ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police have detained 38 people in raids on suspected members of al-Qaida, the state-run Anatolia news reported yesterday. The raids were the latest in a series targeting suspected members of the Islamic militant group in recent years. Islamist radicals have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past, most notably in 2003 when al-Qaida militants killed more than 60 people in a series of bombings in Istanbul. “Thirty-eight people were detained in an operation against a radical right-wing group carried out simultaneously in Istanbul, Izmir and Manisa,” the agency reported Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah as saying.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish court has acquitted a popular Turkish transsexual singer over comments questioning a military campaign against Kurdish separatist guerrillas, state-run Anatolia said. Bulent Ersoy was tried on charges of “turning the people against military service” in a case that raised concerns about free speech in the EU candidate, where criticizing the powerful military is a crime. The court ruled that Ersoy’s comments, which angered the country’s respected armed forces, were within the bounds of freedom of expression.

BANJA LUKA (AFP) – A fire that recently destroyed a mosque in Bosnia’s Serb-run half, labeled a “terrorist act” by local Islamic leaders, was caused by faulty wiring, prosecutors said yesterday. An investigation by experts concluded that the “electric cables were not adequately isolated and separated” from the mosque’s wood foundations, said a statement by the prosecutor’s office in the town of Trebinje. However, a local Islamic leader doubted the findings and said he would seek an independent expert’s view to establish the cause of the December 8 blaze that broke out while Bosnia’s Muslim majority celebrated the Kurban Bayram holiday. “The evidence leads us to believe that the fire was started deliberately,” Trebinje Imam Husein Hodzic, told SRNA news.

A UN official dressed up as Santa Claus brought together children from Cyprus’s estranged Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot communities yesterday, handing out presents in a rare meeting between the island’s two sides. Using a white UN helicopter normally reserved for peacekeeping patrols, “Santa” landed in Pyla, a village that is home to about 1,000 Greek Cypriots and 400 Turkish Cypriots. It is known as Pile in Turkish. “This is a special time of year for children to have fun together, and demonstrates peaceful coexistence,” said Jose Diaz, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. “It can’t get more concrete than having children play together.” However, not everyone was impressed by the UN official’s disguise. “I don’t believe in Santa,” said Andreas, a 9-year-old Greek Cypriot. “He got dressed up and his beard is fake but the presents are good.” (Reuters)

German power giant RWE yesterday signed a deal with Bulgaria’s state-owned National Electricity Company to help finance and run a new 4-billion-euro nuclear power plant on the Danube. RWE was picked in October to become a strategic partner in the project by acquiring a 49 percent stake in the Belene Power Company, which will run the plant near the northern town of Belene. (AFP)

The Turkish physical trainer of Steaua Bucharest has protested to FIFA after he was fired because he’s a Muslim. Steaua owner Gigi Becali fired Yuksel Yesilova on Saturday saying he brought back luck to Steaua because of his religion. Becali said: “Steaua is a Christian team and we had bad luck because of him. We can’t keep a Muslim on a team that has a cross on its team bus and shirts.” Yesilova said yesterday he had been called by FIFA officials about his firing. His contract was to expire in 2010. (AP)