Strikers at Spanish airline Iberia clashed with police at Madrid-Barajas airport today as they launched a five-day action against job cuts.

A Ryanair flight from Madrid to the Canary Islands was forced to make an emergency landing this morning after losing cabin pressure.

INTERNATIONAL negotiators, including former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, called last night on armed Basque group ETA to declare a definitive end to violence.

POPE Benedict denounced economic structures that put profits ahead of people yesterday at the start of a trip to recession-hit Spain where the costs of the pontiff’s visit have sparked violent protests.

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem’s first child together is a boy.

A statement in the pro-independence newspaper Gara did not mention ETA giving up its weapons, a key Spanish government demand.

Spain’s civil aviation agency has said some striking air traffic controllers were returning to work after the government threatened prison terms under military law.

Picketers hurled eggs at buses and blocked trucks from delivering produce to wholesale markets as Spanish workers went on a general strike today.

The Basque separatist militant group ETA declared a ceasefire in a video statement issued today.

Spain’s World Cup winners enjoyed a heroes’ reception as jubilant supporters took to the streets of Madrid in their droves to welcome home Vicente Del Bosque’s history-makers today.

THREE members of Basque separatist group Eta were jailed for 1,000 years each yesterday for a bombing that killed two people at Madrid airport.

Three members of Basque separatist group Eta were jailed for 1,000 years each today for a bombing that killed two people at Madrid airport.

EUROPE was yesterday battling to cope with the Arctic freeze amid warnings over the cost of the lengthy cold snap which has seen thousands of flights and train journeys cancelled and caused dozens of deaths.

Spanish airline Iberia today cancelled around 440 flights because of a strike by flight attendants seeking pay increases.

GOLF legend Seve Ballesteros has made an emotional first public appearance since undergoing four brain operations.

A Basque separatist car bomb wrecked a television station in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao today.

The suspected head of the Basque militant group ETA was arrested in France today.

Spain has rejected a final appeal for asylum by a son of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his British wife and put them on a plane bound for Egypt, the Interior Ministry and a lawyer for the man said today

A lawyer for Osama bin Laden’s son said today Spain has rejected her client’s final appeal for asylum and would deport him.

A son of Osama bin Laden is seeking political asylum in Madrid, a Spanish newspaper reported today.

Three mechanics are to be questioned on suspicion of manslaughter by a judge investigating the Madrid plane crash that killed 154 people in August.

RYANAIR has contacted its pilots to say they will be allocated one calendar week unpaid leave this winter due to the grounding of aircraft.

SPECULATION on what caused the plane disaster centred yesterday on a plane part that had to be fixed after the flight first tried to take off.

WITNESSES said the left engine on the stricken Spanair plane burst into flames as the aircraft left the ground — known as “the point of no return”.

It was a good day on the ISEQ, especially for all-island energy group Viridian, as the index gained 79.22 points to close at 8427.75.

Ryanair’s 18th European base will be in Madrid’s Barajas Airport, with the company investing $210m (€167.6m) in three new aircraft and 14 routes, serving an estimated one million passengers per annum.

Spanish police arrested a suspected Serb hit-man wanted in the murder of a Kosovo Albanian human rights activist believed to have had evidence implicating Slobodan Milosevic in dozens of murders, authorities said today.

Spanish police arrested the alleged killer of a Yugoslav human rights leader who had papers on him incriminating former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in assassinations when he was gunned down in 1990, authorities said today.

Mateja Kezman today arrived in Spain to hold talks with Atletico Madrid over a possible move to the Vicente Calderon.

A SLIMLINE Diego Maradona arrived in Madrid yesterday saying he had put all his problems behind him and had come to Spain to catch up with old friends at Real Madrid.

A spectacular fireball meteor was seen falling in the neighbourhood of two Madrid airports, emergency services said today.

A Bosnian man wanted for questioning in the Madrid bombings surrendered to police as he arrived in Spain’s capital from what he called a vacation in Sweden, the Interior Ministry said today.

Pope John Paul II appealed for world peace today at the start of a short visit to Madrid, testing his poor health with his first trip abroad in nine months.

Pope John Paul II began a whirlwind visit to Spain today, testing his frail health and seeking to reinvigorate Spanish Catholics who’ve strayed from their once-dominant church.

A man armed with a knife attempted to take over an airliner flying from Colombia to Spain as it approached Madrid’s Barajas Airport today.

A large explosion destroyed part of an underground car park in Madrid, damaging scores of vehicles and sending smoke spewing out onto a central square after a military procession passed by it with US marines taking part.