Top military brass resign from posts

ANKARA: Turkey’s military command echelon resigned late Friday from their posts amid an ongoing spat with the government over the growing number of arrested generals. The mass resignations, which marked a first in the country’s history, immediately caused a state crisis.

Chief of General Staff Gen. Isik Kosaner, Land Forces Commander Gen. Erdal Ceylanoglu, Air Forces Commander Gen. Hasan Aksay and Naval Forces Commander Adm. Esref Ugur Yigit quit their posts days before the Supreme Military Council, or YAS, was supposed to meet to discuss key military promotions. Kosaner had another two years left in the office.

Gendarmerie Forces Commander Necdet Özel did not resign.

The resignations came hours after a prosecutor demanded the arrest of a top military official, Gen. Hüseyin Nusret Tasdeler, the commander of the Aegean Army. Sources said disagreements over promotions and the arrests of numerous generals peaked to an unacceptable level following the legal action against Tasdeler.

Tensions between the military and the government have been high in recent years as hundreds of high-ranking officers were put behind bars in the ongoing “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) and Ergenekon coup-plot cases.

It was not yet sure as of late Friday whether this year’s YAS, set to begin Aug 1., would take place as scheduled.

Consecutive meetings between Kosaner, President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the last 10 days were not sufficient to avert the crisis. Kosaner, Gül and Erdogan met Friday morning, after which Erdogan met with Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin. Gül tried unsuccessfully to calm down the tension through a statement he made Friday afternoon, before the resignations were announced.

“I hope that everything will be solved in a good way,” Gül told reporters after Friday prayers. Asked by a journalist if the recent meetings were “a sign of a problem” between the government and the military, the president said they were not.

Right after Gül made his statement Friday, however, an Istanbul court demanded the arrest of the commander of one of the country’s most strategic armies, threatening the efforts by the government and military to avert a crisis over the promotions of senior generals.

The 13th Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes on Friday unanimously accepted the indictment prepared by Prosecutor Cihan Kansiz, demanding a life sentence for Gen. Tasdeler, who served as Erdogan’s military advisor in 2007-2008.

Erdogan met with Ergin after the prosecutor’s demand was made public.

This year’s YAS was set to decide on key promotions to the positions of commander of the air and naval forces. Naval Forces commander Yigit, and Air Force commander Aksay were both scheduled to reach the end of their terms on Aug. 30.

The commander of the Turkish Land Forces, Gen. Ceylanoglu, had also been expected to retire due to age. However, filling the empty seats was already expected to cause problems with so many high-ranking and eligible generals behind bars in the Balyoz case. The only eligible candidate to replace Aksay had been considered to be is Lt. Gen. Mehmet Erten, who would have had to be promoted to the rank of general and then be appointed as the commander.

Balyoz is the code name for an alleged military coup plot against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, drafted in 2003. According to the allegations, the military planned drastic measures to foment unrest in the country in order to remove the AKP from power.

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50 dead in DR Congo shipwreck

KINSHASA: At least 50 people drowned and some 35 are reported missing after a boat accident on a river in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Equateur province government said Friday.

The vessel, which was wrecked late Wednesday, was carrying at least 200 passengers and "up to yesterday (Thursday) we counted 115 survivors and 50 bodies fished from the water with difficulty," the government spokeswoman said. "The others are certainly lost or were dragged down by the water."

The large motorised barge, which was also carrying goods, collided during the night with another boat, which was empty, on the Tshuapa river, 115 kilometres (70 miles) east of the provincial capital Mbandaka, spokeswoman Rebecca Ebale Nguma said.

"The boat's manifesto indicated that 200 people were on board, but some of the survivors say there were about 350 people," Nguma added.

Overloading boats is a common practice in the DR Congo, and is also one of the main causes of the many shipwrecks in the vast central African country, which is studded with lakes and rivers. The mighty Congo river itself is one of the main transport routes.

Accidents are also caused by the bad or absent signposting of waterways, the inexperience of pilots and the lack of lights on boats. Many vessels carry no lifebelts or lifejackets.

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World’s Most Beautiful Currency Notes

Have you ever been in another country and thought,” These folks really have some beautiful money?” Whether it was the colors, the portraits, or the overall design, good looking money is just a little more fun to spend.

So, what are the most beautiful currencies in the world? David Standish, author of The Art of Money , shares his comments and top picks. And even though he says the European Single Currency has driven many of the beautiful currency notes into extinction, he says there are still some spectacular notes to flash around.

Click ahead to see Standish’s thoughts on what he considers the most beautiful currencies.

A Costa Rican bank note for five colones. - It shows Rafael Yglesia Castro, president of Costa Rica from 1894 to 1902 and a Guaria Morada orchid, Costa Ricas national flower. The current series of bank notes is being replaced throughout 2010.

A Canadian bank note for five dollars, depicting children playing ice hockey. - The verse is from a Roch Carrier short story, and reads: "The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink."

A colourful five dollar Australian note. - In 1965, Australia adopted the name "royal" for its currency, but it was later dropped in favour of the dollar.

A note for one Egyptian pound.

A 100 dirham note from the UAE, showing the World Trade Centre.

A five rupee note from Pakistan.

A five ringgit note from Malaysia

A 20 rand note from South Africa.

A colourful, floral 1000 note from French Polynesia

Thiland currency note.

Surinamese currency note

Bundras currency note

Newzealand currency note

Bahamas currency note

Libiya currency note

India currency note

Indonesia currency note

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Brooke Greenberg - Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

Brooke Greenberg (born January 8, 1993), is a now 17 year old girl from Reisterstown, Maryland, who has remained physically and cognitively similar to a toddler, despite her increasing age. She is about 30 inches (76 cm) tall, weighs about 16 pounds (7.3 kg), and has an estimated mental age of 9 months to 1 year.
Brooke's doctors have termed her condition Syndrome X. American scientists are keenly studying the DNA of a 17-year-old girl who still has the body and behaviour of a baby

Brooke - 17 years (left) and sister Carly - 14 years (right)

Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.
Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to....

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Breastfeeding may cut asthma risk:

Exclusive breastfeeding appears to have another advantage -- it significantly cuts a child's risk of developing asthma, a new study has claimed.

The Dutch study of more than 5,000 children found that those who are not breastfed are up to 50 per cent more likely to exhibit asthmatic symptoms than those who are...

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