Turkish police detained four Ukrainian feminists who staged a topless protest in one of the busiest spots of Istanbul on Thursday, said an AFP photographer. Four activists of the Femen group chanted slogans and unfurled banners outside Hagia Sophia church, now a museum, to protest against domestic violence in Turkey and to express solidarity with female victims of acid attacks. Shortly after the group's protest marking International Women's Day, police rushed to the scene and dragged the activists into a police vehicle. Femen, a small but feisty feminist group based in Ukraine, operates under >>>

ANKARA, Turkey - Parliament marked International Women’s Day on Thursday by approving a package of laws aimed at better protecting women and children from abuse. Turkey, as it vies for European Union membership, is struggling to discard long-held cultural practices that denigrate women in a largely patriarchal society. The predominantly Muslim country also is fighting to curb “honor killings’’ of women deemed to have tarnished the reputation of their relatives, sometimes by having a premarital affair or a child out of wedlock. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan >>>