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In the chaos of the attempted coup perpetrated by elements of the Turkish military in July, the nation’s president and incipient strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pointed the finger squarely at one source: the Gülen Movement.

 In an address to the nation via web video stream, Erdoğan explained that the coup attempt came from "a faction in the military, the parallels," which Turkey observers understood as a reference to followers of Fethullah Gülen, a moderate Sunni cleric whose movement claims millions of followers in Turkey and around the world. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag repeated the accusations in a TV interview, claiming the coup plotters were tied to Gülen.

 A Gülen-allied organization, the Alliance for Shared Values, has condemned the coup unequivocally and denied any involvement. And there is no evidence as of this writing that Gülen or any of his groups or followers were involved in the slightest.

 That hasn't stopped Erdogan from demanding that he be returned to Turkey to stand trial. On Tuesday, the Turkish leader formally asked Washington to arrest Gülen on charges of "ordering and commanding the attempted coup," according to state media.

 Still, the cleric won't be leaving the United States anytime soon. A group of American officials traveled to Ankara in late August to discuss his possible extradition, but the Obama administration has steadily maintained that Turkey hasn't yet provided persuasive evidence that Gülen was behind was actually responsible for the coup. It's not clear if, or when, that will change.

 The new extradition request marks the latest twist in the controversy surrounding Gülen, who was a close ally of Erdoğan until they had a massive falling-out in late 2013. Since then, Gülen and his movement — now officially designated as a terrorist group in Turkey — have emerged as one of the government’s favorite targets. So it’s very possible that Erdoğan would target Gülen even if he played no role in the events.

 Nonetheless, even if it’s merely a scapegoat, the government’s history with the Gülen movement is crucial context for understanding what the hell is happening in Turkey right now.

 The basics of the Gülen movement — and its surprisingly deep US ties

 Fethullah Gülen is an imam (Muslim religious leader) who was born and raised in Turkey and has been active since the 1960s and '70s. He preaches an inclusive brand of Sunni Islam that emphasizes cooperation and tolerance, views modernity as broadly compatible with Islam, and, above all, stresses the importance of education outside of narrow religious schools.

 More than anything, the Gülen Movement (which is also known in Turkey as hizmet, or "the service") is known for its schools. They are ubiquitous in Turkey but have also spread abroad to countries like Pakistan and even the United States. Indeed, Gülen-affiliated groups run more than 100 charter schools in the US — the largest charter network in the country.

 The schools emphasize math and science and avoid proselytizing. "They prescribe a strong Western curriculum, with courses, taught in English, from math and science to English literature and Shakespeare," the New York Times’s Sabrina Tavernise wrote of the Pakistani Gülen schools in 2008. "They do not teach religion beyond the one class in Islamic studies that is required by the state. Unlike British-style private schools, however, they encourage Islam in their dormitories, where teachers set examples in lifestyle and prayer."

 Gülenists insist they believe in secular democracy, and they have relatively progressive views on many social issues: For instance, boys and girls are educated on equal footing in Gülen schools. The movement stresses interfaith cooperation, and Gülen had a good relationship with Pope John Paul II, spurring criticism from more conservative Muslims in Turkey.

 Gülen’s extensive US charter network has been the subject of considerable scrutiny, both from anti-Islam groups that object to a Muslim cleric having that degree of influence over US education (even though the schools are totally secular in content) and from government agencies over evidence of mismanagement.

 Among other charges, critics allege that the schools were a scheme to replace US teachers with Turkish immigrants, who were then expected to transfer money back to Gülen organizations. This resulted in investigations from the FBI, Labor Department, and Education Department. An audit of Georgia Gülen charters found that they improperly awarded contracts to affiliated businesses, and in 2014 the FBI raided 19 Gülen-affiliated schools in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. A Gülen school in New Orleans lost its charter in 2011 after allegations of cheating and sexual misconduct involving kindergartners.

 Fethullah Gülen’s role in Turkish politics

 Despite its avowed belief in democracy and modernity, secular critics in Turkey have long attacked the Gülen movement as a stalking horse for more thoroughgoing Islamism.

 In the 1980s, Turkish generals — who at the time were in control of the government following a military coup — accused Gülen of plotting a takeover to install an Islamic dictatorship. As Al-Monitor's Murat Bilgincan explains, Gülen went on the run for about six years before being arrested. He was ultimately freed due to the support of Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, who later supported Gülen's post–Cold War efforts to open schools in Turkic republics newly independent from the Soviet Union.

 In 2000, the Turkish government, then led by secularist Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, indicted Gülen on charges of attempting to undermine Turkish secularism — a core feature of the state since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Turkish Republic in 1922 — and trying to install a Islamic dictatorship. Though Ecevit himself had spoken in favor of Gülen and his schools, that didn't keep him from being targeted.

 Gülen had traveled to the US in 1999, ostensibly for medical reasons, but stayed in a form of exile. He still lives in the Pennsylvania Poconos to this day.

 Gülen’s political fortunes changed again with the rise of Erdoğan and his AK Party, which initially branded itself as a moderate, socially conservative Islamist group. In 2012, the New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins noted that "while Erdoğan himself is not believed to be a Gülenist, [then] President [Abdullah] Gül is said to be one, as are several other senior members of the government."

 Filkins reported that the Turkish National Police was widely believed to have been dominated by Gülenists, and to have spearheaded two controversial police investigations into allegations that secular opposition and military figures were secretly plotting to overthrow Erdoğan.

 In other words, the Gülen movement was for many years a crucial ally of Erdoğan and the AKP — acting as a grassroots arm with significant funding that could support Erdoğan’s attempts to fight back secularists and, in the eyes of critics, suppress dissent.

 How Gülen and Erdoğan fell out

 Once Erdoğan had more or less secured his hold on power, however, the relationship started to break down. "Once the old establishment was decisively defeated, sometime around 2010 to 2011, disagreements emerged between the AKP and the Gulen movement," Al-Monitor's Mustafa Akyol explains. It started when a "power struggle between pro-Gulen police/judiciary and the AKP" erupted over an investigation into the country’s top intelligence agency that pitted pro-Erdoğan intelligence officials against pro-Gülen police and prosecutors.

 Then in November 2013, Erdoğan announced he planned to shut down prep schools (weekend classes for university exam preparation), about a quarter of which are run by the Gülen movement.

 A month later, Akyol continues, "the real bomb went off: Zekeriya Oz, an Istanbul prosecutor who is widely believed to be a member of the Gulen movement, initiated an early morning raid on dozens of individuals, including the sons of three ministers, an AKP mayor, businessmen and bureaucrats." It was a massive corruption scandal, which alleged that the government illicitly traded gold with Iran in exchange for oil, undermining the international sanctions regime then in place.

 The Gülenists argued this proved the government was fundamentally corrupt and in bed with Turkey’s Iranian enemies. Erdoğan and the AKP in turn accused the Gülenists of attempting a takeover through the corruption investigation, and of being in bed with Israel (which would naturally oppose Turkish cooperation with Iran). "An increasingly paranoid prime minister is said to believe that a ‘Gülen-Israel axis’ is bent on unseating him," the Economist wrote of Erdoğan at the time.

 Since then, Gülen has been considered an enemy of the Turkish state, culminating in Erdoğan's Cabinet designating his movement a terrorist organization in May of this year.

 What happens to the Gülenists now?

 Erdoğan has accused the Gülenists of being behind Friday’s coup attempt, but there’s strong cause for skepticism: Unlike the national police, the military is not thought to be dominated by Gülenists.

 However, whether or not they were actually behind the coup attempt may not matter at this point. The coup seems to be fizzling out, and Erdoğan appears to have survived. The aftermath will likely see Erdoğan, who has been slowly consolidating power behind himself for years and years now, cracking down on the movement as a way to squelch dissent and solidify his own standing. The actual truth of the coup is up in the air, but the takeaway is clear: a consolidation of power behind Erdoğan, and even greater scrutiny and targeting of the Gülen movement. ||||| 14:23

 At Numune hospital, the largest in Ankara, hundreds of wounded people have been brought for treatment, my colleague Kareem Shaheen reports.

 Cagri, a 29-year-old, was wounded by shrapnel when a military helicopter fired at loyalist security forces in his neighborhood of Kazan. “We just panicked,” he said.

 A friend of his who was 2 miles away died in the fire from helicopter machine guns, he said. A taxi driver nearby grabbed him and took him to the hospital, where he had to lie down outside waiting to be treated because of the huge crowds of victims seeking help. Another friend lost his hand, Cagri said, his own shrapnel wounds in his chest and leg, bandaged. He added that has lost all feeling in his injured thigh.

 Cagri at the hospital in Ankara. Photograph: Kareem Shaheen

 Osman Konmaz, an EMT, said he treated between 350 to 400 people in the attack’s aftermath. He described the most heartbreaking cases he saw: one man who lost his leg after it was run over by a tank, and another when he saw the body of a man who was crushed by a tank controlled by the coup plotters.

 “There was no humanity in any of this,” he said. Most of the injuries he saw were wounds from shrapnel or bullets. He said the incident took a grave psychological toll, and was even worse than the attack in Ankara last October by Isis that targeted a peace rally.

 “This was the worst massacre I’ve ever witnessed,” he said, before alluding to a bombing months earlier. “At least October 10 was terror by a terrorist group, but this was done by our own military.”

 Meanwhile people continued to gather at Kizilay Square, where prime minister Binali Yildirim is set to speak to the crowds. ||||| (CNN) A swarm of protesters surrounded a stalled tank. They hurled bricks and rocks at the vehicle, jeering and cursing the soldier.

 Their anger was palpable during a violent, military coup attempt that brought tanks rolling through the streets of Ankara and Istanbul, a bomb tossed in Parliament and heavy artillery in their cities.

 Supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan swarmed the streets to thwart the military's advances to seize control. Unarmed civilians carrying cell phones confronted tanks and military vehicles as clashes broke out throughout the country.

 A man lays in front of a tank at the entrance to Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

 Some stood in front of tanks -- much like the famous Tiananmen Square photo -- to block the military from taking control of key areas. One man even lay in the street directly in the path of a moving tank at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

 After a harrowing night, the crowds were angry. At least 161 people died in the attempted coup, said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

 A small gesture amid chaos

 Soldiers surrender on Bosphoros bridge in Istanbul.

 On Saturday, protesters surrounded a military tank, as shown in footage shot by CNN affiliate IHA. The exact location of the incident was not immediately clear.

 A lone crew member popped his head out of the hatch as smoke rises around him. He looked young, with a red face and close-cropped hair.

 He was immediately confronted by a protester who climbed on top of the tank. The protester tried to yank him out of the hatch, but gave up and stomped the soldier's head instead to the applause of the the crowd.

 Eventually, the young crew member emerged partly from the tank, holding both hands in the air to surrender.

 Soldiers abandoned their gear on Istanbul's Bosphoros bridge.

 The crowd jeered and hurled bricks and rocks. While he was pelted with stones, two people and a police officer climbed onto the tank. The officer motioned for the crowd to stop.

 The protesters immediately obeyed.

 Several police officers had been killed overnight in a violent gunfire exchange with soldiers near the Parliament complex in Ankara, according to Turkey's NTV.

 Erdogan supporters capture a military tank.

 In an extraordinary moment, the police officer protectively helped the soldier to his feet. He embraced the young man and led him away.

 It offered a brief moment of humanity in an otherwise tumultuous night -- a reminder that whether they were officers, civilians or soldiers, they were all compatriots.

 A total of 1,563 military personnel have been detained across Turkey; many are thought to be like the soldier in the video -- young and rank-and-file, a source told CNN.

 Scenes from a chaotic night

 A burned car in Istanbul on Saturday.

 The streets in Turkey became battlegrounds between the military and government supporters. In Istanbul, people tried to block the military vehicles from advancing by blocking roads with their cars. Many were shaken by the violence.

 "There was definitely explosions and they were being launched by helicopters or the jets. This was definitely military equipment," said Diego Cupolo, a photojournalist in Ankara, who described heavy artillery fire and tanks.

 Amid tension and uncertainty, the question of how the country would heal loomed large.

 Workers clean up debris at Turkish parliament in Ankara.

 Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, pointed out that even political parties that fiercely oppose Erdogan had supported the democratically elected government.

 This may be an opportunity for Erdogan to resolve some of the divisions, he said.

 "This is time for Erdogan to open a new chapter not only regionally but domestically," Gerges said. "This is deactivating the cultural, ethnic and ideological minefields that have been opened up in Turkey in the past five years." ||||| ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters on Saturday and ordered thousands of judges detained after thwarting a coup by rebels using tanks and attack helicopters to try to topple President Tayyip Erdogan.

 For several hours overnight on Friday violence shook Turkey’s two main cities, as the armed faction which tried to seize power blocked a bridge in Istanbul and strafed the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and parliament in Ankara.

 At least 265 people were killed. An official said 161 of them were mostly civilians and police officers, while the remaining 104 were coup supporters.

 But the coup attempt crumbled as Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and urged people to take to the streets to support his government against plotters he accused of trying to kill him.

 “They will pay a heavy price for this,” said Erdogan, launching a purge of the armed forces, which last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago. “This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.”

 Among those detained were top military commanders, including the head of the Second Army which protects the country’s borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran, state-run Anadolu news agency said.

 Hundreds of soldiers were held in Ankara for alleged involvement in the coup, leaving police stations overflowing.

 Some had to be taken under armed police escort in buses to a sports stadium. Reuters footage showed some of the detainees, handcuffed and stripped from the waist up, sitting on the floor of one of the buses.

 The government declared the situation under control, saying 2,839 people had been rounded up, from foot soldiers to senior officers, including those who formed “the backbone” of the rebellion.

 Authorities also began a major crackdown in the judiciary over suspected links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, removing from their posts and ordering the detention of nearly 3,000 prosecutors and judges, including from top courts.

 Erdogan has blamed the coup on supporters of Gulen, who he has frequently accused of trying to foment uprising in the military, media and judiciary.

 Ten members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors and two members of the Constitutional Court have already been detained, officials said.

 OBAMA’S SUPPORT

 A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country of about 80 million people since 2003, would have marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged Turkey’s southern neighbor Syria into civil war.

 However, a failed coup attempt could still destabilize the NATO member and major U.S. ally that lies between the European Union and the chaos of Syria, with Islamic State bombers targeting Turkish cities and the government also at war with Kurdish separatists.

 U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for Turkey’s government and urged parties on all sides of the crisis to avoid destabilizing the country and follow the rule of law. But his secretary of state, John Kerry, warned Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that public suggestions of a U.S. role in the plot were “utterly false” and harmful to relations.

 Erdogan, who had been holidaying on the southwest coast when the coup was launched, flew into Istanbul before dawn on Saturday and told thousands of flag-waving supporters at the airport that the government remained at the helm.

 A polarizing figure whose Islamist-rooted ideology lies at odds with supporters of modern Turkey’s secular principles, Erdogan said the plotters had tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris.

 “They bombed places I had departed from right after I was gone,” he said. “They probably thought we were still there.”

 Erdogan’s AK Party has long had strained relations with the military, which has a history of mounting coups to defend secularism although it has not seized power directly since 1980.

 His conservative religious vision for Turkey’s future has also alienated many ordinary citizens who accuse him of authoritarianism. Police used heavy force in 2013 to suppress mass protests demanding more freedom.

 He commands the admiration and loyalty of millions of Turks, however, particularly for raising living standards and restoring order to an economy once beset by regular crises, which grew 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

 The violence is likely to hit a tourism industry already suffering from the bombings, and business confidence is also vulnerable.

 SMARTPHONE ADDRESS

 In a night that sometimes verged on the bizarre, Erdogan frequently took to social media, even though he is an avowed enemy of the technology when his opponents use it and frequently targets Twitter and Facebook.

 He addressed the nation via a video calling service, appearing on the smartphone of a CNN Turk reporter who held it up to a studio camera.

 He also urged Washington to deport Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States. The cleric, who once supported Erdogan but became a leading adversary, condemned the attempted coup and said he played no role in it.

 “As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations,” Gulen said in a statement.

 Kerry said the United States was willing to help Turkey as it tries to identify those involved in the coup attempt, but made clear it would only act if there was evidence against Gulen.

 SOLDIERS SURRENDER

 Gunfire and explosions had rocked both Istanbul and Ankara through the night after soldiers took up positions in both cities and ordered state television to read out a statement declaring they had taken power. However, by dawn the noise of fighting had died down considerably.

 About 50 soldiers involved in the coup surrendered on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul after dawn on Saturday, abandoning their tanks with their hands raised in the air. Reuters witnesses saw government supporters attack the pro-coup soldiers who had surrendered.

 Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gather at Taksim Square in central Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

 By Saturday afternoon, CNN Turk reported that security forces had completed an operation against coup plotters at the headquarters of the military general staff. Security sources also said police detained about 100 military officers at an air base in the southeast.

 Neighboring Greece arrested eight men aboard a Turkish military helicopter which landed in the northern city of Alexandroupolis on Saturday, the Greek police ministry said, adding that they had requested political asylum.

 At one stage military commanders were held hostage by the plotters and by Saturday evening — 24 hours after the coup was launched — some operations against rebels were continuing.

 Cavusoglu, the foreign minister, said soldiers at the Incirlik air base, used by the United States to launch air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, were involved in the attempt. He said Turkey would resume operations with the U.S.-led coalition once the anti-coup operations were completed.

 LAWMAKERS IN HIDING

 The coup began with warplanes and helicopters roaring over Ankara and troops moving in to seal off the bridges over the Bosphorus, which separates Europe and Asia in Istanbul.

 Turkish maritime authorities reopened the Bosphorus to transiting tankers after shutting the major trade route from the Black Sea to the Aegean for several hours for security and safety reasons.

 In the early hours of Saturday, lawmakers hid in shelters inside the parliament building, which was fired on by tanks. An opposition deputy told Reuters that parliament was hit three times and people had been wounded.

 When parliament convened later in the day, the four main political parties - running the gamut from Erdogan’s right-wing Islamist-rooted AK Party to the left-of-center, pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) - came together in a rare show of unity to condemn the attempted coup.

 A Turkish military commander also said fighter jets had shot down a helicopter used by the coup plotters over Ankara.

 Momentum turned against the coup plotters as the night wore on. Crowds defied orders to stay indoors, gathering at major squares in Istanbul and Ankara, waving flags and chanting.

 “We have a prime minister, we have a chief of command, we’re not going to leave this country to degenerates,” shouted one man, as groups of government supporters climbed onto a tank near Ataturk airport.

 Kerry said he had phoned the Turkish foreign minister and underlined “absolute support for Turkey’s democratically elected, civilian government and democratic institutions”.

 FLIGHTS RESUME

 Flag carrier Turkish Airlines resumed flights on Saturday, though some foreign carriers canceled weekend flights.

 At the height of the action, rebel soldiers took control of TRT state television, which announced a countrywide curfew and martial law. An announcer read a statement on the orders of the pro-coup faction that accused the government of eroding the democratic and secular rule of law. Turkey would be run by a “peace council” that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said.

 Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war and hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees. It was a departure point last year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two.

 Slideshow (28 Images)

 Turkey has suffered numerous bombings and shootings this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Ataturk airport that killed more than 40 people, as well as those staged by Kurdish militants.

 After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers. ||||| U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures while speaking to the media during his and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov news conference following their long talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July... (Associated Press)

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures while speaking to the media during his and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov news conference following their long talks in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 15, 2016. Lavrov and other Russian officials have called on their countrymen in Turkey to stay indoors... (Associated Press)

 LUXEMBOURG (AP) — The Obama administration would entertain an extradition request for the U.S.-based cleric that Turkey's president is blaming for a failed coup attempt, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday.

 But he said Turkey's government would have to prove Fethullah Gulen's wrongdoing.

 Visiting Luxembourg, Kerry said Turkey hasn't yet requested that the United States send home Gulen, who left Turkey in 1999.

 Gulen has harshly condemned the attempted coup attempt by military officers that resulted in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left dozens dead. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is blaming the chaos on the cleric, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania and promotes a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.

 Erdogan has long accused Gulen, a former ally, of trying to overthrow the government. Washington has never found any evidence particularly compelling previously.

 "We haven't received any request with respect to Mr. Gulen," Kerry told reporters. "We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen. And obviously we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny. And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately."

 "I'm confident there will be some discussion about that," Kerry added.

 President Barack Obama on Friday urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically elected government in Turkey, a key NATO ally.

 In a statement issued after a meeting with his national security advisers Obama also urged those in Turkey to show restraint and avoid violence or bloodshed. Obama was to be briefed on the situation Saturday by his national security and foreign policy advisers.

 Gulen is understood to maintain significant support among some members of the military and mid-level bureaucrats. His movement called Hizmet includes think tanks, schools and various media enterprises. Gulen and Erdogan only became estranged in recent years.

 In a statement, Gulen said he condemned, "in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey."

 "Government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force," he said. "I pray to God for Turkey, for Turkish citizens, and for all those currently in Turkey that this situation is resolved peacefully and quickly."

 Gulen sharply rejected any responsibility: "As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations."

 Reiterating American support for Erdogan's government, Kerry said the U.S. opposed any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected leader. He said a change of government should only come through a legal, constitutional process.

 Kerry also said that U.S. military cooperation with its NATO ally has been unaffected by the turmoil. Turkey plays a key role in U.S.-led efforts against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

 "All of that continues as before," Kerry said.

 He said the U.S. had no prior indication of the coup attempt, which came as Erdogan was on vacation.

 It appears not to have been backed by the most senior ranks of the military, and Turkey's main opposition parties quickly condemned the attempted overthrow of the government. Prime Minister Benali Yildirim said 161 people were killed and 1,440 wounded in the overnight violence. He said 2,839 plotters were detained.

 "If you're planning a coup you don't exactly advertise to your partners in NATO," Kerry said. "So it surprised everyone. It does not appear to be a very brilliantly planned or executed event."

 Turkey plays a key role in U.S.-led efforts against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. ||||| Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. Turkey's prime minister says a group within... (Associated Press)

 Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square, early Saturday, July 16, 2016. Turkey's prime minister says a group within Turkey's military has engaged in what appeared to be an attempted coup. Binali Yildirim told NTV television:... (Associated Press)

 ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the attempted military coup in Turkey (all times local):

 5:20 p.m.

 Hundreds of people waving Turkish flags have gathered outside of the parliament in Ankara to protest the coup attempt as legislators prepare to hold an emergency session.

 In an unprecedented show of unity, all four parties represented in parliament are expected to issue a joint declaration Saturday condemning the attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

 The extraordinary session began with a minute of silence in honor of those who lost their lives during the coup, followed by the singing of the national anthem. Officials say 161 civilians or pro-government security forces were killed during the coup, along with an undetermined number of coup plotters.

 ___

 4:55 p.m.

 A U.S. defense official says that the Turkish government had closed the airspace around Incirlik air base for a few hours, but it has reopened. U.S. aircraft that were on missions could return to the base but could not take off until the base reopened.

 The U.S. has Air Force A-10 attack planes based there for close air support missions over Syria and Iraq. The defense official, in Kabul, was not authorized to discuss the Incirlik situation by name.

 Also, electric power at Incirlik has been interrupted. The reason is not clear.

 — By Robert Burns, AP National Security Writer

 ___

 4:45 p.m.

 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States would entertain an extradition request for exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey's president blames for a failed coup.

 But Kerry adds Turkey's government would have to present evidence of Gulen's wrongdoing that withstands scrutiny.

 While visiting Luxembourg, Kerry says Turkey hasn't made a request to extradite the Pennsylvania-based Gulen. But he says he anticipates questions about Gulen, who has condemned the coup attempt.

 Kerry says on Saturday the U.S. opposed any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected leader. He says change must come through a constitutional process.

 ___

 4:20 p.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says authorities have detained 10 members of Turkey's highest administrative court as the government appeared to press ahead with a purge of judiciary officials with alleged links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric.

 The Anadolu Agency said Saturday that arrest warrants were issued for 48 administrative court members and 140 members of Turkey's appeals court. Earlier, Anadolu said a body overseeing judges and prosecutors in Turkey has dismissed 2,745 judges across Turkey.

 ___

 4:00 p.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says five warships which reportedly set sail during the attempted coup have returned to their military port in northwest Turkey. The Anadolu Agency says Saturday the five frigates and one corvette arrived at the military naval installation at Golcuk on Saturday. The report said it was not clear whether Navy Fleet Commander Admiral Veysel Kosele, whose whereabouts were not known, was aboard one of the ships.

 ___

 3:45 p.m.

 The Greek government says a Turkish Blackhawk helicopter will be returned to Turkey "as soon as possible" but it will examine the asylum demand made by eight military personnel who were arrested after landing Saturday.

 Spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili says: "The government is in contact with the Turkish authorities for...the return of the military helicopter as soon as possible."

 As for the eight military passengers, "we will follow the procedures of international law. However, we give very serious considerations to the fact that (the Turkish military men) are accused, in their country, of violating the constitutional order and trying to overthrow democracy," she added.

 Greek police say that the eight arrested Turks include two majors, four captains and two sergeants first class. This differs from Turkish sources that said they were two majors, a captain sand five privates.

 ___

 3:35 p.m.

 NTV television has shown footage of a Turkish colonel and other soldiers being taken into custody at military headquarters.

 The video shows them being hand-searched by special forces police, their hands behind their heads. Some are later seen kneeling on the ground, their hands still held behind their heads.

 According to Hurriyet newspaper's online edition, some of the privates who were detained told interrogators they were not aware that they were part of a coup attempt. They had been told by commanders they were taking part in military maneuvers. Some said they understood that it was a coup attempt when they saw civilians climb on tanks.

 ___

 3:15 p.m.

 Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency says all soldiers involved in the attempted coup at the military headquarters in the capital, Ankara, have been taken into custody.

 The report says anti-terrorism police will now conduct a "detailed search" at the headquarters.

 ___

 3:10 p.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says a top body overseeing judges and prosecutors has dismissed 2,745 judges across the country.

 Anadolu Agency says the emergency meeting of the Judges and Prosecutors High Council was held Saturday, hours after Turkish forces quashed an attempted coup.

 The report said the meeting was called to discuss disciplinary measures against members suspected of links to the movement led by the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. The government says the attempted coup was carried out by a clique within the military loyal to Gulen's movement.

 ___

 2:55 p.m.

 Leaders of Turkey's religious communities have released a joint statement condemning the attempted coup.

 The statement from representatives of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities declares "our great sorrow over the terrorist attacks that disturb the peace of our great nation and of the world."

 The signatories include the president of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs, Istanbul Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos and the Chief rabbi of Turkey's Jewish community.

 ___

 2:45 p.m.

 Italy's foreign minister says his Turkish counterpart has defined the coup attempt in Turkey as "terroristic."

 The Italian foreign ministry says in a statement Saturday that Minister Paolo Gentiloni spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

 The statement said the Turkish minister, who spoke from the capital, Ankara, confirmed the "failure of the attempt that he termed terroristic."

 The statement also said the Italian foreign minister expressed "satisfaction that popular mobilization and defense of the institutions prevailed" in Turkey.

 ___

 2:30 p.m.

 Turkey's Dogan news agency is reporting that two majors, a captain and five privates have requested asylum in Greece after landing in a military helicopter.

 Greece's defense ministry has said a Blackhawk helicopter carrying seven Turkish military personnel and one civilian landed in the city of Alexandroupolis earlier Saturday.

 The passengers asked for asylum and were arrested for illegal entry into Greece.

 The state-run Anadolu Agency has quoted Turkey's foreign minister as demanding "the immediate return of the eight treacherous officers."

 ___

 1:55 p.m.

 NATO's chief says all alliance personnel and military units in Turkey are "safe and secure" following the attempted coup.

 Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said Saturday he had spoken to NATO's supreme commander, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scapparrotti.

 "He confirms that all NATO personnel and units in Turkey are safe and secure," Stoltenberg said in a post on Twitter.

 The alliance chief also tweeted that he welcomed "the strong support shown by the people and all political parties to democracy and to the democratically elected gov of Turkey."

 ___

 1:35 p.m.

 Gaza's Hamas rulers have congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for quashing an attempted military coup.

 The Islamic militant group condemned the attempt as a "vicious" plot to overthrow Erdogan.

 The Turkish leader has been a staunch supporter of Hamas and a fierce critic of Israel. Hamas supporters took to the streets in several places across the Gaza Strip to celebrate the coup's failure, raising Turkish flags and posters bearing Erdogan's image.

 Turkey recently restored ties with Israel after a six-year lull following a deadly Israeli naval raid to stop an activist flotilla aiming to breach the Gaza blockade.

 ___

 1:30 p.m.

 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Turkey has demanded the extradition of officers who went to Greece, NTV television reports.

 Greece's defense ministry says seven military personnel and one civilian have landed there in a Blackhawk military helicopter and asked for asylum. They were arrested for illegal entry.

 Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quotes Cavusoglu as saying that "we have demanded the immediate return of the eight treacherous officers who fled to Greece by helicopter."

 ___

 1:15 p.m.

 Greece's defense ministry says a Blackhawk military helicopter carrying seven Turkish military personnel and one civilian has landed at the airport in the city of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece.

 The passengers have asked for asylum. They were arrested for illegal entry into Greece.

 The ministry says the helicopter gave a distress signal at 10:45 a.m. local time and landed six minutes later.

 ___

 1:05 p.m.

 The Turkish Cypriot leader says commanders of Turkish troops deployed in the breakaway north of ethnically divided Cyprus remain loyal to Turkey's military command and that the coup attempt has "no effect" on the Mediterranean island.

 Mustafa Akinci told Turkish Cypriot broadcaster BRT on Saturday that authorities "have taken a variety of precautionary measures to prevent provocations" in the north and that military commanders "are carrying out their duties within the chain of command."

 Akinci says problems can only be resolved through democratic means.

 Turkey maintains more than 35,000 troops in the north of Cyprus since 1974, when the island was split after Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

 ___

 1 p.m.

 The head of the Turkish community in Germany is condemning the coup attempt in his homeland but says the government should take it as an opportunity to open dialogue with opponents.

 Gokay Sofuoglu was quoted Saturday by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper as saying it was significant that "all parties, even though they usually argue, unanimously rejected the coup."

 "The government would be well-advised to see this as a chance to talk with others," Sofuoglu said. "Because the parties have not talked with one another for a long time."

 Germany is home to about 3 million Turks or people of Turkish origin, and thousands took to the streets in Berlin and elsewhere late Friday to protest the coup.

 Meanwhile, countries are condemning the coup and expressing support for Turkey's government, including Afghanistan, Albania and Kosovo.

 ___

 12:35 p.m.

 Turkish Prime Minister Benali Yildirim says 161 people were killed in the country's overnight military coup attempt. He says another more than 1,400 people were wounded in the chaos. More than 2,800 people have been detained.

 He described the night as a "dark stain for Turkish democracy" and pinned blame for the coup on the "parallel terrorist organization."

 That term is used by authorities to describe the movement of U.S.-based Islamist cleric Fethullah Gulen.

 "They will receive every punishment they deserve," the prime minister said, noting the perpetrators were now in the hands of the justice system.

 ___

 12:30 p.m.

 Georgia has ordered its border with Turkey closed amid the instability from a military coup attempt.

 Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the country's security council on Saturday discussed "threats that might arise to Georgia" from the situation and said both land and air borders had been closed.

 The former Soviet republic shares a 252-kilometer (152-mile) border with Turkey.

 ___

 12:25 p.m.

 Turkey's Anadolu Agency reports that authorities have issued an alarm to border gates and airports upon being informed that prominent members of the Gulen Movement, including journalists, might flee the country following the overnight attempted military coup.

 The report says authorities discovered the plans after lists were found detailing the commanders and their deputies to be put in charge during the period of martial law if the coup had succeeded.

 Turkey's acting chief of the general staff, Gen. Umit Dundar, said Saturday that the military is determined to purge members of the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania, from the ranks.

 ___

 12:10 p.m.

 Countries are lining up to condemn the overnight military coup attempt in Turkey.

 Spain's acting foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, tells Spanish national television that his government completely supports the Turkish government headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 He says "we condemn all coups without reservation."

 And the Gulf nation of Qatar, which has close ties to Erdogan's government, said it supports all legal measures Turkey's government takes to maintain security and stability.

 The official Qatar News Agency reported Saturday that the ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has spoken with Erdogan by phone to express Qatar's support.

 ___

 11:55 a.m.

 Turkey's Anadolu Agency is reporting that soldiers who have taken over the Chief of General Staff Headquarters as part of an attempted coup have requested negotiations to surrender.

 According to a Turkish official at the presidency, that is the last base the coup supporters hold.

 Turkey has announced that more than 1,500 soldiers have been arrested in the coup attempt overnight.

 ___

 11:50 a.m.

 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is condemning the coup attempt in Turkey, calling on all parties to respect democratic order and avoid further bloodshed.

 Steinmeier said in a statement Saturday that Germany is "deeply concerned" about the developments overnight.

 He says he condemns "any attempts to change the democratic order in Turkey by force."

 ___

 11:45 a.m.

 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he has spoken to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to underline support for Turkey's "democratic elected government and institutions" after an overnight coup attempt.

 The Foreign Office is advising Britons in Turkey to "stay indoors, avoid public places, in particular demonstrations, and remain vigilant."

 It says "the situation now appears quieter in Istanbul, and the bridges across the Bosphorus are reopening. But there are reports of tank fire and small arms fire in Ankara."

 British Airways says it is canceling all flights to and from Turkey on Saturday, but budget airline easyJet says it plans to run its scheduled flights, largely to Turkish resort towns.

 ___

 11:30 a.m.

 Turkey's acting chief of the general staff says 1,563 soldiers have been arrested in the attempted military coup overnight.

 The newly appointed Gen. Umit Dundar says those who took part in the betrayal will not go unpunished.

 He says those who "sided with democracy and the rule of law" thwarted the attempt.

 Dundar says Turkey's military is determined to purge members of the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania, from the ranks.

 "Our people should have no concern, that the era of coups and juntas have come to a close, never to be opened again," Dundar says.

 ___

 11:20

 Gen. Umit Dundar, the newly appointed acting chief of the general staff, said more than 190 people died in clashes: 41 police officers, two soldiers, 47 civilians and 104 people described as "coup plotters."

 Dundar said officers from the Air Force, the military police and the armored units were mainly involved in the attempt.

 ___

 10:45 a.m.

 Iran says the attempted military coup in Turkey was "doomed to fail."

 Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as praising the "brave defense by the people of Turkey of their democracy and elected government."

 Zarif said the events in neighboring Turkey prove "that coup d'etat has no place and is doomed to fail in our region."

 And Pakistan has condemned the coup attempt, with an aide to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying in a statement that Pakistan "hopes that peace and normalcy will be restored."

 Pakistan's main political parties have also praised the people of Turkey for foiling the coup.

 ___

 10:35 a.m.

 The exiled Syrian opposition has congratulated the Turkish people for halting an attempted military coup.

 The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition says in a statement that Turkey has protected its democratic institutions "in the face of dark and desperate attempts that sought to take control of the popular will."

 It says the Turkish people value democracy and "will not let a group of putschists take it away in a desperate attempt to restore military rule."

 Turkey has been one of the main backers of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad and is hosting some 2.7 million Syrian refugees.

 ___

 10:05 a.m.

 Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is seeking to contact his Turkish counterpart Saturday morning from Kabul, Afghanistan.

 That's according to Dunford's spokesman, Navy Capt. Gregory Hicks.

 Dunford is in Afghanistan to meet with U.S. and Afghan troops and commanders. He compressed his schedule Saturday in order to be available for consultations with Washington about the situation in Turkey, which has troops in Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led coalition.

 ___

 10 a.m.

 Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency has raised the number of dead in the attempted coup to some 90 with 1,154 wounded.

 ___

 9:45 a.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says some 200 unarmed soldiers have left Turkey's military headquarters in the capital Ankara and have surrendered to police.

 It isn't immediately clear if those 200 are among 1,563 military personnel who have been reported detained across Turkey as the government cracks down on the attempted coup.

 At least 60 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in violence.

 ___

 9:40 a.m.

 A senior Turkish official says a total of 1,563 military personnel have been detained across Turkey as the government cracks down on the attempted coup.

 The official says most of those arrested lower ranks.

 The official was communicating with the media on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

 ___

 8:35 a.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says military chief of staff Gen. Hulusi Akar has been rescued in an operation launched at an air base in the outskirts of Ankara.

 Anadolu Agency says the general is being taken to a safe location.

 Broadcaster CNN-Turk said that Akar was taken hostage at military headquarters in Ankara and transported by helicopter to Akincilar Air Base.

 CNN-Turk says Akar would now take over the command of the operation against the coup plotters.

 ___

 8:20 a.m.

 Turkey's Police Chief Celalettin Lekesiz says 16 coup plotters have been killed in clashes at Turkey's military police command.

 In comments carried by the state-run Anadolu Agency Saturday, Lekesiz says 250 others have been arrested. He says clashes at the command are continuing but "are about to come to an end."

 The report says Gen. Memduh Hakbilen, the chief of staff of Turkey's command for the Aegean region, is among those arrested.

 ___

 7:45 a.m.

 State-run Anadolu Agency is reporting 754 members of the armed forces have been detained across Turkey in the wake of the attempted coup.

 Anadolu says that at the Etimesgut armored units training command, in the outskirts of Ankara, some soldiers who took part in the coup attempt were arrested by fellow officers or soldiers and handed over to police.

 Even as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the coup is being crushed and arrests made, it is not clear who is in control of military headquarters in Ankara. Erdogan has not left the Istanbul airport as dawn broke Saturday.

 ___

 7:15 a.m.

 An official in the president's office says at least 60 people have been killed in the attempted coup.

 The official also says 336 people, most of them soldiers, have been arrested across Turkey. Most of the dead are civilians.

 The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

 Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency, says security forces have "achieved results in many places" and defeated coup plotters. That includes the National Intelligence Agency, police and government buildings.

 He says: "There is nowhere they have they have proper control. God willing they will be defeated in the remaining areas and those in the air will be brought down."

 ___

 7 a.m.

 CNN-Turk is quoting Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as saying that commander of Turkey's 1st Army, Gen. Umit Dundar, has been appointed acting chief of military staff.

 Earlier President Erdogan said he had no information concerning Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, who was reportedly taken hostage at the military headquarters by coup plotters.

 ___

 6:50 a.m.

 CNN-Turk is showing images of dozens of soldiers giving themselves up to government forces on Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge.

 They're walking among tanks with their hands held up.

 ___

 6:45 a.m.

 Turkey's state-run news agency says a military helicopter used by coup plotters has been shot down.

 The Anadolu Agency says Saturday the helicopter was brought down in the Golbasi district, in the outskirts of Ankara.

 The report says the helicopter was used to attack Turkey's satellite station Turksat.

 ___

 6:40 a.m.

 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has addressed thousands of flag-waving supporters outside Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and tells them he is charge and coup won't succeed.

 Erdogan says: "They have pointed the people's guns against the people. The president, whom 52 percent of the people brought to power, is in charge. This government brought to power by the people, is in charge. They won't succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything."

 ___

 6:30 a.m.

 European Council President Donald Tusk says the EU fully supports Turkey's democratically elected government, in the wake of the attempted coup that left scores dead and wounded.

 Speaking in Mongolia at the Asia-Europe summit meeting, Tusk says "Turkey is a key partner for the European Union. The EU fully supports the democratically elected government, the institutions of the country and the rule of law."

 He also called for a swift return to Turkey's constitutional order.

 ___

 6:10 a.m.

 Turkish broadcaster CNN-Turk is back on air after police apparently entered the building and arrested soldiers who had taken it over. CNN-Turk showed police taking away a soldier with his hands bound behind his back with wire.

 The station also showed the moment five soldiers, who appeared to be conscripts, enter the building brandishing machine guns and telling employees to vacate the building.

 ___

 5:50 a.m.

 State-run Anadolu Agency says Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has called all legislators for an emergency meeting on Saturday.

 Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman earlier said that a bomb hit one corner of a public relations building inside the parliament complex, injuring some police officers.

 He said there were no fatalities and that all legislators were safe at a parliamentary shelter.

 Troops loyal to the government are moving to crush the coup attempt, arresting some 130 anti-government forces. A helicopter was flying over the area where the parliament is located and shots were being fired.

 A source at the presidency told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that 13 military officers who had earlier tried to forcibly enter the presidential palace were among those arrested.

 ___

 5:30 a.m.

 NTV television is quoting the prosecutor's office in Ankara saying at least 42 people have been killed in "attacks" in the capital.

 According to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the number of soldiers who were arrested in the coup plot has increased to 130.

 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier said that the coup plot will fail.

 ___

 5:10 a.m.

 Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, says more than 120 people have been arrested in a coup plot.

 He says: "Things are getting better every minute."

 Yildirim called on people to remain in the streets to support the government against coup plotters and appealed for patience.

 He says a few air force planes flown by coup plotters still remain in the air. He has earlier ordered those aircraft shot down.

 ___

 5 a.m.

 A lawyer for the Turkish government says "there are indications of direct involvement" in the coup attempt of a cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania.

 Robert Amsterdam said in a statement Friday evening that he and his firm "have attempted repeatedly to warn the U.S. government of the threat posed" by Fethullah Gulen and his movement.

 He says that according to Turkish intelligence sources, "there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government."

 The president of a group that promotes Gulen's ideas denied the charges.

 Y. Alp Aslandogan of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values tells The Associated Press "we categorically deny such accusations and find them to be highly irresponsible."

 Earlier in the evening, the alliance said, "we condemn any military intervention in (the) domestic politics of Turkey."

 ___

 4:40 a.m.

 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his general secretary was abducted by coup makers and there is no information on the chief of the military staff.

 Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, speaking on NTV, says he has ordered the "annihilitation" of military planes used by coup plotters. He says military jets have taken off from an air base in Eskisehir, east of Ankara.

 According to transcripts of the president's remarks provided by his office, Erdogan said that he arrived in Istanbul from the holiday resort of Marmaris, which was also been bombed after he left there.

 He says: "Those who drive around in tanks will have to go back to where they came from. ... The most important thing right now is that millions of Turkish citizens are on the streets at 4.30 a.m."

 He says coup makers "are a minority within the military."

 According to Erdogan, "Turkey has a democratically elected government and president. We are in charge and we will continue exercising our powers until the end. We will not abandon our country to these invaders. It will end well." |||||

– After a military coup attempt that now appears to be firmly quashed, the Turkish government is focusing its wrath on Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. The town is home to Fethullah Gulen, an influential cleric who leads a popular movement called Hizmet, and President Recep Tayyib Erdogan blames his followers for the coup attempt that left at least 161 dead in overnight clashes, the New York Times reports. "I have a message for Pennsylvania: You have engaged in enough treason against this nation," Erdogan said early Saturday. "If you dare, come back to your country." Gulen, a moderate Muslim cleric who has lived in the US since 1999, was Erdogan's ally until 2013, when the leader blamed him for corruption allegations. In other coverage: Vox has more on the Gulenist movement, which runs a large network of schools and supports interfaith dialogue, secular democracy, science, and a progressive stance on social issues. Gulen says he condemns the coup attempt "in the strongest terms." The AP reports that John Kerry says the US would consider an extradition request for Gulen, though nothing has been received yet and firm evidence would be required. "We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen," Kerry told reporters. "And obviously we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny." The New York Times looks at how the fallout from the coup will make the region's politics even more complicated for the US and Europe, which saw Erdogan's government as a stable and reliable ally. "The danger here is this could spiral out of control and turn into a full-blown civil war," says former US Ambassador to Turkey Eric S. Edelman. CNN reports on how many civilian supporters of Erdogan stood up to the coup attempt, in some cases blocking military vehicles with their cars and even lying down in front of tanks. Almost 3,000 military service members have been arrested and almost the same number of judges have been removed from their duties in what appears to be a nationwide purge of Gulen supporters, the Guardian reports. Reuters reports that Erdogan, who had been vacationing on the country's southeast coast, addressed thousands of supporters after flying into Ankara's airport early Saturday. " This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army," he said. Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says 161 people were killed and 1,440 were injured in the coup attempt, but a government source tells the AP that the figures exclude coup plotters, meaning the true toll could be much higher. Greece says it will return a Blackhawk helicopter flown to the country from Turkey, but it will examine the asylum claims made by the eight military members on board, including two majors, the AP reports.


Write an article based on this summary:

– New research into the amount of time that infants in various countries spend crying found that the littlest ones in usually placid Canada were the most colicky. British babies came in second, followed by Italy. The most tranquil tots, meanwhile, live in Denmark and Germany. Writing in the Journal of Pediatrics, psychologists at the University of Warwick analyzed 28 previous studies of some 8,700 infants to measure colic—a harmless, if nerve-jangling, condition—by gauging crying times during the first 12 weeks. The longest crying jags were clocked in Canada, reports the Guardian, where 34.1% of babies wailed more than three hours a day, at least three days a week. In the UK, the tally was 28% and in Italy 20.9%. Relatively blissful Danish babes scored 5.5%, with Germany at 6.7%. The first-of-its kind analysis found that babies the world over cry around two hours a day for the first weeks, peaking at two hours and 15 minutes at six weeks. Happily for stressed-out new parents everywhere, crying time is halved by week 12, per a press release. Lead researcher Dieter Wolke says parents in countries with low colic scores are less likely to intervene when baby starts crying, allowing the infant to self-soothe. "They don’t get all worried about it," Wolke tells the Telegraph. Then again, he notes, Danish babies may enjoy a bit of "genetic bias" since their country consistently ranks at the top of wellness surveys. In any case, new parents should learn to chill. "If you are not relaxed you are not going to be any use to your baby," Wolke says. (Crying saved this baby's life.)

Babies cry more in Britain, Canada, Italy and Netherlands than in other countries – proved for first time by new research by the University of Warwick.

 Psychologists have created world’s first universal charts for normal amount of crying in babies during first three months

 in babies during first three months On average, babies around the world cry for around 2 hours per day in first two weeks, peak at 2 hours 15 mins at six weeks - and crying reduces to 1 hour 10 minutes by week twelve

 In Denmark, Germany and Japan, parents deal with the least amount of crying and fussing

 Babies cry more in Britain, Canada and Italy, than the rest of the world – according to new research by the University of Warwick.

 Professor Dieter Wolke in the Department of Psychology and the Warwick Medical School has formulated the world’s first universal charts for the normal amount of crying in babies during the first three months.

 In a meta-analysis of studies involving almost 8700 infants – in countries including Germany, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK – Professor Wolke calculated the average of how long babies fuss and cry per twenty-four hours across different cultures in their first twelve weeks.

 On average, it was found that babies cry for around two hours per day in the first two weeks. Crying generally peaks at around two hours fifteen minutes per day at six weeks – and reduces gradually to an average of 1 hour 10 minutes by the twelve week mark.

 However, some infants were found to cry as little as 30 minutes - and others over 5 hours - in twenty-four hours.

 Babies cry the most in the UK, Italy, Canada, and the Netherlands – and the lowest levels of crying were found in Denmark, Germany and Japan.

 The highest levels of colic – defined as crying more than 3 hours a day for at least 3 days a week in a baby– were found in the UK (28% of infants at 1-2 weeks), Canada (34.1% at 3-4 weeks of age) and Italy (20.9% at 8-9 weeks of age).

 In contrast, lowest colic rates were reported in Denmark (5.5% at 3-4 weeks) and Germany (6.7% at 3-4 weeks).

 The current definitions for determining whether a baby is crying too much and suffering from colic, are the Wessel criteria, which were formulated in the 1950s.

 As childcare and the family unit has largely transformed over the last half century and across different cultures, new universal guidelines were needed for modern parents and health professionals to assess normal and excessive levels of crying in babies.

 Professor Wolke comments on what the research will lead to:

 “Babies are already very different in how much they cry in the first weeks of life – there are large but normal variations. We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying and whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics.

 “The new chart of normal fuss/cry amounts in babies across industrialised countries will help health professionals to reassure parents whether a baby is crying within the normal expected range in the first 3 months or shows excessive crying which may require further evaluation and extra support for the parents.”

 The research, ‘Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Fussing and Crying Durations and Colic Prevalence in Infants’ is published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

 3 April 2017 ||||| Professor Dieter Wolke, who led the research, said: “German and Danish parents are much less likely to get worked up and they will wait a little bit before they intervene to see if the baby can self-sooth.

 “They don’t get all worried about it.”

 Across all the countries examined for the survey, babies cried for an average of two hours per day in the first two weeks after birth.

 Crying peaked at about two hours and 15 minutes each day at six weeks of age, before gradually reducing to an average of one hour and 10 minutes.

 Previous research has indicated that around 40 per cent of infant crying is inconsolable, and Professor Wolke said many new mothers and fathers are unduly stressed by some “unscientific” parenting books which offer bogus solutions.

 Concern in Britain over crying babies costed the NHS an estimated £70 million each year, he said, with stressed-out parents less more likely to reinforce a pattern of crying.

 “It’s the same principal as going on a plane,” he said.

 “You are told to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others.

 “If you are not relaxed you are not going to be any use to your baby.”

 But he added that adult well-being surveys consistently put Denmark as one of the happiest countries in the world and that Danish babies may enjoy some “genetic bias” whereby they cry less.

 “The new chart of normal fuss/cry amounts in babies across industrialised countries will help health care professions to reassure parents whether a baby is crying within the normal expected range in the first three months or shows excessive crying which may require further evaluation and extra support for the parents,” he said. |||||


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Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Well here it is, all 2,232 budget-busting pages. The House already started votes on it. The Senate is expected to soon. No one has read it. Congress is broken...pic.twitter.com/izvJlUEgUM ||||| House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speak to reporters about the massive government spending bill moving through Congress, on Capitol Hill in... (Associated Press)

 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speak to reporters about the massive government spending bill moving through Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 22, 2018. The bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending bill pours huge sums into... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress gave final approval Friday to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late obstacles skirted close to another shutdown as conservatives objected to big outlays on Democratic priorities at a time when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.

 Senate passage shortly after midnight averted a third federal shutdown this year, an outcome both parties wanted to avoid. But in crafting a sweeping deal that busts budget caps, they've stirred conservative opposition and set the contours for the next funding fight ahead of the midterm elections.

 The House easily approved the measure Thursday, 256-167, a bipartisan tally that underscored the popularity of the compromise, which funds the government through September. It beefs up military and domestic programs, delivering federal funds to every corner of the country.

 But action stalled in the Senate, as conservatives ran the clock in protest. Then, an unusual glitch arose when Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, wanted to remove a provision to rename a forest in his home state after the late Cecil Andrus, a four-term Democratic governor.

 At one point, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., stepped forward to declare the entire late-night scene "ridiculous. It's juvenile."

 Once the opponents relented, the Senate began voting, clearing the package by a 65-32 vote a full day before Friday's midnight deadline to fund the government.

 "Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses - and parties," tweeted Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who spent the afternoon tweeting details found in the 2,200-page bill that was released the night before. "No one has read it. Congress is broken."

 Paul said later he knew he could only delay, but not stop, the outcome and had made his point.

 The omnibus spending bill was supposed to be an antidote to the stopgap measures Congress has been forced to pass — five in this fiscal year alone — to keep government temporarily running amid partisan fiscal disputes.

 Leaders delivered on President Donald Trump's top priorities of boosting Pentagon coffers and starting work his promised border wall, while compromising with Democrats on funds for road building, child care development, fighting the opioid crisis and more.

 But the result has been unimaginable to many Republicans after campaigning on spending restraints and balanced budgets. Along with the recent GOP tax cuts law, the bill that stood a foot tall at some lawmakers' desks ushers in the return of $1 trillion deficits.

 Trump only reluctantly backed the bill he would have to sign, according to Republican lawmakers and aides, who acknowledged the deal involved necessary trade-offs for the Democratic votes that were needed for passage despite their majority lock on Congress.

 "Obviously he doesn't like this process — it's dangerous to put it up to the 11th hour like this," said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who opposes the bill and speaks regularly to Trump. "The president, and our leadership, and the leadership in the House got together and said, Look, we don't like what the Democrats are doing, we got to fund the government."

 White House legislative director Marc Short framed it as a compromise. "I can't sit here and tell you and your viewers that we love everything in the bill," he said on Fox. "But we think that we got many of our priorities funded."

 Trying to smooth over differences, Republican leaders focused on military increases that were once core to the party's brand as guardians of national security.

 "Vote yes for our military. Vote yes for the safety and the security of this country," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., ahead of voting.

 But even that remained a hard sell. In all, 90 House Republicans, including many from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, voted against the bill, as did two dozen Republicans in the Senate.

 It was a sign of the entrenched GOP divisions that have made leadership's job controlling the majority difficult. They will likely repeat on the next budget battle in fall.

 Democrats faced their own divisions, particularly after failing to resolve the stalemate over shielding young Dreamer immigrants from deportation as Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has left it for the courts to decide.

 Instead, Trump won $1.6 billion to begin building and replacing segments of the wall along the border with Mexico. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus opposed the bill.

 Also missing from the package was a renewal of federal insurance subsidies to curb premium costs on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Trump ended some of those payments as part of his effort to scuttle President Barack Obama's health care law, but Republicans have joined Democrats in trying to revive them.

 Bipartisan efforts to restore the subsidies, and provide additional help for insurance carriers, foundered over disagreements on how tight abortion restrictions should be on using the money for private insurance plans. Senate Republicans made a last-ditch effort to tuck the insurance provisions into the bill, but Democrats refused to yield on abortion restrictions.

 Still, Democrats were beyond pleased with the outcome. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chronicled the party's many gains, and noted they could have just have easily withheld votes Republicans needed to avert another shutdown.

 "We chose to use our leverage to help this bill pass," Pelosi said.

 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said as the minority party in Congress, "We feel good." He added, "We produced a darn good bill."

 ___

 Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

 Follow Mascaro on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LisaMascaro and Fram at https://twitter.com/AsFram |||||
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– Congress gave final approval early Friday to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late obstacles skirted close to another shutdown as conservatives objected to big outlays on Democratic priorities at a time when Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. Senate passage shortly after midnight averted a third federal shutdown this year, an outcome both parties wanted to avoid. But in crafting a sweeping deal that busts budget caps, they've stirred conservative opposition and set the contours for the next funding fight ahead of the midterm elections, the AP reports. "Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses—and parties," tweeted Sen. Rand Paul. "No one has read it," he added of the 2,200-page bill that was released the night before. "Congress is broken." The House easily approved the measure Thursday, 256-167, a bipartisan tally that underscored the popularity of the compromise, which funds the government through September. It beefs up military and domestic programs, delivering federal funds to every corner of the country. But action stalled in the Senate as conservatives ran the clock in protest. Then, an unusual glitch arose when Sen. James Risch, an Idaho Republican, wanted to remove a provision to rename a forest in his home state after the late Cecil Andrus, a four-term Democratic governor. Once the opponents relented, the Senate began voting, clearing the package by a 65-32 vote a full day before Friday's midnight deadline to fund the government. (A deal to help "Dreamers" didn't make it into the bill.)


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These weren’t natural formations, and they weren’t the work of bears. They were built by people.

 Recognizing the site’s value, the caver brought in archaeologist Francois Rouzaud. Using carbon-dating, Rouzaud estimated that a burnt bear bone found within the chamber was 47,600 years old, which meant that the stalagmite rings were older than any known cave painting. It also meant that they couldn’t have been the work of Homo sapiens. Their builders must have been the only early humans in the south of France at the time: Neanderthals.

 The discovery suggested that Neanderthals were more sophisticated than anyone had given them credit for. They wielded fire, ventured deep underground, and shaped the subterranean rock into complex constructions. Perhaps they even carried out rituals; after all, there was no evidence that anyone actually lived in the cave, so what else were the rings and mounds for?

 Rouzaud would never know. In April 1999, while guiding colleagues through a different cave, he suffered a fatal heart attack. With his death, work on the Bruniquel Cave ceased, and its incredible contents were neglected. They’ve only now re-entered the limelight because Sophie Verheyden went on holiday.

 A life-long caver, Verheyden works at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, where she specializes in stalagmites. She treats them as time capsules, using the chemicals within them to reconstruct the climate of past millennia. So when she learned about Bruniquel Cave, while visiting the region on holiday and seeing a display at a nearby castle, she had only one thought: Why hadn’t anyone dated the broken stalagmites themselves?”

 She knew that Rouzaud’s date of 47,600 years was impressive but suspect. Carbon-dating is only accurate for samples younger than 50,000 years, so the Bruniquel material was hitting the technique’s limits. They could well have been much older. To get a better estimate, Verheyden assembled a team including archaeologist Jacques Jaubert and fellow stalagmite expert Dominique Genty. In 2013, they got permission to study the site and crawled into it themselves. “I’m not very big, and I had to put one arm before me and one behind to get through,” says Verheyden. “It’s kind of magical, even without the structures.”

 After drilling into the stalagmites and pulling out cylinders of rock, the team could see an obvious transition between two layers. On one side were old minerals that were part of the original stalagmites; on the other were newer layers that had been laid down after the fragments were broken off by the cave’s former users. By measuring uranium levels on either side of the divide, the team could accurately tell when each stalagmite had been snapped off for construction.

 Their date? 176,500 years ago, give or take a few millennia.

 “When I announced the age to Jacques, he asked me to repeat it because it was so incredible,” says Verheyden. Outside Bruniquel Cave, the earliest, unambiguous human constructions are just 20,000 years old. Most of these are ruins—collapsed collections of mammoth bones and deer antlers. By comparison, the Bruniquel stalagmite rings are well-preserved and far more ancient. ||||| BERLIN (AP) — Two mysterious stone rings found deep inside a French cave were probably built by Neanderthals about 176,500 years ago, proving that the ancient cousins of humans were capable of more complex behavior than previously thought, scientists say.

 The structures were made from hundreds of pillar-shaped mineral deposits, called stalagmites, which were chopped to a similar length and laid out in two oval patterns up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) inches high. They were discovered by chance in 1990, after remaining untouched for tens of thousands of years because a rockslide had closed the mouth of the cave at Bruniquel in southwest France.

 While previous research had suggested the structures pre-dated the arrival of modern humans in Europe around 45,000 years ago, the notion that Neanderthals could have made them didn't fit long-held assumptions that these early humans were incapable of the kind of complex behavior necessary to work underground.

 Using sophisticated dating techniques, a team led by archaeologist Jacques Jaubert of the University of Bordeaux, France, found that the stalagmites must have been broken off the ground around 176,500 years ago "making these edifices among the oldest known well-dated constructions made by humans."

 "Their presence at 336 meters (368 yards) from the entrance of the cave indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity," the researchers concluded in a study published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.

 Jaubert ruled out that the carefully constructed rings, which show traces of fire, could have come about by chance or been assembled by animals such as the bears and wolves whose bones were found near the entrance of the cave.

 "The origin of the structures is undeniably human. It really cannot be otherwise," he told The Associated Press.

 The Neanderthals who built them must have had a "project" to go so deep into a cave where there was no natural light, said Jaubert. They probably explored underground as a group and cooperated to build the rings, using fire to illuminate the cave, he said. "These are exceptional tours, certainly for extraordinary reasons we do not yet know."

 Paola Villa, an archaeologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder who wasn't involved in the study, said the site "provides strong evidence of the great antiquity of those elaborate structures and is an important contribution to a new understanding of the greater level of social complexities of Neanderthal societies."

 The authors said the purpose of the oval structures — measuring 16 square meters (172 sq. feet) and 2.3 square meters (25 sq. feet) — is still a matter of speculation, though they may have served some symbolic or ritual purpose.

 "A plausible explanation is that this was a common meeting place for some type of ritual social behavior," Villa suggested.

 Wil Roebroeks, a Neanderthal expert at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, noted that the structures in Bruniquel may represent only the tip of the iceberg of Neanderthal culture, but most relics would have been made of organic material and decayed long ago.

 "Bruniquel cave (shows) that circular structures were a part of Neanderthals' material culture," said Roebroeks, who called the rings "an intriguing find, which underlines that a lot of Neanderthal material culture, including their 'architecture,' simply did not survive in the open."

 Roebroeks, who also wasn't involved in the study, said the fact that similar rings haven't been found anywhere else makes it hard to test any theory about how they came to be.

 "One could even envisage that groups of Neanderthal teenagers explored this underground environment deep in the cave, as teenagers tend to do, building fires, breaking off stalagmites and gradually turning them into the structures that 175,000 years later made it into (the journal) Nature," he said.

 ___

 Follow Frank Jordans on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter |||||

– For tens of thousands of years, the secrets of France's Bruniquel Cave went unknown, its mouth closed off by a rock slide. That began to change in the late '80s, the Atlantic reports, when a boy named Bruno Kowalsczewski started clearing away what obstructed the opening; three years later, in 1990, the then-15-year-old's 100-foot path allowed local cavers entry. One caver made it more than 1,000 feet in and found something wild: two stone rings up to 16 inches high intentionally made from pieces of chopped-up stalagmites (pillar-shaped mineral deposits that stick up from the ground), probably by Neanderthals some 176,500 years ago, scientists now say. A press release notes "until now the oldest formally proven cave use dated back only 38,000 years." While previous research had suggested the structures predated the arrival of modern humans in Europe around 45,000 years ago, the AP reports the notion that Neanderthals could have made them didn't fit long-held assumptions that these early humans were incapable of the kind of complex behavior necessary to work underground. "Their presence at [1,102 feet] from the entrance of the cave indicates that humans from this period had already mastered the underground environment, which can be considered a major step in human modernity," the researchers concluded in a study published online Wednesday by the journal Nature. The authors said the purpose of the oval structures—measuring 172 square feet and 25 square feet—is still a matter of speculation, though they may have served some symbolic or ritual purpose.


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– Wells Fargo is guilty of gouging and profiteering and needs to return $203 million in overdraft fees to customers, a San Francisco judge ruled yesterday. The bank's practice of processing transactions from the largest to the smallest instead of in the order in which they occurred is clearly designed to maximize the number of overdrafts and "squeeze as much as possible" out of customers, the judge wrote in his sternly worded decision. The judge ordered the bank to change its "unfair and deceptive" practices, which in some cases caused customers to be charged 10 $35 overdraft fees for going just a few dollars over the limit, the AP reports. Wells Fargo says it is disappointed by the decision and plans to appeal. If the decision stands, it could be just the tip of a very costly iceberg for Wells Fargo, the San Francisco Chronicle notes. The $203M million only applies to California customers, and a similar class-action suit representing customers in other states will go to trial next year.

A San Francisco judge's scathing ruling ordering Wells Fargo to pay its customers $203 million for manipulating debit transactions to maximize overdraft fees might be just the start of troubles for the bank.

 U.S. District Judge William Alsup's 90-page opinion Tuesday described Wells Fargo's motive as profiteering and said the San Francisco-based bank's goal was to "maximize the number of overdrafts and squeeze as much as possible" out of customers.

 But the hefty tab represents only what Wells owes its California customers. That figure is far smaller than the potential bill from a separate suit in which Wells' clients in other states have accused the bank of the same unfair practices.

 That case, consolidated in federal court in Miami, includes similar claims against 30 other lending institutions, including Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Union Bank and U.S. Bank.

 The crux of the claims is that the banks processed debit transactions from the largest to the smallest, instead of the order in which they occurred, depleting accounts faster and boosting the number of overdrafts, which cost as much as $35 per transaction.

 Billions in overdraft fees

 Wells Fargo garnered more than $1.4 billion in overdraft fees just in California from 2005 to 2007, according to court documents. Nationwide, banks and credit unions collected almost $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

 Wells Fargo, which continues to follow the "high-low" practice that it has had in place since 1998, said it would appeal Alsup's decision. Wells representatives declined to forecast what the ruling might mean in the Florida matter, other than to say that the California order was not in line with the facts and that the bank's transactions have been "consistent with the laws and rules of governing regulatory authorities."

 "We have found that high-low gives priority to larger payments and have found that those are the customers' priority payments ... it gives priority to larger transactions," said Richele Messick, spokeswoman for Wells Fargo.

 Messick said that many transactions are received by the bank in a random order without a time stamp, and therefore, the bank needed to determine an order in which to process them.

 Effect on other case

 Richard Heimann, lead attorney for the Wells Fargo customers in California, also is representing plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit in Florida.

 Heimann said Alsup's order could affect the outcome of that case, even though the judge there is not legally bound to follow it.

 "The decision may very well be influential because it was based on a well-regarded justice's review of a full evidentiary record," Heimann said. "There's no doubt that the defendants' lawyers had been waiting to see the outcome of (the California) case and will be concerned about what it will portend for the case in Florida."

 Heimann noted that representatives from several banks named in the Florida suit sat in on the California court proceedings.

 The Florida action is not scheduled to go to trial until the fall of 2011, but its timeline is not affected by Wells Fargo's appeal of Alsup's decision.

 As part of his ruling Tuesday, Alsup also found that Wells' improper debit processing was exacerbated by the murky manner in which it explained the practice to customers.

 "In shaping the reasonable expectations of its customers, the bank should have prominently disclosed its high-to-low scheme ...," Alsup wrote. "`````````````The bank's 'disclosures' on posting order, however, were buried 20-or-so pages into a 60-plus-page document of single-spaced, ten-point font text."

 He proceeded to say that Wells' internal documents showed that the bank's practices were intentional and meant to generate profit.

 New regulations

 Alsup's decision comes just as new federal regulations are set to kick in. They will require banks to obtain customers' permission to provide overdraft protection.

 Historically, most banks have automatically provided the service, unless customers opt out. Now, customers who do not agree to the service - and its fees - won't be able to make purchases if they do not have sufficient funds.

 This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle ||||| A federal judge in California ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to change what he called "unfair and deceptive business practices" that led customers into paying multiple overdraft fees, and to pay $203 million back to customers.

 In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer bank accounts faster and drive up overdraft fees, a policy Alsup referred to as "gouging and profiteering."

 Wells Fargo adopted the policies beginning in 2001, and they became widespread across the banking industry. It is unclear how the ruling would apply to the rest of the industry.

 The ruling detailed the experiences of two Wells Fargo customers who used their debit cards for multiple small purchases, and were then charged hundreds in overdraft fees because the order the purchases were cleared by the bank depended on the amounts. The judge found the customers, who were part of a class action, were not properly informed of the bank's policies on processing payments and were unaware the bank would allow debit purchases to go through when their accounts were overdrawn.

 "Internal bank memos and e-mails leave no doubt that, overdraft revenue being a big profit center, the bank's dominant, indeed sole, motive was to maximize the number of overdrafts," Alsup wrote. That policy would "squeeze as much as possible" from customers with overdrafts, in particular from the 4 percent of customers who paid what he called "a whopping 40 percent of its total overdraft and returned-item revenue."

 The judge dismissed Wells Fargo's arguments that customers wanted and benefited from the policies, and detailed evidence he said showed efforts to obscure the practices in statements and other materials. Wells Fargo's online banking system, for example, would display pending purchases in chronological order, "leading customers to believe that the processing would take place in that order."

 "The supposed net benefit of high-to-low resequencing is utterly speculative," he wrote. "Its bone-crushing multiplication of additional overdraft penalties, however, is categorically assured."

 Alsup also criticized the bank for allowing overdraft purchases after accounts had been drained by offering a "shadow line of credit" that customers were unaware existed.

 The decision noted that the Federal Reserve has outlawed some of the practices detailed in the case, most notably debit card overdrafts permitted without customers agreeing to accept overdraft protection.

 Judge Alsup ordered Wells Fargo to stop posting transactions in high-to-low order by Nov. 30 and to reverse overdraft fees charged to customers from Nov. 15, 2004, to June 30, 2008, as a result of the policy. A study cited in the decision by a Wells Fargo witness put the restitution at "close to $203 million."

 Wells Fargo spokeswoman Richele Messick said the bank is "disappointed" with the ruling. "We don't believe the ruling is in line with the facts of this case and we plan to appeal," she said.

 Messick noted that Wells Fargo changed its policies earlier this year, and customers can no longer incur more than four overdraft charges in one day.

 Wells Fargo shares closed Wednesday trading down $1.47, or 5.3 percent, at $26.30, as the broader markets dropped sharply on economic concerns, with banks being particularly hard hit.

 The case, heard in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, is Gutierrez vs. Wells Fargo.

 (This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of spokeswoman's name to Richele sted Rochele.) |||||