Turkey has more journalists in jail than any other country, followed by Iran and China, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Tuesday.

The number of journalists in prison reached a record high this year, as critical reporters and editors were charged with "terrorism" and other crimes against the state, the New York-based group said.

A Turkish police officer was fatally shot and two people wounded in a crowded Istanbul square on Tuesday when at least two assailants opened fire, local television reported.

The broad-daylight assault saw attackers shoot at the officer as he was walking across the square in the Gaziosmanpasa district, the private NTV news network reported.

Turkey has more journalists in jail than any other country, followed by Iran and China, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Tuesday.

The number of journalists in prison reached a record high this year, as critical reporters and editors were charged with "terrorism" and other crimes against the state, the New York-based group said.

U.S.-made Patriot missiles will not be deployed right at Turkey's volatile border with Syria but rather a short distance away, a move to reassure Russia that they are only for defense purposes, a diplomatic source said on Monday.

"We want to keep the missiles away from the border in order not to cause any misunderstanding with Russia and to make it clear that their deployment is purely to defend Turkish territory," he said.

The traces of poison found in an autopsy on the exhumed remains of Turkish president Turgut Ozal, who died in office in 1993, were too minute to be lethal, the pro-government daily Sabah reported Saturday.

The insecticide DDT, heavy metal cadmium and radioactive substances polonium and americium were present in "minute doses", Sabah said, quoting a Forensic Medicine Council report to be released in the coming days.

The Dutch cabinet on Friday gave the go-ahead to sending NATO Patriot missiles to Turkey to defend its border against Syria, along with a maximum 360 soldiers to operate them.

"The cabinet has decided shortly to send two Dutch Patriot batteries to contribute to the protection of our NATO ally Turkey," a government statement said.

Syrian refugees wait in line for food at a Turkish refugee camp -- not crowding around an aid truck but queuing at an ordinary supermarket to pay for goods using electronic debit cards.

Under the experimental project launched by the U.N. World Food Program and the Turkish Red Crescent, thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict raging in their homeland now receive cards charged with aid credits rather than boxes of basic supplies.

Iraq wants a new start to improve its strained relations with Turkey and is extending an olive branch to its neighbor, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an interview published on Thursday.

"The current situation does not satisfy anyone, neither the Iraqi nor the Turkish people," Maliki was quoted as saying by Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper in an interview conducted in Baghdad.

The German government said Wednesday it had approved participation in a NATO mission to deploy Patriot missiles to help member state Turkey defend its border against Syria and will send up to 400 troops.

The foreign and defense ministries said in a joint statement that the mandate, which is expected to be presented to parliament early next week, would run to January 31, 2014.

Turkish troops have killed 13 Kurdish rebels during clashes that erupted Tuesday in a mountainous area in southern Turkey near Syria, the local governor's office said Wednesday.

Backed by air power, the Turkish army launched an offensive against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Amanos mountains and clashes were continuing on Wednesday, the governor's office added.