:
SOME FOREIGN BRIEFS -

# Trouble in Turkey and Op Silicon: Hundreds of thousands of secularist Turks demonstrated in Istanbul yesterday against an Islamist prez candidate, Abdullah Gul, demanding his withdrawal.

And a large Nato offensive against the Taliban is currently in process in Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan. [tfp]

# Manchester UK: A major fire on Dale Street has destroyed one office building so far and has spread to a second building in the Northern Quarter of the city's center. Early reports suggested that it may have been started by homeless people who were sleeping rough in the first building. [sky] [man]

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