A law enforcement official said Pedro Hernandez was taken into custody on Wednesday in New Jersey and was being questioned about the disappearance 33 years ago of six-year-old Etan Patz. Hernandez had not been charged with a crime.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

A woman who answered the door at Hernandez's home confirmed he was in custody.

The development came one day before the anniversary of the boy's disappearance, when detectives traditionally receive a landslide of hoaxes and false leads.

Patz vanished in May 1979 while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time. His disappearance ushered in an era of anxiety about leaving children unsupervised. The boy's photo was one of the first of a missing child put on a milk carton in a national campaign to find them.

At the time of the boy's disappearance, the man in custody lived in the same Manhattan neighborhood as Patz. He had been known to detectives for years, but it was unclear what brought them back to him now.

The boy's family did not immediately return a message requesting comment.

In the past, the case seemed to have been largely focused on Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester, now serving time in Pennsylvania, who had been dating the boy's babysitter at the time he disappeared. The boy's father, Stan Patz, had his son declared legally dead in 2001 so he could sue Ramos, who has never been charged criminally and denies harming the boy. A civil judge in 2004 found him to be responsible for Etan's death.

In 2010, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr announced he was reinvestigating the case.

More recently, the focus had shifted to a 75-year-old Brooklyn resident, though he was not named a suspect and denied any involvement. In 1979, he was a handyman who had a work space in a basement that was searched in April. The search yielded no obvious human remains and little forensic evidence that would help solve the decades-long mystery.

The handyman's lawyer has maintained his client was not involved in the crime.

The nub of the dispute appeared to be Iran's demand for fast relief from sanctions as part of any deal for it to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment, a pathway to nuclear arms, whereas Western powers insisted Tehran must first shut it down.

But there was no sign of either breakdown or breakthrough in the talks that European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the six powers, and Iranian chief delegate Saeed Jalili extended well into a second day in Baghdad.

The main goal of the six big powers jointly negotiating with the Islamic Republic is an Iranian agreement to scale back its uranium enrichment in a transparent way to ensure it cannot be diverted to bombmaking.

An Iranian delegate who asked not to be named poured cold water on hints from Western diplomats that the sides appeared to be nearing common ground on ideas for an outline deal.

"What we heard in Istanbul was more interesting," he said. "We believe the reason (the powers) are not able to reach a result is America."

Tehran wants any nuclear deal to spare it from an EU embargo on its vital oil exports due to be phased in fully by July 1, a potentially crippling economic blow.

The PFC Auction house, which is based in the Channel Islands between England and France, said in a statement that the seller had obtained the vial legally at a US auction earlier this year but had decided against proceeding with yesterday's auction.

The decision not to sell the controversial item linked to the 1981 assassination attempt on the former president was praised by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California.

"We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter," said John Heubusch, executive director of the foundation.

He said he was pleased the late president's blood will be kept "out of public hands."

The vial had been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan's blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin.

"While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory, and the US auction sale in February 2012, were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation," Heubusch said.

Reagan's family, his foundation and his surgeon had earlier this week criticized the proposed sale. Online bidding on the item had reached about US$30,000 when the sale was suspended.

The three South Gauteng High Court judges called a recess after the emotional display. After a break of over two hours, judges and lawyers agreed to resume at a date to be decided later.

President Jacob Zuma is asking the High Court to issue an order that display of the now-defaced painting violates his constitutional right to dignity. The gallery and the artist counter that freedom of expression, also protected by the constitution, is at stake.

Two men had walked into the Goodman Gallery on Tuesday and defaced the portrait with paint. The gallery then removed the painting and closed indefinitely. Yesterday's hearing was broadcast live. Leaders of the ruling African National Congress were present, as were several of the 70-year-old Zuma's children.

As arguments began, the judges closely questioned Zuma's lawyer Gcina Malindi on points of law, race, art and the limits of their ability to control publication on the Internet.

Malindi argued that the court should take into account not just the opinions of a "super class" of art experts, but how the painting was likely to be seen by the country's black majority, denied education under apartheid. Malindi, who is black, said that many blacks still lived in poverty after the end of apartheid in 1994. He then sobbed. His colleagues rushed to put their arms around his shoulders.

Pilot Andre Borschberg planned to take the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to Madrid, Spain, by today. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the aircraft for the second stretch of its 2,500-kilometer journey to the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Fog on the runaway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland, delayed the take off by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype single-seater aircraft is to adverse weather.

"We can't fly into clouds because it was not designed for that," Borschberg said as he piloted the lumbering plane with its 63-meter wingspan toward the eastern French city of Lyon at a cruising speed of just 70 kilometers an hour.

Before landing in Madrid in the early hours of today, Borschberg will face other challenges, including having to overfly the Pyrenees mountains that separate France and Spain.

Just in case things go disastrously wrong, Borschberg has a parachute inside his tiny cabin that he hopes never to use. "When you take an umbrella it never rains," he joked in a satellite call.

Piccard - the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard - will have to cross the windy Straits of Gibraltar from Europe to Africa.

The mission is described as the final dress rehearsal for a round-the-world flight with a new and improved aircraft in 2014. That trip will include stops in the United States, said Borschberg.

In 2010, the Swiss flew non-stop for 26-hour to demonstrate that the 12,000 solar cells attached to the aircraft can soak up enough sunlight to keep the plane airborne through the night. A year later, he took Solar Impulse on its first international flight to Belgium and France.

The 45-year-old man will get an injection today that lowers testosterone-suppressing hormones and aims to inhibit sexual impulses, Justice Ministry officials said on condition of anonymity.

South Korea passed a law in 2010 allowing judges or a Justice Ministry panel the option of ordering chemical castration after a series of violent sexual assaults on children sparked public outrage.

The man to be castrated this week was convicted four times between 1984 and 2002 of raping or sexually molesting girls under the ages of 13, the ministry said in a separate statement. A psychiatric test has concluded the man is a pedophile.

He will be released from prison in July under the condition that he receive injections every three months for three years, according to the ministry.

Under the law, those who refuse or miss an injection could be returned to prison for up to seven years.

New Zealand's government yesterday squeezed smokers more than ever by announcing a 40 percent hike in tobacco taxes over the next four years. Prices here are already among the highest in the world, and by 2016 they will top 20 New Zealand dollars (US$15) a pack on average.

Officials hope higher taxes and new restrictions will bring the nation of 4.4 million closer to a recent pledge to snuff out the habit entirely by 2025. Other countries have lauded the idea of trying to wean their populace off tobacco, but few, if any, have been willing to put a date on it.

Health officials here are so serious they recently considered hiking the cost of a pack of cigarettes to NZ$100. Although that idea was dismissed, another measure, which will force retailers to hide cigarettes below the counter rather than putting them on display, will come into effect in July.

Smoking rates among New Zealand adults have fallen from about 30 percent in 1986 to about 20 percent today. Cigarette sales have fallen more sharply, suggesting that even people who haven't quit cut back as prices rose.

People who are still smoking aren't happy about where prices are going. Chris Hobman said the cost is "horrendous" and could drive some low-income people to commit crimes to support their habit. He said the government needs to provide more support and alternatives to smokers if it's serious about making them quit.

Wellington resident Hayley Mauriohooho, who has smoked for about 20 years, said that although it would be good if more people quit, higher taxes won't stop her. "It's quite ridiculous for the government to be concentrating on that. They have bigger things to worry about."

New Zealand's Cancer Society reacted to the announcement by sending out a press release titled "Thumbs Up!"

The New Zealand branch of cigarette company British American Tobacco says the tax increases will force consumers to turn to the black market.

The South Pacific nation's smoking statistics are similar to those in other developed countries. According to a 2011 study by the World Health Organization, about 20 percent of adult New Zealanders smoke. That compares to about 16 percent of adults in the United States, 17 percent in Australia, 23 percent in China and 27 percent in France. New Zealand already charges more than 70 percent tax on cigarettes, compared to 41 percent on average for China, 45 percent on average for the US, 64 percent for Australia and 80 percent for France.

The singer made the comment to her 24 million Twitter followers, sparking an online uproar yesterday in Thailand where some fans called it offensive, insulting and bad for the country's image.

It's the latest publicity-making turn of events as "The Born This Way Ball" travels through Asia.

Lady Gaga's provocative lyrics and costumes have angered Catholic groups in South Korea and the Philippines and Islamists in Indonesia, where the show may be banned.

Now she is stirring nationalist fervor in Thailand, where people tend to get upset when the country's seedy underworld is highlighted by outsiders.

"We are more civilized than you think," tweeted Thai DJ Surahit Siamwalla, who has a ticket to today's show in Bangkok but said he plans to boycott.

"She came to our home, but instead of admiring us she insulted us," said a commentator on popular Thai web board pantip.com.

Lady Gaga posted her tweet shortly after her private jet arrived on Wednesday night: "I just landed in Bangkok baby! Ready for 50,000 screaming Thai monsters. I wanna get lost in a lady market and buy fake Rolex."

It is unclear what a "lady market" is but some Thai fans assumed she meant the popular outdoor Ladies Market in Hong Kong, where she already toured - and also eyed the luxury knockoffs.

"I love this city," she tweeted on April 30 after taking a Hong Kong spin class. "You can work out & buy a fake Birkin on the same street."

Not all Thai fans objected to the off-color comment. A screaming mob greeted Lady Gaga at the airport. Crowds thronged her five-star hotel, where she signed autographs and hugged one female fan who left in tears.

If Lady Gaga does have time to shop in Bangkok, she'll see that the city has more to offer than just fake watches, Thai fan Nont Armarttasn sarcastically noted on his Facebook page. "Welcome to the land of counterfeit products, love," he said. "I'm sure there are plenty of fake Gaga CDs, too."