This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

* Turkey’s Erdogan receives hero’s welcome in Egypt

* Turkey escalates military threat with Israel in Mediterranean

* U.S. refuses Turkey’s request for drones to fight PKK terrorists

* Turkey ‘demands’ Iran’s help in fighting the PKK terrorists

* Iran’s Ahmadinejad, on ‘charm offensive’, pardons U.S. hikers

* Abbas will apply for full U.N. membership for Palestinian state

* European leaders to support Greece after Obama’s intervention

* Italy’s bond auction results in high interest rates

* China has new food scandal: gutter cooking oil

Turkey’s Erdogan receives hero’s welcome in Egypt

This photo accompanies the Ahram article, but it’s critical of Erdogan. The sign says, ‘What is happening in Syria is an Internal Turkish Matter’

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has started his Arab cooperation-building tour in Cairo, Egypt, after cutting ties with Israel, and has received a hero’s welcome. Erdogan plans to continue his trip in Libya and Tunisia. Ahram

Turkey escalates military threat with Israel in Mediterranean

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems intent on speeding up history. The Turkish Navy is planning to dispatch three frigates to the Eastern Mediterranean to confront Israeli warships. The Turkish frigates, to be dispatched by the Navy’s Southern Sea Area Command, will provide protection to civilian ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. If the Turkish warships encounter an Israeli military ship outside Israel’s 12-mile territorial waters, they will advance up to 100 meters close to the ship and disable its weapon system, in a confrontation that resembles dogfights in the Aegean Sea with Greek jet fighters. Zaman (Istanbul)

U.S. refuses Turkey’s request for drones to fight PKK terrorists

The Obama administration has turned down a Turkish request for the deployment of US Predator drones at Turkish bases until Ankara stops threatening Israel with armed attack. The drones are needed in Turkey’s war against terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK, aware of the dispute, ave stepped up their raids in recent days on Turkish territory, killing nine people including army and police personnel. Debka

Turkey ‘demands’ Iran’s help in fighting the PKK terrorists

Attacks from Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists on Turkey have been rising since mid-July, and have killed dozens of security forces as well as civilians and pushed the government to adopt a new anti-terror strategy. Turkey has demanded human and technical intelligence from Iran on the PKK’s hideouts in the Kandil Mountains on the border between Iraq and Iran. Speculation is growing that Turkey is planning a major ground operation into northern Iraq to fight the PKK. Hurriyet (Ankara)

Iran’s Ahmadinejad, on ‘charm offensive’, pardons U.S. hikers

NBC’s Ann Curry interviews Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Today Show (MSNBC)

Pursuing what many pundits are calling a “charm offensive,” Iran’s hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, gave an interview to Ann Curry on NBC’s Today Show, saying that the detained U.S. hikers had to be punished. Next, he gave an interview to the Washington Post, where he said, “I am helping to arrange for their release in a couple of days so they will be able to return home.” Later, the lawyer representing the hikers, said he had been told by court officials that each of them would have to pay $500,000 in bail. MSNBC and Washington Post and AP

Abbas will apply for full U.N. membership for Palestinian state

Senior Palestinian officials have confirmed that they will apply to the United Nations Security Council for full membership in the United Nations for a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders. It’s thought that going to the Security Council, where a United States veto is expected, will garner sympathy in the General Assembly for to admit a Palestinian state as an “Observer State,” which would not require Security Council approval. Haaretz

European leaders to support Greece after Obama’s intervention

After several days of frenzied speculation that Greece was about to default, a “radical shift” in policy has occurred, and European leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are adopting a unified approach to prevent a default by Greece. The policy shift came about after President Barack Obama intervened, and pressed the EU leaders to show leadership. According to Merkel, “We must always keep in view that we do everything in a controlled way, that we know the consequences, because otherwise a situation could very quickly arise in the eurozone that none of us wants and that could have very, very difficult consequences for us all.” Kathimerini

Italy’s bond auction results in high interest rates

Italy’s Treasury had to offre investors 5.6% interest to sell €6.5 billion ($8.89 billion) of bonds maturing in five year’s time. This was substantially higher than its last comparable auction, in July, when it paid under 5% interest. Italy’s bond yields have not yet reached the astronomically high levels for Greek bonds, but they’re trending inexorably upward, just as they have for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The spread of Greece’s “contagion” to Italy is a danger to the entire euro zone, since Italy is too big for a bailout. Wall Street Journal (Access)

China has new food scandal: gutter cooking oil

China has had some major food scandals. (See “A generational view of China’s growing melamine food disaster.”) Now, police have arrested 32 suspects who allegedly produced cooking oil recycled from the waste and sold them to restaurants. More than 100 tonnes of the illegal cooking oil, made from leftovers dredged from gutters behind restaurants, were seized after police bust a criminal network spanning 14 provinces. China Daily