USA

Amid massive protests against his presence in Turkey, President Bush nonetheless held up the Muslim-majority nation as a model for the rest of the Middle East and pledged to help it campaign for membership in the European Union. Bush's trip there is his first, although he personally is deeply unpopular because Turks overwhelmingly oppose the war in Iraq. Monday, he is scheduled to attend a NATO summit in Istanbul, at which the US intends to press for an agreement to help train Iraqi security units. NATO "has the capability and, I believe, the responsibility" to help Iraq defeat terrorism," Bush said.

The Federal Reserve appears set to raise interest rates for the first time in four years in what it hopes will be a "measured" campaign to keep inflation at bay as the economy strengthens. The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to raise overnight borrowing costs by a quarter-percent from the current 46-year low of 1 percent when it meets this week. Analysts say the rate hike will have little impact on consumers since credit costs, including mortgages, already have risen in anticipation.

Illinois Republicans rushed to find a replacement for US Senate candidate Jack Ryan, who dropped out of the race Friday, four months before the election, amid allegations of tawdry sexual behavior. About 150 GOP leaders met to discuss candidates who might mount a comeback against Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama. They were exected to make a decision within three weeks.

Declaring that he will not cross a union picket line, Sen. John Kerry said he may cancel a speech before the US Conference of Mayors in Boston Monday. The city's police pressed for a more generous contract as they marched outside a hotel Saturday morning where mayors from across the nation arrived for their annual meeting. Their union, which is seeking a pay raise of about 17 percent over four years, was joined, among other supporters, by the wife and daughter of Mayor Martin Chavez (D) of Albuquer-que, N.M.

The CIA has suspended use of some White House-approved interrogation tactics employed to extract information from reluctant Al Qaeda prisoners, The Washington Post reported. Citing unnamed intelligence officials, the newspaper said in Sunday's editions that CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques" were put on hold pending a review by the Justice Department and other lawyers.

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