Spain’s withdrawal of its troops from Iraq should not harm long-term relations with the United States, Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said today, adding that the country would honour its international commitments and remain steadfast in the fight against terrorism.

A Spanish judge charged two more suspects in the Madrid railway bombings early today, bringing the total number of people charged in the case to 14, court officials said.

WORLD leaders dressed in black joined Spanish royalty and families of the 190 victims of Madrid’s train bombings at a state funeral yesterday, honouring those killed in the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

World leaders dressed in black joined Spanish royalty and families of the 190 victims of Madrid’s train bombings at a state funeral today, honouring those killed in the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

European leaders going to tomorrow’s state funeral for victims of the Madrid train bombings will have their first opportunity to meet face-to-face the newly-elected Socialists, and perhaps get a glimmer of Spain’s future foreign policy.

IT’S reassuring, isn’t it, to hear Taoiseach Bertie Ahern declare unequivocally that Ireland is an al-Qaida-free zone?

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.

Traumatised by terrorism, Spaniards today prepared for general elections as a nation in grief, with the ruling party favoured to win and insisting that Basque separatists remain the prime suspect in the rail bombings that killed 199 people.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar pledged today to find those responsible for the worst terrorist attack in Spanish history as the nation mourned the 198 who died in the string of train bombings.

Millions of people were expected to turn out on the streets of Spain today in protest at yesterday’s devastating bomb attacks in Madrid which killed 198 people.

The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said tonight it had received a claim of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings issued by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of al Qaida.

The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has condemned the attacks in Madrid as "mass murder" and he vowed to hunt down the attackers.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar today in his role as president of the European Council.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad today and world leaders – including the war’s most prominent opponents – hailed the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Gunmen shot and killed two South Korean workers and wounded two others north of Baghdad, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.

Guerrillas killed two United States soldiers and wounded a third in an ambush in western Iraq, making November the bloodiest month since the war in the country began on March 20.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder remained defiant today after Germany and France faced down a threat of EU sanctions over their ballooning budget deficits, angering smaller member nations and sparking concern about the euro’s stability.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is due to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar during a one-day trip to Spain today.

Basque terror group Eta returned to the offensive today, killing two policemen and critically injuring another in a car bomb attack in northern Spain.

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.

As anti-war protesters rioted in the streets of the city that gave birth to European democracy, the leaders of 25 nations gathered today to sign treaties sweeping away the 20th century’s Iron Curtain divide.

Tens of thousands of protesters denouncing the United States-led war in Iraq today marched to Spanish military bases used by the US to refuel planes and help care for wounded soldiers.

TENS of thousands of anti-war demonstrators staged huge marches across the world, clashing with police as they converged on heavily guarded US embassies.

US President George W Bush tonight set the US and Britain on course for war within days to depose Saddam Hussein.

Iraq said most of the helicopters used by United Nations weapons inspectors were flown out to Syria today en route to Cyprus after a Western insurance company suspended its cover for the aircraft.

A war on Iraq without a second resolution would be legal, Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar said today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was holding talks with ministers at Downing Street today, before an emergency summit with US president George Bush which could signal the final countdown to war on Iraq.

US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold a crisis meeting tomorrowok in an effort to convince the UN to back a war on Iraq.

Intensifying his diplomatic efforts to avert a war against Iraq, Pope John Paul II is sending a special envoy to Washington to meet US President George W Bush, the Vatican said today.

BRITISH ministers were last night mounting a renewed diplomatic push to win backing for a fresh United Nations resolution on Iraq after being rocked by the biggest backbench revolt of modern times.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair faced an anti-war revolt by his own backers, while French President Jacques Chirac won broad support for resisting war on Iraq yesterday.

US President George W Bush, declaring that Iraq has not disarmed and does not intend to, said the new resolution due to be submitted by the US to the Security Council next week will be the last chance for the UN to show its relevance.

Saddam Hussein has a “deadly arsenal” of several tons of chemical and biological weapons, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said today.

EXPLOSIVE and chemical attacks planned for continental Europe and London, were foiled by police raids in two countries yesterday.

THE arrests of 16 al-Qaida suspects yesterday in Spain and the discovery of explosives and maps of the London underground in an Italian raid have heightened fears that Britain is being targeted by Islamic extremist groups.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has held meetings with European Commission president Romani Prodi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to discuss Irish concerns about the fishing policy reforms.

AS Spaniards mourned a six-year-old girl and a 57-year-old man killed by a powerful car bomb, the Spanish government yesterday blamed the Basque separatist group ETA and promised a tough reprisal against the group and its political arm.

MOROCCO claimed yesterday that a tiny Mediterranean island at the centre of a growing dispute with Spain is an "integral part" of the North African nation, but that it wanted to use diplomatic means to resolve differences.

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to meet with the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar tonight.

Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen today deplored the exclusion of smaller EU nations from a summit called by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and said they will protest at such separate meetings.

The Pentagon on Saturday dubbed the U.S. military's increased role in homeland defense and support for civil authorities "Operation Noble Eagle."

Thousands of Spaniards have been marching through downtown Madrid to protest against the forthcoming visit of George W Bush.