Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been chosen to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as the candidate for the governing conservative Popular Party in next year’s general elections, Aznar’s office said today.

Basque terror group Eta resumed their bloody campaign for an independent homeland today with a a car bomb attack that killed two policemen and critically wounded another in northern Spain.

A TANKER carrying 20,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas caught fire in Chinese waters east of Hong Kong yesterday, risking a huge explosion, authorities said, though the wind drove flames away from the ship's cargo area.

Amid increasing criticism over the Spanish government’s handling of the Prestige disaster, Environment Minister Jaume Matas blamed a Dutch salvage company for the spillage of millions of gallons of toxic fuel oil from the sunken tanker last week, a newspaper reported Sunday.