U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spent four hours talking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan in Istanbul Saturday in what was seen as a fence-mending foray in the wake of Biden's remarks criticizing Turkey for not doing enough to keep Islamic State group supporters from joining the carnage in Syria. Biden and Erdoan discussed a wide range of issues, including Iraq, Syria and Cyprus.

"I have great respect for the president," said Biden, who had already apologized for his earlier remarks at Harvard in early October. " And we have always had a direct, frank and open discussion on every issue because that's what friends do, thats what allies do."

Biden and Erdoan said the United States and Turkey are on "the same page" regarding Iraq and Syria. Today's Zaman noted Turkey has been pushing for a more comprehensive approach to Syria, not just containing ISIS but also removing President Bashar Assad from power.

"We gladly saw that we have the same opinion with the United States on most of the issues we discussed. We confirmed our decision to improve our co-operation. Most importantly, as being two NATO allies, we confirmed once more our commitment to each other's defense and security," Erdoan said.

Biden pledged $135 million in additional aid to Turkey to help deal with the flood of refugees from Syria, saying he knows that's not enough to deal with the crisis.

"Its the government and the people of Turkey that have often cared for those displaced by this war. Accommodating so many is a costly proposition," Biden said. "And the United States has provided humanitarian assistance inside Turkey to refugee countries holding them, but it should not in any way underestimate the amount of the requirements that have imposed upon the president and the people of Turkey."

About 300 people protested Biden's visit, USA Today and the Associated Press reported. Demonstrators chanted, "Biden get out. The country is ours." The protest was organized by the same group that targeted three U.S. sailors in Istanbul with chants of "Yankee, go home" last week.

The talks came amid a backdrop of U.S. airstrikes that have killed 910 people in Syria, including 52 civilians, since September. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 785 of the deaths were Islamic State fighters.

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Vice President Biden Mends Fences In Turkey, Pledges More Funds For Humanitarian Aid

ISTANBUL, Turkey After an extended period of public estrangement and sniping, the United States and Turkey have made up and say they are heading toward close cooperation on defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and eventually seeing the end of the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad.

Vice President Joe Biden, who met for four hours here Saturday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called the bilateral relationship "as strong as it has ever been." Erdogan described Biden's three-day visit as "very meaningful."

The visit did not result in any firm new agreements over such sensitive issues as Turkey's long-standing call that protected buffer zones be created inside Syria along the Turkish border, or U.S. requests to use Turkey's Incirlik Air Base to fly bombing missions against ISIS. But officials from both governments said their cooperation was growing.

Senior U.S. and Turkish officials said their rapprochement has intensified since summer with a series of high-level meetings, including a near-constant flow of visits to Turkey by senior U.S. diplomatic and military officials in the weeks before Biden's trip.

Turkey, which is hosting about 1.6million Syrian refugees, has expressed concern that President Barack Obama's decision to launch airstrikes against ISIS militants controlling much of northern and eastern Syria will push the insurgents into Turkish territory. Erdogan and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also have charged that, with the U.S. bombing campaign against the militants, Obama has lost interest in Turkey's primary goal of helping moderate Syrian opposition rebels to oust Assad.

While the Syrian war has raged for more than three years, Turkey has called for U.S. airstrikes against Syrian government forces. The government's anxiety has grown as the rebels have been driven out of most of their remaining strongholds in northwestern Syria by Assad's military and other militant groups, while the rest of the world has been transfixed by the advance of ISIS.

The United States opposes a buffer zone, and especially the use of U.S. air power to defend one. But the Obama administration has expressed some interest in using rebel forces being trained in a covert CIA program to establish havens along the border with help from Washington and Turkey. The administration recently decided to expand that program, even as Congress has authorized the U.S. military to begin its own training program for rebels to take over territory farther east that is being held by ISIS.

A U.S.-Turkish agreement last month to facilitate the transport and entry of Iraqi Kurdish fighters into the Syrian town of Kobani to battle ISIS fighters also contributed to the new rapprochement between the two governments that Biden's trip was designed in part to solidify.

U.S., Turkey try to mend fences and confront ISIS 11/22/14 [Last modified: Sunday, November 23, 2014 12:06am]

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U.S., Turkey try to mend fences and confront ISIS

Sports Talk: Mets get new fences, talk trades
Fans will see a new fence in the outfield of CitiField next season, as the New York Mets weigh their options on upcoming trades. The Daily News #39; Kristie Acke...

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Sports Talk: Mets get new fences, talk trades - Video

ELKHART, Ind.--- A man driving a Jeep in Elkhart Co. veered off the road, crashed through two fences and landed in a tree, narrowly missing two homes just feet from the crash site.

The accident happened in the 23000 block of Forest Ln. at 9:39 p.m.

Police report says the driver, 27-year-old William Montgomery was taken to Elkhart General Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. He had a cut on his nose, and a cut on his head.

Montgomery was incarcerated for Operating While Intoxicated.

Both nearby homeowners and their families were home at the time of the incident. None were injured.

Homeowner Elena Martin and her family were in their beds when they heard the crash.

"He went between the trees and then he hit my fence and then he went flying about ten yards and then he landed on my trampoline and in my back yard and through my neighbor's fence and into a tree," Martin said.

She said this is not the first time a car has veered off the road at this particular intersection. Residents said they are hoping the latest crash will prompt the county to put in new signage of traffic lights.

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Car crashes through two fences, barely misses nearby homes

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Hayley Cairns - IHSA Novice Over Fences

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Emily Lund - IHSA Open Intermediate Fences

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Students Break the Fences Around Parliament Square! [2]
National Student Demonstration. #FreeEducation #Nov19 Someone had told me earlier that the end of the march was at Leicester Square, but it was at Parliament.

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Students Break the Fences Around Parliament Square! [2] - Video

Mickey and hannah trot fences
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Mickey and hannah trot fences - Video

Unlocking Invisible Fences
A growing problem in Maryland and around the nation, experts in the field call it modern day slavery, others call it child sex trafficking. The FBI calls it the fastest growing global criminal...

By: MarylandPublicTV

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Unlocking Invisible Fences - Video