KEY POINTS:
One million Turks protest ahead of early elections
IZMIR, Turkey - At least a million people took to the streets in Turkey's third city for the fourth major rally in a month against the Islamist-rooted government ahead of elections in July.
Organisers, who accuse the government of
seeking to undermine separation of religion and state in the overwhelmingly Muslim country, hoped the protest would unite the fragmented opposition ahead of the parliamentary polls.
People flocked to Izmir from across Turkey and streets and buildings, including army barracks, were covered in a sea of red Turkish flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey.
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UK's Brown rejects immediate pullout from Iraq
LONDON - Britain's leader-in-waiting Gordon Brown rejected an immediate pullout of the country's troops from Iraq as he defended himself against two left-wingers who want to challenge him for the leadership.
Brown clashed on foreign and domestic policy with left-wing politicians Michael Meacher and John McDonnell during a lively 80-minute debate before an audience in London.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he will resign on June 27 after a decade in power, sparking a potential leadership battle in the ruling Labour Party. Only finance minister Brown is sure to have enough backing to be a candidate to succeed Blair.
Meacher, 67, and McDonnell, 55, the only other politicians so far to put their names forward.
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Reward offers for Madeleine mount
LONDON - Celebrities and business leaders have put up a 1.5 million pound reward to help find Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort 10 days ago.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Virgin boss Richard Branson and Topshop chief Philip Green are among a host of public figures to have offered money for her safe return.
"We are praying for Madeleine's safe return and can't imagine what Kate and Gerry (McCann) are going through at the moment," Green said in a statement released by the News of the World, which itself offered 250,000 pounds.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, England cricketer Michael Vaughan, Everton chairman Bill Kenwright and Ann Summers boss Jacqueline Gold also offered money.
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Al Qaeda says it has missing US soldiers
BAGHDAD - Thousands of American troops searched today for three US soldiers missing in Iraq after an ambush in which al Qaeda said it seized "crusader" forces, while a suicide bomber killed 50 people in the Kurdish north.
The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, a group led by al Qaeda, said in an internet posting it was holding soldiers who survived an attack south of Baghdad in which the US military said four US troops and an Iraqi army translator were killed.
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- REUTERS
