About 10,000 troops backed by helicopter gunships are hunting down Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerillas nine miles inside Iraqi territory, according to Turkish news reports. Military officials confirmed troops had crossed into northern Iraq on Friday in pursuit of the rebels, but refused to comment further. There were reports that the troops were operating close to the Iraq-Iran border, which could create tensions between Ankara and Tehran, which Turkey accuses of supporting the PKK.Turkish troops often pursue PKK rebels into northern Iraq, a Kurdish- ruled enclave outside Baghdad's control. TURKISH TROOPS swept through northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerillas yesterday as reports emerged of a split among the rebels. Several of the new commissioners hail from the centre right, including Mr Patten and Fritz Bolkenstein from the Netherlands.The European Commission: Fresh Faces And Old HandsGNTER VERHEUGEN: His new job in Brussels comes a fortnight after he criticised his boss, Romano ProdiMICHAELE SCHREYER: The first Green to take a commission job is a virtual unknown outside BerlinCHRIS PATTEN: Ex-governor of Hong Kong, Tory minister and mastermind of the 1992 general election victoryLOYOLA DE PALACIO: Spent years as farms minister battling in Brussels on behalf of Spain's olive growersMARIO MONTI: Commissioner for the single market, he survived the February sleaze scandal unscathedMAIRE GEOGHEGAN-QUINN: Former Dublin minister who left front- bench politics to write for the Irish Times. Mr Prodi has also achieved his desire to see at least five women in his team. Spain has a female nominee, Loyola de Palacio, a well-regarded former agriculture minister.

Ireland's front-runner is its former justice minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.The political balance which Mr Prodi wanted has been accommodated, despite the lack of a German Christian Democrat. Mr Prodi also favoured the reappointment of some of the current team, including Mr Kinnock, currently in charge of transport, Erkki Liikanen, from Finland, and Franz Fischler, the agriculture commissioner. Mr Prodi preferred the scholarly and right-of-centre Mr Monti to the feisty, if less predictable Ms Bonino - and won.Sir Alastair Goodlad, the former Conservative chief whip, was lined up for a job until Mr Prodi made clear he wanted a team of political heavyweights and Mr Patten emerged from the wings. Because Mr Prodi counts as one of Italy's two commissioners, Massimo D'Alema, the Italian Prime Minister, had to sacrifice one of the country's existing incumbents, Mario Monti, the internal market commissioner or Ms Bonino. The extent of his influence became clear when Emma Bonino lost her bid to win renomination to Brussels, despite a newspaper advertising campaign by her Italy radical party. The post of trade commissioner is the most likely compromise.Mr Verheugen's candidacy has delivered one of the first setbacks to Mr Prodi, who will still enjoy more power over his team than any predecessor.

Mr Verheugen had wanted to mastermind the eastward enlargement of the EU but Mr Prodi ruled that Germany's economic interests are too close to that process. Nevertheless Mr Prodi will be able to announce the appointment of at least five women, including the first ever Green commissioner, Germany's Michaele Schreyer, a former senator in Berlin.With last-minute haggling over jobs still under way, Britain is still pressing for Chris Patten to win an important post, two possibilities are EU enlargement or the external relations portfolio. Neil Kinnock is almost certain to be made a vice-president with responsibility for relations with the European Parliament.The allocation of jobs was delayed by protracted discussions between Mr Prodi and Berlin, as the new commission president pressed Mr Schroder to nominate a Christian Democrat as one of the country's two commissioners, following centre-right victories in the European elections.Not only is Mr Verheugen a member of Mr Schroder's left-wing SPD party, he also criticised Mr Prodi publicly last month, accusing him of trying to place people in the wrong jobs. The new, 20-member commission, which will be unveiled formally this week, succeeds the disgraced team which quit en masse in March over allegations of sleaze and cronyism. Despite pressure for a fresh start, at least four of the old commission, including Neil Kinnock, will be back for another term of office, something which could cause a new confrontation with the European Parliament. ROMANO PRODI, the incoming European Commission president, has lost his first high-profile showdown with Gerhard Schroder, the German Chancellor, who has forced him to give a top job to a man he did not want on his team. After protracted discussions on the composition of the new commission, Germany is nominating its Europe minister, Gunter Verheugen who looks set to secure the trade portfolio.

However, the limits of Mr Barak's authority were shown at the weekend when his own party voted down his candidate for Knesset speaker.Negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians are expected to start in October after Mr Barak has had time to settle in.But his election has already led to a quickening of diplomatic activity in the Middle East with President Hafez al-Assad of Syria paying his first visit for years to Moscow this week, in search of support.Although he won the election thanks to a secular Jewish reaction against ultra-orthodox influence, the inclusion of three religious parties in his government shows that he will give the peace process with the Arabs priority over internal reform.Patrick Cockburn, Review, page 5. Shimon Peres, the former prime minister defeated by Mr Netanyahu in 1996, becomes Minister for Regional Development. Yossi Beilin, the architect of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, has been made Justice Minister.Mr Barak, a former Israeli chief of staff who spent thirty years in the army before his meteoric political rise over the past four years, has a reputation for centralising power in his own hands He will serve as Defence Minister as well as Prime Minister. Mr Barak will meet President Bill Clinton in Washington later in the month.Senior members of the Israeli Labour party, which Mr Barak heads, have complained that they have been marginalised or kept at a distance from peace negotiations in the new cabinet.