World highlights

• Former Islamist Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for Turkey's presidency after pressure from the military and demonstrators who accuse his ruling party of subverting the nation's secular order. A dispirited-looking Mr Gul made the move that could ease a crisis in Turkey after his ruling AK party failed to gain a quorum in Parliament to elect him.

• Pakistan's suspended chief judge told thousands of cheering supporters that dictatorship was a thing of the past and states that ignored the rule of law and basic rights faced destruction. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry arrived in the city of Lahore after tens of thousands of supporters turned out to greet him as he travelled by road from Islamabad.

• A 130-nation meeting on how to fix the fraying nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty faces collapse unless Iran accepts a last-minute South African proposal to overcome its objections to the agenda. The gathering, due to run two weeks to May 11, was meant to set priorities to flesh out at follow-up annual meetings leading to the next decision-making NPT Review Conference in 2010.

• Moroccan officials broke up a network recruiting fighters for al Qaeda's North African branch and arrested 20 people overnight in several towns across the country, state news agency MAP reported yesterday.

• Unidentified gunmen hurled grenades at a UN-run school in the Gaza Strip yesterday, apparently angry at the participation of boys and girls in a sports event, killing one person, residents said.