Turkey's conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stirred controversy with weekend remarks in favor of single-sex dorms in the mainly Muslim but staunchly secular country.

"Female and male students cannot live in the same house," the head of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) was quoted as saying by the Turkish press on Monday.

Turkish authorities have seized a large quantity of chemicals from a convoy trying to illegally enter the country from Syria, which "could be transformed into weapons", the army said Sunday.

The convoy of three vehicles refused to stop as it attempted to illegally cross the border on Saturday near the southeastern town Turkish town of Reyhanli, the army said in a statement.

Syria could become a "Mediterranean Afghanistan" if the international community does not act to end its civil war, Turkish president Abdullah Gul warned in an interview published by the Guardian on Sunday.

Gul, who was speaking to the British newspaper during a visit to the Scottish capital Edinburgh, called the world's response "very disappointing" and said the U.N. Security Council's reaction had been a "disgrace".

A senior U.S. defense official has held talks in Turkey, the embassy said Saturday, after Washington expressed "serious concerns" about Ankara's plans to acquire a long-range anti-missile system from China.

Turkey announced in September it was entering negotiations with the China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation (CPMIEC) to buy its first long-range anti-missile system.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday the "will of the people had prevailed" after four female lawmakers wore headscarves in parliament for the first time in years, breaking a taboo in the staunchly secular country.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lifted in September a decades-old ban on headscarves in the civil service as part of a package of reforms meant to improve democracy and freedoms.

Rail passengers using Turkey's new tunnel under the Bosphorus had to walk part of their journey Wednesday when an electricity failure briefly halted services, just a day after its grand opening.

The 13.6-kilometre (8.5 mile) undersea tunnel in Istanbul -- the world's first linking two continents -- was inaugurated with great fanfare on Tuesday as the government's "project of the century".

A Moroccan appeals court on Monday reduced the sentence of a journalist convicted on Syria-linked terror charges from four to three years, his lawyer told Agence France Presse.

The court reduced journalist Moustapha Hasnaoui's sentence by one year, lawyer Khaled al-Idriss said, after he was convicted on terror charges in July.

Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas Monday to disperse around 2,000 people protesting at a court's refusal to detain a policeman accused of killing a demonstrator during the popular unrest in June.

A police officer identified only as Ahmet S. is on trial accused of shooting to death 26-year-old Ethem Sarisuluk during mass anti-government street protests in Ankara in June.

A man was killed and his daughter wounded in southeastern Turkey by a mortar shell fired from across the border with war-torn Syria, health officials said.

The latest incident brought to 10 the number of casualties on the Turkish side of the border since last year as a result of the conflict raging in Syria.

The trial of a Turkish policeman accused of shooting dead a demonstrator in Ankara during anti-government protests will resume Monday, with the victim's family calling for mass rallies to demand justice.

The policeman had appeared on September 23 before the court for "exceeding legitimate self-defense" for shooting 26-year-old Ethemer Sarisuluk in the head during a protest in June.