Japan will have a new prime minister by early next week, a Cabinet minister said today.

Japan's economy contracted for a third straight quarter as consumer spending and factory production continued to suffer in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami.

Car giant Toyota eked out a 1.1 billion yen (€10m) profit in the last quarter, managing to stay in the black despite the devastation of the quake and tsunami in north-eastern Japan.

Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan refused to resign today as opposition politicians criticising his disaster management prepared to file a no-confidence motion in parliament.

Japan’s central bank said it is keeping its key interest rate unchanged at virtually zero to shore up a lacklustre economy.

Japan’s economy contracted sharply in the first quarter, veering back into recession as factory production and consumer spending wilted in the aftermath of March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan was to release a revised roadmap today for stabilising its stricken nuclear plant amid signs that three troubled reactors have suffered worse-than-expected damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

JAPANESE officials said they were committed to nuclear power despite calls from the prime minister for a plant to close.

The utility company that runs the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant said today two workers were killed when the wave swept ashore.

Japan has promised to overhaul nuclear safety standards once it regains control of the wrecked Fukushima complex, admitting its current safeguards were not enough.

Japanese nuclear safety officials say they suspect that the reactor core at one unit of the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant may have breached.

A pool for storing spent fuel at Japan's crippled nuclear plant is heating up, with temperatures around boiling point, an official said today.

Honda is today extending its suspension of car and motorcycle production in Japan until Sunday amid a shortage of parts following the colossal earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.

THE World Health Organisation says radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors.

Spain has put its security forces on full alert as it prepares for the verdict in Europe’s biggest Islamic terror trial.

THREE years on from the train bombings that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800, Spain’s political and social wounds are still aching, and the country is torn by a host of conspiracy theories.

Spanish police have arrested the alleged leader of two cells suspected of recruiting fighters for the Iraqi insurgency before being broken up this week.

A prime suspect in last year’s train bombings in Madrid took the stand today at the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members and denied he had anything but a business relationship with their accused leader, who allegedly helped plot the September 11 attacks in the US

A CAR bomb exploded near Madrid’s main convention centre yesterday, injuring 43 people, hours before Spanish and Mexican leaders were due there and after a warning from the Basque separatist group ETA.

A judge today jailed two Moroccan brothers on provisional charges of collaborating with a terrorist group in connection with the deadly Madrid train bombings last year, but ordered their parents to be released.

Spanish police today arrested a Moroccan family suspected of having direct links to last year’s Madrid train bombings.

Christians around the world celebrated Christmas today with the Pope leading prayers for peace and a more tranquil future, pilgrims flocking to Bethlehem and Iraqis staying away from church amid fears of bomb attacks.

Four suspected Islamic militants arrested in the Canary Islands arrived in Madrid under heavy guard today, an official said.

A Spanish judge today was to question an alleged mastermind of the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people in Spain’s worst terrorist attack.

European Union justice and interior ministers were today discussing a contentious plan on retaining data from telephone calls and e-mails as part of beefed-up measures to fight terrorism and organised crime.

SPANISH TV yesterday broadcast chilling security-camera footage of the Madrid train bombings in which 191 people died. It showed at least one bomb exploding inside a train at Atocha station.

Spanish TV broadcast chilling security-camera footage of the Madrid terror attack today. It showed at least one bomb exploding inside a train at Atocha station.

The Spanish government deliberately ignored a mosque known for fundamentalist preachings and frequented by suspects in the Madrid train bombings because the facility was financed by Saudi Arabia, according to an academic expert.

Crown Prince Felipe wrapped up a sun-soaked relay through the streets of Madrid today, touching the torch to light an Olympic cauldron in one of the capital’s most symbolic squares.

Police in the northern mining region of Asturias arrested two more Spaniards on Monday accused of helping supply the dynamite used in the Madrid train bombings attacks, authorities said.

THE Spanish government is to ask Italy to extradite an Egyptian considered one of the masterminds of the Madrid terror attack.

ITALIAN anti-terrorist police yesterday captured one of the masterminds of the March 11 Madrid bombings as part of an investigation involving police in at least two other European countries.

Even torrential rain failed to dampen Spain’s spectacular royal wedding, according to the country’s newspapers today, with all highlighting that, apart from the glamour, the event marked a crucial moment for the future of the monarchy.

Spain was today putting the final touches to preparations for tomorrow’s royal wedding between Crown Prince Felipe and former TV anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz.

THE fingerprints of an American lawyer arrested over the Madrid terror bombings were found on bag containing detonators of the kind used in the March attack, the Spanish government said yesterday.

The United States will not force the issue of placing armed sky marshals on transatlantic airliners if Europe rejects such anti-terrorist precautions, an official said today.

An al-Qaida videotape threatening more terrorist attacks against Spain singles out the incoming Socialist government for its decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said today.

A month after the Madrid train-bomb massacre, 46 people are still being treated in hospital while the country remains on alert for possible further attacks.

Pope John Paul II braved a rainy night chill to lead prayers at the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum, holding in his trembling hands a cross passed to him by a young woman from Madrid, in a sign of solidarity with the city after the March 11 bombings.

A videotape found in a flat where suspected terrorists blew themselves up gives Spain a deadline to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan or face more bloodshed at home.

Mar Roman, Madrid

Police tightened security in Madrid today after an Islamic group, which claimed responsibility for the March 11 train bombings in the capital, threatened to turn Spain into “an inferno”.

Forensic scientists were struggling today to analyse body parts from up to four Madrid bombing suspects who blew themselves up as police prepared to storm their apartment.