Three young men wearing woollen caps on a warm day and with handkerchiefs covering their faces were seen at a railway station hours before the Madrid bombing atrocity that killed 190 people, the investigation into the attacks was told today.

Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero became Spain’s prime minister today as he took the oath of office in a formal ceremony presided over by King Juan Carlos.

Spanish troops in Iraq will be withdrawn unless the United Nations takes over both political and military control of the situation there, Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said today, hours before he was expected to win approval as prime minister.

Three exit polls from today’s Spanish general election showed the ruling conservatives losing a large number of seats, with the race too close to call.

Spaniards went to the polls today in a general election thrown wide open by a reported al-Qaida claim that it staged the Madrid rail bombings to punish the government for supporting the Iraq war.