Suspect surrenders

Suspect surrenders
INDIANAPOLIS -- A man suspected of gunning down seven family members in their home surrendered to police Saturday, an Indianapolis homicide detective said. More than 100 police officers searched for Desmond Turner, including unsuccessful raids at two east side houses, since shortly after the Thursday slayings. Turner, 28, grew up near the shooting and had returned last fall after being released from prison following a 3 1/2-year term for drug and weapons charges. Deputy Chief Tim Foley said investigators put pressure on people who knew Turner to ensure that they wouldn't take him in. "He didn't turn himself in out of remorse. He turned himself in because he had no place to go," he said. The victims were identified as Emma Valdez, 46; her husband, Alberto Covarrubias, 56; their sons Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 8 or 9; Valdez's daughter, Flora Albarran, 22; Albarran's 5-year-old son, Luis; and Albarran's brother Magno Albarran, 29.
Ethanol grabs attention
COON RAPIDS, Iowa -- A tractor-trailer rumbles into the Tall Corn Ethanol plant. Corn pours from openings in its belly to bins underground, where conveyor belts and buckets haul it to gleaming steel silos rising 13 stories above the Iowa plains. The 40-acre distillery turns corn into alcohol in quantities that would make a moonshiner drool. Instead of white lightnin', the brew is converted to ethanol, a fuel that makes money for farmers and is seen as a possible solution to today's high oil and gas prices. Like the other modern-day stills dotting the Midwestern landscape, the Coon Rapids plant reached capacity soon after opening. Ethanol production in the United States is growing so quickly that for the first time, farmers expect to sell as much corn this year to ethanol plants as they do overseas. "It's the most stunning development in agricultural markets today -- I can't think of anything else quite like this," says Keith Collins, the Agriculture Department's chief economist.
35 rebels killed in combat
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Backed by warplanes, U.S. and Afghan troops recaptured a town from suspected Taliban rebels in heavy fighting as violence across southern Afghanistan left at least 35 militants dead, officials said Saturday. The Afghan government, meanwhile, announced a shake-up of the country's top police commanders Saturday after the worst anti-foreigner riots in years shook the capital. Kabul's police chief will be replaced, along with 85 others across the country. U.S. and Afghan troops retook the southern town of Chori on Friday, killing up to 20 militants, said Gen. Zahir Azimi, the Defense Ministry spokesman. A U.S. military spokesman, Sgt. Chris Miller, said Afghan and U.S. troops suffered no casualties in taking Chori back.
Iran welcomes talks
TEHRAN, Iran -- A breakthrough in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program is possible, the republic's president told the U.N. chief Saturday while welcoming unconditional talks with all parties, including the United States. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech later Saturday that his government would not rush to judge an incentives package offered by Western countries to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. State television reported that Ahmadinejad spoke by phone to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and told him the crisis could be settled as long as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency preserved Tehran's right to use atomic energy. A U.S. offer for negotiations is conditioned on Iran suspending uranium enrichment -- a process that can produce both fuel for nuclear reactors that generate electricity and the material for atomic warheads -- and allowing international inspections to prove it.
Militia raises tensions
JENIN, West Bank -- The appearance Saturday of a new Fatah militia raised the stakes in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' power struggle with the anti-Israel Hamas government, nudging the rivals closer to a large-scale conflict. More than 2,000 men in black T-shirts and white headbands marched through the West Bank town of Jenin in a signal to Hamas that it has a determined rival in Abbas, who hopes to lead the Palestinians into a peace deal with Israel. The new unit, which Fatah says has 2,500 members, is the group's answer to a 3,000-strong Hamas militia that the government mobilized last month over Abbas' objections.
Associated Press
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