NORTH KOREA: Senior North Korean and Russian military officials discussed strengthening co-operation in their latest talks this week in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said today.

The Korean Central News Agency said that North Korean officials, led by Pak Yong Il, vice-director of the Korean People’s Army’s general political bureau, held talks on Wednesday with a Russian delegation headed by vice defence minister Viktor Goremykin.

CHINA: The United States’ demand that China joins in any future nuclear arms control negotiations is unreasonable and unfeasible at this stage, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said today.

Ms Mao told a news briefing: “China’s nuclear capabilities are not comparable to those of the US and Russia, and demanding that China join nuclear arms control negotiations at this stage is unfair, unreasonable and unfeasible.”

INDONESIA: Multiple explosions shook a mosque at a high school during Friday prayers in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, injuring at least 54 people, mostly students, police said.

Witnesses told local television stations that they heard at least two loud blasts at noon at the mosque within a navy compound in Jakarta’s northern Kelapa Gading neighbourhood. 

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known but they came from near the mosque’s loudspeaker, according to Jakarta police chief Asep Edi Suheri.

FRANCE: Protesters repeatedly disrupted a concert by the Israel Philharmonic orchestra in Paris on Thursday, throwing flares that led musicians to leave the stage. Authorities said four people were detained.

Pro-Palestinian activists also demonstrated outside Thursday night’s performance at the Paris Philharmonic concert hall.