Turkey signalled its growing impatience with the European Union on Thursday night by warning that its ministers would not turn up in Luxembourg for membership talks until they are sent a copy of the ground rules. Irritated by the EU’s failure to reach agreement on a framework for the talks, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, declared he would remain in Turkey until he is sent a copy.

The Nile has witnessed more centuries of human eccentricity than any of the world’s great rivers, but what it is now experiencing must rank high in its annals of misery. Hundreds of people laden with bags, bedding and bicycles wait disconsolately on wharves. Under the unremitting sun, anxious passengers crowd the flat decks of rickety barges meant only for cargo.

A volley of evening suicide bombs devastated the centre of the mainly Shia town of Balad, killing at least 60 people and injuring 70 others, as United States top brass admitted there were fewer Iraqi troops capable of fighting insurgents than previously claimed.

European scientists are preparing to monitor the neighbour from hell. Venus Express, a robot spacecraft little bigger than a fridge, is to be the first mission to the second rock from the sun in 15 years. Venus is 4,6-billion years old, of similar diameter and mass to the Earth, and made of the same rocks. It occupies the same neighbourhood and should be warm and welcoming, like Earth. But it is not.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will hit the streets on Monday in two provinces, kickstarting a series of provincial strikes planned over the next few months to protest against joblessness. But the potency of localised mass action has ”dubious merit”, say analysts.

The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) released its 2004/2005 annual report at a function in Johannesburg yesterday. Covering the period from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005.