ANKARA (AFP) –
Turkey urged Israel Friday to end the "humanitarian tragedy" in Gaza, saying ties between the two allies cannot recover if Palestinians continue to suffer and peace talks remain dead in the Middle East.

"Ending the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, reviving peace efforts -- both on the Palestinian and Syrian track, and most importantly -- reinstating a prevailing spirit of peace in the region... this is what we want," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters.

"When there is a return to the track of peace, these relations of trust (with Israel) will be re-established on the same level as before," he said.

Israel's ties with its chief regional ally took a sharp downturn last week when Ankara excluded the Jewish state from annual joint military exercises, prompting a rebuke from the United States.

The row flared Thursday as Israel summoned the Turkish envoy to protest a Turkish state television series which it condemned as "inciting hatred against Israel" and "not worthy of being broadcast even in an enemy state."

Davutoglu said that Israel's war on Gaza at the turn of the year "killed the peace perspective" in the Middle East and condemned ongoing turmoil in the devastated Palestinian enclave.

He made it clear Ankara was still bitter that the war also disrupted indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria that Turkey had mediated "with so much effort."

"As long as the human tragedy in Gaza continues, no one should expect us to be part of a military picture" with Israel, he said, referring to the scrapped military drills.

"Although no single rocket has been fired on Israel from Gaza over the past eight months, children in Gaza have no schools to go to, people have no homes to take shelter in," he said.

Davutoglu rejected suggestions that his government, the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist party, was becoming anti-Israeli.

"The humanitarian situation (in Gaza) should be improved in the shortest possible time. How can wanting this amount to being anti-Israeli? This is a humanitarian attitude," he said.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the television series that infuriated Israel had no political motive but conceded the plot might be "a bit exaggerated," Anatolia news agency reported.

The first episode, aired Tuesday, showed Israeli forces shooting a little girl and a newborn baby, and portrayed them as insulting and ridiculing Palestinians.

Arinc defended the production, saying its ultimate message when concluded would be one of peace.

Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay however disagreed, saying that "our artists and series must not fuel tensions... and create the impression that there are problems between our peoples as a whole."

Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy met with a senior foreign ministry official to once again convey his country's "disappointment and concerns" over the programme, Anatolia reported.

Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the latest developments "raised the question: what direction is Turkish policy taking? We hope it is toward strengthening peace and not extremists."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been at the forefront of international criticism of the Gaza offensive.

In an unprecedented outburst, he stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum in January, accusing Israel of "barbarian" acts and telling Israeli President Shimon Peres, sitting next to him, that "you know well how to kill people."

The Palestinian struggle for statehood enjoys widespread support in Turkey, both among Islamists and leftists.

In contrast to its souring ties with Israel, Erdogan's government has markedly improved ties with Syria and sought closer relations with Iran, an arch-enemy of the Jewish state.

NEW YORK – Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, will return to ABC's "All My Children" for the daytime soap opera's 40th anniversary.
Brian Frons, president of ABC's daytime unit, made the announcement Friday. "All My Children" will celebrate its anniversary on Jan. 5, 2010.
Ripa and Consuelos' episodes will air Jan. 4-5. It will be the first time either actor has appeared on "All My Children" since they left the show in 2002.
She is now co-host of the morning talk show "Live With Regis and Kelly."
Ripa says "Live With Regis and Kelly" will air behind-the-scenes footage next month of the couple's return to Pine Valley.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Domestic Television distributes "Live With Regis and Kelly."
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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama won't walk away from the flagging war in Afghanistan, the White House declared Monday as Obama faced tough decisions — and intense administration debate — over choices that could help define his presidency in his first year as commander in chief.
The fierce Taliban attack that killed eight American soldiers over the weekend added to the pressure. The assault overwhelmed a remote U.S. outpost where American forces have been stretched thin in battling insurgents, underscoring an appeal from Obama's top Afghanistan commander for as many as 40,000 additional forces — and at the same time reminding the nation of the costs of war.
Obama's defense secretary, Robert Gates, appealed Monday for calm — and for time and privacy for the president to come to a decision.
Last week the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, called publicly for the administration to add more resources, which prompted a mild rebuke from Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, for lobbying in public.
Obama may take weeks to decide whether to add more troops, but the idea of pulling out isn't on the table as a way to deal with a war nearing its ninth year, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
"I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear," Gibbs said.
The question of whether to further escalate the conflict after adding 21,000 U.S. troops earlier this year is a major decision facing Obama and senior administration policy advisers this week.
Obama also invited a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to the White House on Tuesday to confer about the war. And Obama will meet twice this week with his top national security advisers.
Divided on Afghanistan, Congress takes up a massive defense spending bill this week even before the president settles on a direction for the war.
Gates said Monday that Obama needs elbow room to make strategy decisions about the war — as the internal White House debate goes increasingly public.
"It is important that we take our time to do all we can to get this right," Gates said at an Army conference. "In this process, it is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations — civilians and military alike — provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately."
Gates has not said whether he supports McChrystal's recommendation to expand the number of U.S. forces by as much as nearly 60 percent. He is holding that request in his desk drawer while Obama sorts through competing recommendations and theories from some of his most trusted advisers.
"I believe that the decisions that the president will make for the next stage of the Afghanistan campaign will be among the most important of his presidency," Gates said.
In trying to blunt the impression that the White House and military are at odds, Gates did not name names. But his remarks came days after McChrystal bluntly warned in London that Afghan insurgents are gathering strength. Any plan that falls short of stabilizing Afghanistan "is probably a shortsighted strategy," the general said.
For his part, Jones, a retired four-star Marine general, said of McChrystal's comments that is "better for military advice to come up through the chain of command," said Jones.
At issue is whether U.S. forces should continue to focus on fighting the Taliban and securing the Afghan population, or shift to more narrowly targeting al-Qaida terrorists believed to be hiding in Pakistan with unmanned spy drones and covert operations.
Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the goal for the war remains to disrupt al-Qaida and prevent it from again threatening the United States, but they added that a reassessment of the means to do that is appropriate. Speaking to CNN during a rare joint interview with Gates, Clinton said a "snap decision" about the next step would be counterproductive. The interview will air Tuesday.
Gates and some other advisers appear to favor a middle path. A hybrid strategy could preserve the essential outline of an Afghan counterinsurgency campaign that McChrystal rebuilt this summer from the disarray of nearly eight years of undermanned combat, while expanding the hunt for al-Qaida next door.

"Speaking for the Department of Defense, once the commander in chief makes his decisions, we will salute and execute those decisions faithfully and to the best of our ability," Gates told the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army.

The top three U.S. military officials overseeing the war in Afghanistan favor continuing the current fight against the Taliban, and have concluded they need tens of thousands more U.S. troops beyond the 68,000 already there.

Officials across the Obama administration have acknowledged that the Taliban is far stronger now than in recent years, as underscored by the U.S. deaths in Nuristan province.

The fighting Saturday marked the biggest loss of U.S. life in a single Afghan battle in more than a year. It also raised questions about why U.S. troops remained in the remote outposts after McChrystal said he planned to close down isolated strongholds and focus on more heavily populated areas as part of his new strategy to focus on protecting Afghan civilians.

Also being considered as part of a potential force increase is the impact on troops who are already stretched thin from fighting in two wars. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey told reporters that he cannot rule out extending the length soldiers are sent to fight — from 12 months to 15 — although "I would hope we don't get there."

Casey also signaled that the year that soldiers are currently guaranteed at home between deployments could be at risk.

"Simple math: The more troops you have deployed, the less time they'll spend at home," Casey said Monday.

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Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

Don't believe what you read about Iran's nuclear program. We know as much about it as we did about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Iran could test a nuke next week, or not for another 20 years. It all depends on who you want to believe.
The Israelis imply that Iran is a few turns of a screwdriver away from completing its nuke. Britain says Tehran has been working hard on a design "since late 2004 or early 2005" and is "close" to having a bomb. The U.S., in a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, says Iran stopped working on a bomb in 2003 but could restart that work at any time. The Iranians, of course, say they're not working on one at all. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which inspects Iran's nuclear facilities, says it has found no evidence of a bomb program but sees grounds for suspicion as to Iran's ultimate intent. (See pictures of terror in Tehran.)
One reason the estimates are all over the canvas is that Iran, like Iraq, is one of the world's worst countries in which to establish facts. It's a vicious police state dedicated to stopping its national-security secrets from leaking. The few journalists and academics allowed into Iran are sharply circumscribed in their contacts and the places they can visit. The quickest way to be arrested or escorted out of that country is to ask questions about its bomb. Western diplomats and intelligence operatives have only marginally better access. The IAEA knowledge of Iran's nuclear programs is limited to what Iran wants to let it know - although it keeps a close eye on Iran's main enrichment plant at Natanz, it had no idea until a week ago that a second plant was under construction. And that may not be the only secret facility. (See the top 10 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad[EN]isms.)
Another reason for the different estimates is that Iran has multiple nuclear programs. We are likely to find out that the nuclear facility revealed recently near Qum is under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Long suspected of building its own bomb, the IRGC has a well-funded, experienced, clandestine procurement network capable of buying and operating centrifuges to enrich uranium as well as building triggering devices. The IRGC already possesses missiles that could deliver a nuke.
Our knowledge of any Iranian nuclear bomb, with only a little exaggeration, is reduced to Google maps, the words of exiles with axes to grind and shady defectors, and studies by think tanks as ill informed as the rest of us. (Read "Power to Chaos [EM] Tracking Iran's Four-Month Slide.")
Not that it's any consolation, but our knowledge about Iran's nukes has always been bad. Since the Shah was in power, the U.S. and Israel put out an estimate every couple of years that Iran was four or five years away from a bomb. But no one ever knew or attempted to explain why Iran ultimately didn't build one - mainly because no one was certain as to why.
And then there is the possibility that Iran is playing us in all of this. It wants the world's attention. It wants to be taken seriously. It wants to sit at the table with the G-20. And there's no better way to do this than scaring us with the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran.
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.
See the top 10 players in Iran's power struggle.
View this article on Time.comRelated articles on Time.com:Was Bush Behind the New Iran Report? For Obama, the Clock on Iran Is Ticking Talking With Iran: Chances for a Breakthrough Are Low Iran Nuclear Talks in Geneva: So Far, So Good The Pentagon's Message on Iran: Don't Panic