Two police officers have been injured in a suicide bomb attack in central Istanbul, at a main tourist hotspot near Sultanahmet Square.

His head bowed and hands clasped in front of him, Pope Francis stood today for two minutes of silent prayer facing east inside one of Istanbul’s most important mosques, as he shifted gears toward more religious affairs on the second leg of his three-day visit to mainly Muslim Turkey.

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TWIN blasts at Afghan shrines on the Shi’ite holy day of Ashura left at least 59 people dead.

One of Istanbul’s main tourist attractions was attacked by a heavily-armed gunman today, wounding a Turkish soldier and a security guard before police killed him.

A gunman wounded a soldier and a security guard at the entrance to Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace today, before engaging in a shoot-out with Turkish police inside the palace courtyard, witnesses said.

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PRESIDENT Mary McAleese yesterday shed her footwear as a mark of respect on a visit to one of Turkey’s most sacred religious sites.

POPE Benedict XVI expressed deep respect for Islam yesterday and said he hopes the Catholic Church can play a role in Mideast peace as he began his first trip to the region, where he hopes to improve frayed ties with Muslims.

The pope travelled to Jordan today at the start of his first Middle East visit as a self-proclaimed pilgrim of peace.

Barack Obama wrapped up his first foreign trip as US president with a request of the world: Look past his nation’s stereotypes and flaws.

Pope Benedict XVI has been greeted in Turkey with a lecture on how the Christian West scorns Islam. He left yesterday with Istanbul’s chief Islamic cleric speaking lyrically of better days ahead between the faiths.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed beside an Islamic cleric in one of Turkey’s most famous mosques today in a dramatic gesture of outreach to Muslims, after causing outrage with remarks linking violence and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, today, in a gesture toward Muslims.

Pope Benedict XVI called divisions among Christians a “scandal to the world” and recalled the faith's deep roots in Europe at a joint ceremony in Istanbul today with the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians at his ancient enclave.

Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to a Muslim country today with a message of dialogue and “brotherhood” between faiths and Turkey’s chief Islamic cleric said at a joint appearance that growing “Islamophobia” hurts all Muslims.

Tens of thousands of people chanted slogans against Pope Benedict XVI and waved banners against his upcoming visit in a defiant display of the pro-Islamic anger that could await the pontiff on his first papal trip to a mostly Muslim nation.

BOMBS exploded simultaneously at two small hotels yesterday, killing two people and wounding 11 in an attack that Turkey's interior minister said might be the work of Kurdish separatists.

Two American soldiers were wounded today when a grenade was hurled into their jeep in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Several thousand people gathered amid heavy security today at a mosque in northern Afghanistan to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Ahmed Shah Massood.