Ankara  - Voting began Sunday in Turkish local elections with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expecting to sweep most municipalities.

Whilst polls vary, the AKP is once again set to win a plurality of votes in the polls to elect mayors and municipal assembly across Turkey's 81 provinces.

Madrid  - European champions Spain increased their lead at the top of World Cup qualifying Group 5 on Saturday, with a tight 1-0 defeat of Turkey in Madrid.

Spain won thanks to the first international goal of Gerard Pique - and thanks to several sharp saves from Iker Casillas, arguably the world's best goalkeeper at the moment.

Turkey dominated the first half, but the hosts improved after the interval and took control in midfield.

Ankara- Two friends of a German tourist who died Thursday night of suspected alcohol poisoning remained in a coma Saturday and were being kept alive by life support machines in an Antalya hospital, a doctor confirmed on Saturday.

"Two are in a coma and four are listed as being in a serious condition," a doctor from Anadolu Private Hospital treating the tourists told the German Press Agency dpa.

Copenhagen - Danish television reported Saturday that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed reservations about the choice of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next NATO secretary general, indirectly contradicting remarks a day earlier by Turkey's president.

In a telephone interview with television network NTV in Copenhagen, Erdogan said there was "considerable irritation in the Islamic countries" over Rasmussen's actions during the early-2006 controversy over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in Denmark.

Tokyo, March 28: The discovery of fragments of an iron tool in Turkey has pushed back the start of the Iron Age by several centuries, which may lead to the history of iron tool production being re-written.

According to a report in the Asahi Shimbun, the fragments were found at Kaman-Kalehoyuk, about 100 kilometers southeast of Ankara, by researchers of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan.

They said that iron fragments believed to be part of a blade were found in a geological layer dating from 2100 B. C. to
1950 B. C.

Ankara - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) looks set to sweep local elections on Sunday which are seen as a barometer of the strength of national political parties.

While polls vary, the AKP is once again set to win a plurality of votes in the balloting for mayors and municipal assembly members across Turkey's 81 provinces.

A poll released this week by the A&G research company put the national vote of the AKP at 39.1 per cent, well ahead of the main opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) with 26.8 per cent.