A TOP-LEVEL Hamas delegation will travel to Moscow next week for meetings with Russian officials, a Hamas official said yesterday, part of the militant group’s efforts to gain international legitimacy after sweeping a Palestinian parliamentary election.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was greeted with angry criticism from Cyprus’ president as he arrived on the divided island in hopes of gauging support for a stalled UN. peace plan.

Turkey will walk away from its talks with the European Union if it is offered anything less than full membership, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that he told US officials that Turkey would no longer cooperate with the US over Iraq if ethnic Turks continued to be harmed in US military operations against suspected insurgents in northern Iraq.

IRAQI militants freed three Turkish hostages yesterday, as another group of kidnappers claimed to have executed a US soldier captured nearly three months ago.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said the European Union should reward Turkey and Turkish Cypriots for their positive stance in the referendum on a UN plan to reunite the island, which they endorsed and Greek Cypriots rejected.

Taliban insurgents have freed a Turkish engineer they kidnapped a month ago as he worked on a road project in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.

US PRESIDENT George W Bush said last night Turkey had become a battleground in the “war on terror” as police made their first arrests in the deadly truck bomb attacks on British targets in Istanbul.

Turkish police have arrested number of men who are suspected of involvement in the deadly suicide bombings on the British consulate and a London-based bank that were blamed on al-Qaida.

SUSPECTED al-Qaida suicide bombers targeted British interests in Istanbul yesterday, killing at least 27 people including the British consul, and leaving more than 450 injured in twin attacks.

Suspected al-Qaida suicide bombers targeted Istanbul again today, killing at least 27 people including the British consul, and leaving more than 450 injured in twin attacks.

AN American military policeman was killed yesterday as a top American general met local leaders in Iraq’s most dangerous region to tell them attacks must stop.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul today said he saw no immediate need for Turkish troops to intervene in northern Iraq, apparently satisfied with United States assurances that Kurdish forces would pull out of two key northern Iraqi cities.

Turkey’s top military and political leaders today met to discuss Kurdish moves in two key cities in northern Iraq.

US FORCES in Iraq grappled with looting and civil disorder, scattered gunfights, the murder of a Shi’ite religious leader and a suicide bomb attack that took American lives last night, one day after the euphoria that marked the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

The United States and Turkey today agreed on an “early warning” system to avert friction between Ankara and Kurds of northern Iraq.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was today seeking an agreement with Turkish leaders to keep them from sending troops into northern Iraq.

Turkey plans to send its forces up to 12 miles into northern Iraq to deal with any flood of refugees, but will only move if a crisis situation develops, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said today.

US President George W Bush said yesterday he had made it “very clear” to Turkey that its troops should not unilaterally enter northern Iraq.