We have managed to overlook this huge centenary of Irish sacrifice on the world stage, writes Victoria White

Stephen Sandford Irish Academic Press, €24.95 

THIS WEEK’S Remembrance Day acknowledged the fallen of the First World War nearly a century ago but you only have to turn on the news to find out that war is still going on.

MORE than 650 Palestinians and 31 Israelis have died, so far, as a result of ‘Operation Protective Edge.’ For two weeks, each day’s news has brought fresh horrors: yesterday, 12-year-old Palestinian, Rabee Qasim, was killed by an Israeli shell as he led a donkey and cart through a Bedouin village.

Victoria White visits Istanbul’s Taksim Square and the takes the pulse of a country on the edge.

Michael Collins has been named as Britain’s second greatest enemy commander, outmanoeuvred only by George Washington, in a poll conducted by London’s National Army Museum.

Hopes that Michael Collins will be named Britain’s greatest foe rest on the shoulders of an English-born history lecturer.

Michael Collins has been voted one of Britain’s five greatest foes, after results of an online poll by the National Army Museum in London placed him ahead of celebrated adversaries like Napoleon, Erwin Rommel and George Washington.

Turkish police detained 52 military commanders for allegedly planning to blow up mosques in order to trigger a military takeover and overthrow the Islamic-oriented government.

Turkey was condemned today for cyber censorship – and for being the only country in the world which bans YouTube.

Two retired generals were jailed in connection with an alleged plot to topple Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government, the highest-ranking ex-soldiers detained as part of the probe.

Pakistan’s government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies users have posted on the site, an official said.

Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of movies that the authorities consider 'anti-Islamic', an official said today.

Turkey’s parliament today approved the first of two constitutional amendments that would lift a decades-old ban on Islamic head scarves in universities despite the fierce opposition of the secular establishment.

Some 125,000 flag-waving Turks, mostly women, denounced the Islamic-rooted government today over its plans to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves in universities – a move the foreign minister said would expand Turkish freedoms.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular Turks flooded central Istanbul today to demand the resignation of the government, which they fear is leading Turkey toward Islamic rule.

The Turkish military has expressed concern about a disputed presidential election, and indicated that it is willing to become more openly involved in the process.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has confirmed Jerzy Dudek will be given the opportunity of an emotional return to the stadium that made him a world star.

HUNDREDS of Turkish nationalists chanting slogans and waving flags protested over the weekend against a controversial academic conference devoted to the WWI massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

TURKEY'S Islamic-rooted ruling party will press ahead with its plan to criminalise adultery despite earlier statements the controversial measure had been shelved, a party member said yesterday.