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TURKEY Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, was appointed Prime Minister after parliament overturned a law barring him from public office because of a conviction for inciting religious hatred. He is likely to call for a second parliamentary vote on a motion to allow the deployment of U.S. troops on Turkish soil. Washington wants to open a northern front in any war against Iraq and needs Turkish bases to do so. Parliament's approval of the deployment would be controversial, since the Turkish public is overwhelmingly antiwar. The cash-strapped government has negotiated a $15 billion compensation package from the U.S. if the deployment takes place, and fears that if it does not cooperate with the U.S. it will lose influence on postwar developments in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. An Istanbul court banned the main pro-Kurdish group, the People's Democracy Party, for aiding the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, which in the 1990s fought for an autonomous Kurdish state.

What We Now Know About Nuts
BRISTOL It's a medical mystery that has baffled researchers: Why have peanut allergies tripled in the past decade? For those afflicted — between one in 70 and one in 200 people in the U.K. — even a trace of the nut or its oil can cause hives or, in extreme cases, death. Now researchers at Britain's Bristol

Blowin' In The Wind It may not exactly be the 1960s, but when it comes to opinions on a possible war in Iraq, the music world is playing true to form. Folk singers and rappers are weighing in, predictably, with a chorus of pro-peace songs, while at least one country crooner is primed to search and destroy. Here's a roundup of the war tunes in the air. — By Josh Tyrangiel John Mellencamp To Washington Available at: Mellencamp.com Sample lyric: "What is the thought process to take a human's life?/ What would be the reason to think that this is right?" Review: Spare folk arrangement fits the simple, evocative lyrics Billy Bragg The Price of Oil Available at: Billybragg.co.uk Sample lyric: "If it's freeing the Iraqi people you're after/ Then why have we waited so long?" Review: A slow, Guthrie-esque delivery makes the history lesson palatable beastie boys In a World Gone Mad Available at: Beastieboys.com Sample lyric: "We need health care more than going to war/ You think it's democracy they're fighting for?" Review: With overexplicit lyrics and an unmelodic backing track, it's the Super Bowl Shuffle of antiwar songs Clint Black I Raq and Roll Available at: Clintblack.com Sample lyric: "It might be a smart bomb; they find stupid people too/ If you stand with the likes of Saddam, one just might find you" Review: Belligerence that makes you long for the subtlety of Toby Keith

University have found a clue as to what is going on. Using information from a 14-year study that followed 14,000 children in southwest England from before birth, the team discovered that 84% of those who developed the allergy had been treated with creams containing peanut oil. They also found that children who had been fed milk from soybeans, which contain similar proteins, had a 2.6 times greater chance of becoming allergic.

The Bristol group believes the reaction develops primarily in children with rashes or eczema, where the skin creams containing peanut oil enter the body through damaged skin. Help may soon be at hand for those at risk. Scientists working for Britain's Food Standards Agency have developed a test so sensitive that it can identify traces of peanut as small as one part in 10 million. And U.S. pharmaceutical company Tanox is reporting good results from a new drug to control the body's response to the presence of the nut or its oil. By Kate Noble

New Court in the Hague
THE NETHERLANDS Despite opposition from the U.S., China and India, the International Criminal Court — the world's first permanent court for the prosecution of human-rights abuses — was formally inaugurated in the Hague. With a mandate to try individuals accused of large-scale crimes against civilians, its first task is to appoint a prosecutor — a politically sensitive decision, since it is the prosecutor who will decide which cases the court pursues.

Still Divided
CYPRUS Talks aimed at reunifying the divided island before the Greek section joins the E.U. next year broke down when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash rejected a U.N. power-sharing proposal, despite support for the plan from opposition parties and tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots. Denktash insisted on formal recognition for the northern Turkish part of the island and objected to a requirement that he said "would force 100,000 Turkish Cypriots to leave their homes to make way for returning Greek Cypriots." The failure of the talks means that only the internationally recognized south will join the E.U. in 2004.

KGB Redux?
RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin reshuffled Russia's security forces, bringing together many of the functions of the former KGB under the auspices of its present-day successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB). The move strengthens Putin's position in advance of forthcoming Duma and presidential elections, by tightening his control over internal security. Putin is a former officer of the KGB, which was broken up in 1991.

Shaky Peace
IVORY COAST Sixteen of the 41 members of the new cabinet stayed away from its first meeting, dashing hopes that the installation of the French-brokered power-sharing government would end six months of fighting between the administration of President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel groups. The main opposition group, called the Rally for Republicans, and three rebel factions that control the country's north and parts of the west, said that security concerns prevented them from traveling to the capital, Yamoussoukro.

Nuclear Fears
NORTH KOREA Tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program remained high as the U.S. resumed spy-plane flights near North Korea and announced that the country could be only months away from producing weapons-grade uranium. Amid concerns that Pyongyang was preparing to test a ballistic missile capable of reaching the Japanese mainland, Japan dispatched a reconnaissance ship toward the Korean peninsula and news reports said Tokyo was mulling sanctions if the test went ahead.

Crimes of Passion
Thai police have to fight not only criminals, but amorous advances from members of the public inflamed by their tight-fitting uniforms. Police report that emergency telephone lines are receiving an average of 400 suggestive calls a month, 60% of them from men. A growing number of websites catering to fans of the "boys in brown" have also sprung up.