Free Republic

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain solemnly commemorated the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings on Friday with church bells and silent tributes to the 191 people who died in al Qaeda's worst attack in Europe. Reuters Photo Slideshow: Madrid Remembers Train Bomb Victims Annan Urges Action On Nuke Terror Threat(Reuters Video)   Some 650 churches throughout the Madrid area rang their bells for five minutes from 7:37 a.m. (1:37 a.m. EST), the time that 10 bombs packed in rucksacks began exploding on four packed trains bringing workers to the capital. Just after dawn at Atocha station, scene of two of...

Aznar ready to quit as his successor wins party backing By Isambard Wilkinson, Madrid Correspondent (Filed: 02/09/2003) The Spanish prime minister, José María Aznar, who supported the war in Iraq against enormous domestic opposition, had his hand-picked successor endorsed by his party yesterday, clearing the way for him to stand down. Mr Aznar, a former tax inspector who has served as prime minister for seven years but has been promising to step down for the past 18 months, named his deputy, Mariano Rajoy, to take over from him in elections next March. José María Aznar [right] and Mariano Rajoy When...

President Bush said Saturday there is little reason to hope that Iraq's Saddam Hussein will disarm and avoid a U.S.-led military attack. Bush's comments, in his weekly radio address, came one day before his Sunday summit to discuss Iraqi diplomacy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The meeting in Portugal's Azore Islands was billed by Bush aides as an indication of the president's willingness to go the last mile to win international support to confront Saddam. It also was portrayed as a final chance to salvage a diplomatic solution to the crisis....

<p>President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar will convene a one-day emergency summit on the idyllic and isolated isles, hosted by Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. The meeting, officially to examine prospects for a U.N. resolution on Iraq, will occur on the island of Terceira, home since 1951 to a U.S. air base in Lajes.</p>