on Sunday to demand the resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey’s leaders threatened to destroy the country’s modern foundations.

Like the protesters, who gathered for the second large anti-government demonstration in two weeks, Turkey’s powerful secular military has accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of tolerating radical Islamic circles.

“They want to drag Turkey to the dark ages,” said 63-year-old Ahmet Yurdakul, a retired government employee who attended the protest.

More than 300,000 people took part in a similar rally in Ankara two weeks ago. Police, who said Sunday’s demonstrators numbered around 700,000, cordoned off the area and conducted body searches at several entry points.

Sunday’s demonstration was organized more than a week ago, but it came a day after Erdogan’s government rejected the military’s warning about the disputed presidential election, and called it interference that is unacceptable in a democracy.

NATION

OAKLAND, Calif. – A section of freeway that funnels traffic onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a gasoline tanker truck overturned and caught fire, authorities said.

The heat from the fire was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck’s driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns.

No other injuries were reported, which officials said was only possible because the accident happened so early on a Sunday morning. The truck driver took a taxi to a nearby hospital, Officer Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol said.

The tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline ignited around 3:45 a.m. after crashing into a pylon on the interchange, which connects westbound lanes of Interstate 80 to southbound I-880, about half a mile from the Bay Bridge’s toll plaza.

The fire melted a second interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound I-580 located above the first interchange, causing a 250-yard section of the roadway to collapse onto the roadway below, according to the highway patrol.

Witnesses reported flames from the blaze reached up to 200 feet high.

The Bay Bridge consists of two heavily traveled, double-decked bridges about two miles long straddling San Francisco Bay. State transportation officials said 280,000 commuters take the bridge into San Francisco each day.

STATE&LOCAL

NEWPORT NEWS – Virginia has enacted new oyster-harvesting rules for the summer to shield fans of the briny treat from potentially deadly bacteria in coastal waters.

Other oyster-producing states likely will follow Virginia’s lead as part of a crackdown on Vibrio contamination in humans.

Two forms of Vibrio occur naturally in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Eastern Shore seaside. While usually not a health risk, their concentrations can increase above health-safety levels in warm conditions.

When ingested in unsafe levels, these microscopic organisms can sicken people, and even cause death among those with weak immune systems. People who have been drinking alcohol heavily are especially susceptible to infection, according to public-health experts.

Virginia’s primary oyster seasons are during fall and winter, when Vibrio is dormant. But few oysters of any kind have been found on public grounds in recent years, the result of decades of disease, pollution and lost habitat.

One case of Vibrio sickness, in 2006, has been traced to Virginia oysters. Still, state officials want to avoid a second case because it would trigger even tougher government scrutiny and restrictions. That could include a possible ban on all harvesting from May to September, peak time for the state’s burgeoning oyster-farming industry.