Madrid  - Indian President Pratibha Patil was Tuesday welcomed by Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia after arriving Monday for the first official visit by an Indian head of state to Spain.

The four-day visit was expected to focus on stepping up trade relations, investments, and on the fight against terrorism, diplomats said.

The Spanish royal couple welcomed Patil and her husband Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat in front of El Pardo palace.

Washington, April 21: In new discoveries by researchers from Uppsala, Cambridge and Duke Universities, it has been shown that the earliest backboned land animals had different life histories.

The researchers studied fossil upper arm bones from the two so-called “four-legged fishes”, Ichthtyostega and Acanthostega, from Greenland.

These animals, which lived during the Devonian period about 365 million years ago, were among the earliest vertebrates (backboned animals) with fore- and hindlimbs rather than paired fins.

Paris - With schools and politicians on Easter holiday, the big news in France these days is what President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told a group of lawmakers about several Western leaders, as reported by the left-leaning daily Liberation.

Most of the controversy concerns the president's assessment of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero as "not very clever."

Lahore, Apr. 21: Pakistan based Christian missionaries have predicted that the Taliban takeover of Swat will extend to more parts of the country, which will further worsen the conditions for Christians.

“This is bad, as it is, and will only worsen if sharia law spreads further than the Swat Valley. As these militants have gained standing, they have gained clout within the country that also promises more pressure against the church,” the Daily Times quoted Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs, as saying.

The reports are hot and around that Nokia is planning to update its popular Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone to compete more effectively with the rivals, such as Apple's iPhone, LG Arena, or Samsung's i8910 (Omnia HD) mobile phones.

Beijing - China and Russia on Tuesday signed an oil cooperation deal involving the supply of Russia oil in return for record loan of 25 billion dollars from China.

Chinese Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan and his Russian counterpart, Igor Sechin, signed government agreements in Beijing to finalize the deal.

The cooperation pacts included building a pipeline to China, supplying oil and providing financing from the China Development Bank, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.