■ TURKEY
Nuclear talks slow going
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana ruled out yesterday any "great breakthrough" in his talks with Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani on Tehran's controversial nuclear program. "We had a constructive meeting [but] we will not be in a position to make a great breakthrough during this visit," he told reporters. Solana and Larijani arrived on Wednesday and had a five-hour meeting about ending the stand-off resulting from Iran's defiance of UN Security Council demands for it to stop enriching uranium. Speaking to reporters late on Wednesday, Larijani reported some progress, telling reporters: "There are ideas on the table ... In about two weeks time again we would be having some more talks."
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Blaze halts trains
Trains stopped running and more than 200 people evacuated yesterday because of a large fire near railway tracks in south London, the fire brigade and Southeastern trains said. "A range of buildings of one or two floors in an area of 150 by 50m, 60 percent of buildings are alight," a fire brigade spokeswoman said. The fire took place in Lewisham. The spokeswoman said a 200m exclusion zone had been thrown up around the area and about 200 people evacuated by police. No one was hurt and about 40 firefighting trucks were on the scene.
■ UNITED STATES
Calls for Wolfowitz to quit
Calls for the resignation of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz grew on Wednesday as the European Parliament voiced its displeasure over allegations that Wolfowitz showed favoritism in arranging a promotion and pay package for his girlfriend. The demand by the EU's legislature that the development chief step down comes as a special panel at the bank is investigating whether Wolfowitz violated any bank rules in his handling of the promotion of bank employee Shaha Riza to a high-paying job at the State Department in 2005. The World Bank's 24-member board will ultimately decide what action, if any, to take.
■ UNITED STATES
Cops nab Captain America
A man dressed as the comic book hero Captain America was arrested after allegedly grabbing a woman inappropriately at a Florida bar and fighting with her boyfriend. Raymond Adamcik, 54, was arrested on Saturday night. He later tried to flush marijuana he had likely hidden in his costume down a toilet at a police station, police spokeswoman Jill Frederiksen said. She said a number of patrons at the bar were dressed in costumes as part of a bar crawl. A handful of people dressed as Captain America were asked to step outside so the woman could identify the individual, Frederiksen said.
■ GAMBIA
AIDS expert speaks out
One of Africa's leading AIDS specialists, Souleymane Mboup, has accused the Gambian government of covertly obtaining blood tests from his laboratory to try to convince the world of the efficacy of the Gambian president's herbal remedy for the disease. President Yahya Jammeh has been treating people with HIV in the compound of the presidential palace with herbal rubs and drinks, which he claims are a cure. To the alarm of the International Aids Society (IAS) his patients have stopped taking antiretroviral drugs.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not