Ankara - The Turkish Airline Pilot's Association (TALPA) on Tuesday condemned an attack on a Turkish pilot who was beaten for ordering that a passenger be removed before the take-off of a Sunexpress charter flight between Antalya and Frankfurt.

After an argument over seat allocations, Pilot Gokhan Dincer called police to remove Huseyin Ozen who was behaving in an unruly matter, TALPA said in a written press release. Ozen reportedly told the pilot that he would "hold you to account" for the incident. Upon the flight's return to Antalya later the same day, Dincer made his way to his house where he was set upon by four men, including Ozen.

Berlin - Germany's population of Turkish descent is poorly integrated compared to other immigrant groups, according to a study published Monday.

The research, conducted by the Berlin-Institute for Population and Development, is based on information collected in 2005 which, for the first time, took into account the ethnic origins of German passport holders.

Numbering 2.8 million people, Germany's Turkish population is one of the country's largest immigrant groups, second only to the ethnic Germans who returned from eastern Europe after the fall of communism.

Ankara  - Five US Jewish groups have expressed their concern over a rise in anti-Semitic events in Turkey in reaction to Israeli military operations in Gaza, penning a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urging him to take action, Turkish media reported Friday.

Ankara - Almost 30 people were taken into custody Thursday in the latest wave of arrests connected to a shadowy nationalist gang that prosecutors claim was conspiring to overthrow Turkey's moderate Islamic government, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Those taken into custody in operations in 13 provinces across Turkey included a number of serving police officers and the head of the Turk Metalworkers Union.

Ankara - The trial of 60 people allegedly involved in the October torture death of activist Engin Ceber got under way in Istanbul on Wednesday, the Anadolu news agency reported.

A group of around 100 people gathered outside the court protesting the murder and calling for justice.

Ceber was arrested in September during a protest against the police shooting of another leftist activist.

He was allegedly first tortured at a police station in Istinye and then again at Metris Prison.

He was transferred to a hospital on October 3 and died of brain injuries on October 10.

Istanbul - In the first few hours following the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president, a change of direction has become perceptible in the three areas most sensitive to the Arab world: The presence of US troops in Iraq; the Arab-Israeli conflict; and the abuse of human rights suspected at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.