Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono begins a three-day state visit to Britain on Wednesday, with officials keen to impress the emerging Asian power with a display of pomp and pageantry.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono begins a three-day state visit to Britain on Wednesday, with officials keen to impress the emerging Asian power with a display of pomp and pageantry.

Turkey is ruling out any dialogue with the Syrian regime, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday, a day after Moscow called for negotiations with Damascus as the only way to end the escalating conflict.

Violence between security forces and Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey left one police officer and eight rebels dead, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Monday.

Turkish artillery struck back on Monday after a shell fired from neighbouring Syria ploughed into Turkish territory without causing any casualties, the state-run news agency reported.

The Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have shoulder-launched missile systems,including Stingers made by the United States, Russia's top general said on Wednesday.

Twenty-eight Turkish soldiers were wounded and Iranian gas supplies to Turkey interrupted Friday after Kurdish rebels attacked a pipeline linking the two countries, media reports said.

World-renowned Turkish pianist Fazil Say went on trial on Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and offending Muslims in a series of provocative comments on Twitter, in a case that could revive fears of the Islamisation of Turkish society.

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has warned that the Syria conflict risks setting the region "ablaze", as clashes broke out across the border with Lebanon.

The United States is still mulling ways to stop the fighting in Syria, including a no-fly zone, as the Syrian regime is "ratcheting up the brutality of their tactics," a US official said Wednesday.

Syrian rebels shot down a helicopter on Wednesday as troops tried to retake a key town, a watchdog said, and peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that the conflict risks setting the region ablaze.

Rebels downed a helicopter in fierce fighting Wednesday with troops seeking to retake a key Syrian town, a watchdog said, as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned the conflict risks setting the region ablaze.

Turkey's Kurdish rebels will retaliate to any Turkish attacks on Kurds in war-torn Syria, the second in command of the outlawed PKK said in an interview published Wednesday.

Syria said on Tuesday that it was interested in exploring a proposal by the UN and Arab League peace envoy for a truce later this month even as it unleashed multiple air strikes on rebel positions on a key highway.

The United States on Monday called on all Syria's neighbors to keep a careful watch over their airspace, after Turkey said it had intercepted a Syrian plane from Russia carrying military equipment.

An Armenian plane carrying humanitarian aid to Syria's battered second city of Aleppo took off again Monday after being made to land in eastern Turkey for a security check on its cargo, the Anatolia news agency reported.

An Armenian plane ordered to land in Turkey Monday for security checks while en route to Syria's battered second city of Aleppo was allowed to resume its flight Monday after nothing suspicious was found, Anatolia news agency said.

Turkey has banned Syrian flights from its airspace in a tit-for-tat move, while Iran handed a "detailed proposal" to UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi aimed at ending the conflict between the Syria's army and rebels.

Natural gas supplies from Iran to Turkey, interrupted by a pipeline blast for six days, have resumed, said an official statement Sunday cited by Anatolia news agency.

Fighting raged between troops and rebels in Syria as Damascus ratcheted up the tension with Ankara by banning all Turkish passenger flights from Syrian airspace from Sunday.