Judgment nears for Casey Anthony, as testimony ends

Orlando (CNN) -- The prosecution wrapped up its rebuttal phase in the Casey Anthony murder trial late Friday afternoon, suggesting judgment was near for the Orlando woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter then lying to authorities.

After an off-day Saturday, both sides will return to court Sunday. Court spokeswoman Karen Connolly Levey said that closing arguments will likely be heard later that day, with deliberations set to continue through July 4 and perhaps beyond.

Orange County Superior Court Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. dismissed jurors around 5 p.m. by telling them that -- following six long, often emotional weeks of testimony -- no more evidence would be presented.

The judge then heard a defense motion requesting an acquittal. Attorney Cheney Mason said that the prosecution had not sufficiently presented its case -- including exactly how Caylee Anthony had died and at whose hands -- while the prosecution claimed the case was best left in the jury's hands.

Perry sided with the prosecution, a decision that promised the drama and intrigue would continue for at least several more days.

Earlier Friday, prosecutors worked to zero in on Casey Anthony, trying to prove Friday that she -- not her mother -- was the one who searched for chloroform and neck-breaking on the family's home computer.

Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty against the 25-year-old woman if a jury convicts her of first-degree murder. Anthony is charged with seven counts overall, including aggravated child abuse and misleading police, in Caylee's 2008 death.

Prosecutors believe Anthony used chloroform to render her daughter, Caylee, unconscious before taping her nose and mouth with duct tape and disposing of her body in a wooded field near their home.

She has pleaded not guilty. Her defense team has claimed the girl was not killed but instead accidentally drowned in the family pool on June 16, 2008. They say Casey Anthony and her father, George Anthony, panicked and covered up the death. George Anthony has denied the claim.

Last week, the defendant's mother, Cindy Anthony, testified that she was at home during some of the times highlighted by prosecutors, searching for answers to what was making her dog sick and landing on pages mentioning chloroform as a result. The mother testified that she feared her dog became sick from eating bambo that contained chlorophyll.

She said she also searched for terms such as alcohol, acetone and hydrogen peroxide because she had been told of a scare concerning hand sanitizers and children, as well as searches on various injuries because a friend had been in a car accident.

She denied searching for some of the terms retrieved from the computer, including one misspelled search for "how to make chloraform." She also denied making the 84 visits to one site related to chloroform reflected in the computer records.

The prosecution called several law enforcement forensic computer experts, to raise questions regarding Cindy Anthony's testimony.

Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Kevin Stenger claimed there did not appear to be any searches for chlorophyll or for bamboo, as Cindy Anthony had claimed, though he did say there was a specific Google search for neck breaking. And Detective Sandra Osborne testified there were no evidence of a chlorophyll-specific search on the computer's hard drive, though there was evidence of searches for things such bamboo furniture.

Defense attorney Jose Baez tried to cast doubt on these searches as encompassing everything that Cindy Anthony claimed she'd searched for during her testimony.

The personal attorney for the suspect's parents, Mark Lippman, added in a statement, "My client remains steadfast in her statement that she researched chlorophyll and as a byproduct of that research also researched chloroform."

The lawyer for Anthony's former employer also took the stand Friday, bringing with him work records that he testified showed that someone using Cindy Anthony's credentials logged in and was actively using a desktop computer at her office on the days when those searches were made. Cindy Anthony had claimed she'd done many of the questioned searches in that period from home.

While work records showed she was at the office during some of the searches, she told Baez that it was common to enter eight hours on her time card even if she worked more or less than a full day and said it was "virtually impossible" for her company to have kept e-mails and other records showing whether she was working.

However, Gentiva Health Services chief counsel John Camperlengo told jurors that as a health-care company, Gentiva keeps many records for lenghty periods of time.

He said he provided such records to prosecutors after a June 24 subpoena. The records included e-mails sent under Cindy Anthony's login during that week, as well as a detailed log of computer activity showing someone using Anthony's login was actively updating patient records.

The testimony came after another delay in the trial, when Perry pushed back the start of court so Baez could interview in advance these investigators.

Baez complained at the outset of Friday's session that prosecutors were trying to introduce new evidence that had not been disclosed in reports, as Perry has ordered -- a rule the judge has scolded Baez for violating multiple times during the trial.

"They can't decide to ambush the defense after the defense has rested with new evidence," Baez told Perry.

But prosecutor Jeff Ashton said nothing the witnesses were expected to testify to should have been surprising to Baez.

In Session's Grace Wong, Beth Karas and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report.

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Analysis: Thai army takes sides as divisive election nears (Reuters)

BANGKOK (Reuters) – After Thailand's military removed her brother in a bloodless coup on a hot September night five years ago, the front-runner in next month's closely fought election has good reason to fear the generals will go after her.

Recent rumblings from the army suggest she should be concerned.

As Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, surges ahead in the race to become Thailand's next prime minister after elections next month, the army has cast aside its neutrality, analysts say, and looks intent on derailing her. How far they will go is unclear.

If she prevails over Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's ruling Democrat Party and forms a government, a coup is one option, though an unlikely one due to the risk of drawing tens of thousands of Thaksin's "red shirt" supporters into the streets in a reprise of last year's bloody clashes with troops.

Most analysts and diplomats suggest she may cut a deal with the army to preserve her government and to prevent a new round of street riots.

But in the days leading up to the July 3 election, the army is doing what it can to stop her momentum and foil her plans for a general amnesty that would clear the way for Thaksin to return from self-exile in Dubai, where he lives to avoid prison following a graft conviction he says was politically motivated.

Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, instrumental in the coup that toppled Thaksin and offensives to crush anti-government red-shirt street insurrections in 2009 and 2010, made a stern-faced address on two army-owned television channels last week, stressing the military would not meddle in the election.

But his message had the opposite effect.

Prayuth warned of threats against Thailand's monarchy and urged the public to vote for "good people" and to avoid a repeat of previous polls, a not-so-subtle reference to a decade of elections won by Thaksin allies.

"If you allow the election results to be the same as before, you will not get anything new and you will not see any improvement," Prayuth said.

By wading into the political fray, the army risks inflaming a sometimes-violent, five-year political crisis in which the rural and urban poor red shirts are pitted against a traditional elite of generals, royal advisers, middle-class bureaucrats and old-money families who back the ruling Democrats.

Prayuth's comments were widely seen as a move to discredit Yingluck's Puea Thai Party and stem its momentum following opinion polls that show it is likely to win the most votes in the election.

"For an army chief to plead with the voters to cast their ballots for 'good' parties and 'good' candidates is very inappropriate and, as such, he can be seen as taking sides in the upcoming election," Veera Prateepchaikul, a former editor of The Bangkok Post, wrote in the daily on Monday.

A HISTORY OF COUPS

The army has been a major force in politics since Thailand became a democracy in 1932, staging 18 coups -- some successful, some not -- and several discreet interventions in forming coalition governments, almost all with the tacit backing of Thailand's royalist establishment.

Since the last coup, the military's budget has nearly doubled and it has stood firm behind Abhisit, aiding his rise to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote and battling with pro-Thaksin red shirt demonstrators. The last face-off in April and May last year killed 91 people and wounded at least 1,800.

"The general image of the military has not exactly complemented Thailand's democratic process," said Worajet Phakhirat, a law professor at Bangkok's Thammasat University. "Making these comments so close to the election can have a negative reaction."

Kan Yuenyong, an analyst at the Siam Intelligence Unit, said the stakes are high for the military, which faces a possible purge if Yingluck becomes premier and remains influenced by Thaksin, who may seek a military reshuffle in revenge for his ouster.

"A coup is the worst-case scenario but that can't be ruled out if Thaksin regains power," he said. "The military has learned from the past and knows Thaksin will want his revenge."

Since Yingluck's May 16 nomination, the 43-year-old businesswoman has championed Thaksin's populist legacy and energised his urban and rural working class supporters, who elected his now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party twice in landslides in 2001 and 2005.

Yingluck says she will pursue reconciliation if she becomes prime minister, vowing not to interfere with the armed forces.

But not everyone is convinced. Mistrust of Thaksin runs deep and her assurances are unlikely to be enough.

TALK OF A DEAL WITH THE ARMY

Some expect the generals to intervene discreetly to prevent Puea Thai from forming a government if, as many expect, it wins the most seats in parliament but falls short of an outright majority and must form a coalition to govern.

That's where the army could wield its influence by trying to persuade smaller parties to shun Puea Thai and side with Abhisit's Democrats.

That may not work. If Puea Thai wins by a landslide, or wins comfortably, it could govern with just one medium-sized party in a coalition.

A tougher step, such as a coup, is difficult. The red shirts are far stronger and more organised than in 2006 when the generals removed Thaksin. If tanks rumbled into Bangkok, thousands would likely flood the city's streets in protest.

"Another coup is an option Prayuth doesn't want to take because more red shirts than ever before would come to shut down Bangkok," said an analyst with close knowledge of the military who requested anonymity.

"But a coup becomes likely if Prayuth gets word of a planned purge by a Puea Thai government. There might be no other option."

Sources close to Puea Thai and the military say that could be averted, and that Thaksin and the generals are discussing an arrangement under which Puea Thai could govern in return for an assurance the top brass would not be purged.

Abhisit told Reuters last week he was aware the military had been approached by Puea Thai with a view to a deal.

Thaksin declined to comment on any such arrangement, but conceded in an interview with Reuters in Dubai last Wednesday that his return to Thailand hinged on talks with the military.

Anthony Davis, a security analyst with IHS-Jane's, said a deal was almost inevitable if Puea Thai won handsomely.

But in return, he said, Puea Thai would have to scrap its plans for an amnesty to allow Thaksin's return, appoint a defense minister sensitive to the army leadership and guarantee the party would not get involved in the military's affairs.

(Additional reporting by Vithoon Amorn; Editing by Jason Szep and John Chalmers)

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Gulf bid to end Yemen crisis nears collapse

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A deal to end Yemen's political crisis neared collapse on Sunday after the country's embattled president refused to personally sign it, leaving a deadlock that threatens to plunge the impoverished Arab nation and key U.S. ally deeper into disorder and bloodshed.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Muhammed Muheisen, AP

Yemeni boys react during a demonstration by anti-government protesters in Sanaa,Yemen, on Sunday.

By Muhammed Muheisen, AP

Yemeni boys react during a demonstration by anti-government protesters in Sanaa,Yemen, on Sunday.

An unraveling of the deal for Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after nearly three months of protests against his rule would greatly increase the prospects of more bloodshed in a nation long beset by serious conflict and deep poverty and which is home to al-Qaida's most active offshoot.

At least 140 people have been killed in the government's crackdown on the protesters, who have nonetheless grown in number week after week. The violence, which has included sniper attacks, has prompted several top military commanders, ruling party members, diplomats and others to defect to the opposition, largely isolating the president.

Still, Saleh has clung to power, thanks in part to the key backing of Yemen's best trained and equipped military units, which are under the command of one of his sons and other close relatives.

"There will likely be more violence now," said analyst Fares al-Saqqaf. "In the end, we may have foreign intervention to end the chaos and bloodshed," he predicted.

Continued unrest in Yemen risks the stability of a region that is home to important shipping lanes at the southern mouth of the Red Sea. Yemen is also close to the massive oil and gas fields of the Gulf Arab region.

The country has over the years been wracked by rampant corruption, a weak central government, a Shiite rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and, since early February, the massive protests demanding Saleh's ouster.

Inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, the protests pose the most serious threat to Saleh's authoritarian rule. Saleh has sought to cling to power by offering the protesters concessions, pledging not to run again in 2013 elections or allow his son to succeed him. The protesters stood their ground, demanding his immediate resignation and his trial for the killing of protesters and corruption.

A mediation plan put forward by six U.S. allies grouped in the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, looked close to fruition, with the established opposition political parties and Saleh himself agreeing to it. The plan called for Saleh to step down within 30 days and for a national unity government to run the country until elections are held.

The proposals also gave Saleh immunity from prosecution.

The street protesters, who say the opposition parties taking part in the talks do not represent them, rejected the deal and said nothing less than Saleh's immediate resignation would persuade them to halt their massive demonstrations. Still, the Gulf initiative held some promise, but that subsequently vanished when Saleh told a GCC envoy late Saturday that he would send representatives to sign the deal ? rather than signing it himself ? at a ceremony that had been scheduled for Sunday or Monday in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

The opposition said it would not sign it unless Saleh did too and the GCC, a loose alliance of oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, said it was indefinitely postponing the ceremony, blaming Saleh's refusal to sign.

"President Saleh, like any dictator, does not want to leave power and is doing everything he can to win time and stay longer in power," said Mohammed al-Sabri, a spokesman for the opposition political parties. "He cannot be trusted."

The GCC nations' foreign ministers met Sunday in Riyadh and said they were sending the council's secretary-general, Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, back to Yemen to try to salvage the deal.

The council "hopes to remove the obstacles that are still hindering reaching a final agreement between the parties in Yemen," it said in a statement.

The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

The Yemeni government said Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Saleh discussed the GCC proposals by telephone Sunday but gave no details.

Government officials said Saleh had told al-Zayani of the GCC on Saturday that he intended to ratify the deal after sending a close aide and a senior ruling party official to sign it. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said Saleh's ratification would be in his capacity as head of the ruling party and not as president.

The opposition feared Saleh was leaving himself room to stay in power and leaders of the street demonstrations said they planned to step up their protests to force Saleh out.

Tens of thousands of protesters were out Sunday in a number of Yemeni cities, including Aden and Taiz in the south, to demand that he step down.

"We will not pay attention to any mediation or foreign intervention," said protest leader Abdel-Hadi al-Azazi in Sanaa, the capital. "We will continue to march and protest until the uprising's goal is achieved ? the ouster of the regime."

Despite gunfire, protesters in Aden pushed their way back into a central square that had been cleared by security forces a day earlier, said Shaher Masaabeen, one of the demonstrators. Medics said two protesters were injured by gunfire.

In the eastern province of Hadramawt, unknown gunmen firing from a moving car killed four soldiers and fled, said a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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Workers watch clock as shutdown nears

A government shutdown would mean delays in getting a passport. STORY HIGHLIGHTSGovernment employees nervously watch the clock as shutdown nearsCongressional leaders differ on what's behind the stalemateWhile parks and other services will close, essential services will remain openSocial Security and Medicare payments will continue Washington (CNN) -- Federal workers nervously eyed the clock and an American public sharply divided along partisan lines watched from the sidelines Friday as Democrats and Republicans sniped at one another in a budget battle that could shut down the government and idle more than 800,000 people.

Negotiators have until midnight Friday to reach an agreement, or the government's massive gears will begin grinding to a halt.

What would be shut down?

Should the government shut down, operations from national parks to the White House visitor center would close. Even some government websites would blink out, replaced by virtual closed signs.

CNNMoney: I'm a 'nonessential' worker

But not everything would close.

10 things that could ruin your day

Essential services such as defense, air traffic control and law enforcement would continue largely unabated, as would Social Security enrollments and payments. The Social Security Administration said a backlog of applications would be crippling. Veterans Administration hospitals and clinics, already funded through the end of the year, would also remain open.

The upside of a shutdown

Medicare payments would also continue, as would health benefits for government employees. Electronically filed tax returns would be processed. And although paper returns wouldn't be reviewed, a shutdown wouldn't equal a tax holiday -- returns would still be due April 18.

The government estimates that 800,000 federal government employees would be sent home to anxiously await an agreement in what could become a lengthy, and unpaid, vacation. Even those who are asked to work wouldn't get paid until after the shutdown ends, and that could include U.S. troops fighting overseas.

Shutdown would mean no income for military

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