Nairobi/Abuja - Nigerian militants on Wednesday attacked a tanker carrying 4,000 tonnes of diesel and kidnapped a Romanian member of the ship's crew, reports said.

The BBC quoted private security sources as saying that the militants, who approached the MT Meredith by speedboat, blew up the ship's engine with dynamite.

The attack follows on from a similar raid on another tanker operated by Royal Dutch Shell at the weekend.

Militant raids on oil installations are common in Nigeria, where groups say they are fighting for a share of oil profits in the Niger Delta.

Madrid - The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain declined by 2.6 per cent to 57.4 million visitors in 2008, the government said Wednesday.

Spain is the world's second-biggest tourist destination after France, according to the World Tourism Organization.

Tourism secretary of state Joan Mesquida downplayed the drop, saying the number of tourists remained on the same level as in 2006, while 2007 was a record year.

The number of British tourists to Spain declined by 3 per cent to 15.7 million and French tourists by 8.5 per cent to 8.1 million.

The regions to lose the most tourists were Catalonia in the north-east and Andalusia in the south, where tourism fell by 6.7 and 4 per cent respectively.

New Delhi, Jan 21, : A Delhi court on Wednesday sent the five accused to judicial custody till February 4, in last year's Delhi blasts case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja took cognizance of the chargesheet filed against them in the September 13 serial blasts in the capital and posted the matter for February 4.

The Court has also directed the police to supply copies of chargesheets to all the accused in connection with karol Bagh, Greater kailash-1 and Barakhabha Road bomb blasts.

Amsterdam - An Amsterdam court ruled Wednesday that Dutch legislator Geert Wilders should be prosecuted for his alleged discriminatory remarks about Muslims in recent years.

Several citizens had petitioned the court to force the Justice Ministry to prosecute Wilders, the founder and leader of the liberal- right Freedom Party (PVV), which is known for its highly critical approach to Islam and immigrants.

Amritsar, Jan. 21 : Sukhbir Singh Badal, the son of of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab on Wednesday.

Punjab Governor General (retired) S F Rodrigues administered the oath of office and secrecy to Singh at a ceremony here.

Several senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were present on the occassion.

They included BJP president Rajnath Singh and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundra Raje Scindia.

This is probably the first instance when a father-son duo will be sharing the top two posts of a state India.

Kabul - British Defence Minister John Hutton visited his country's troops in southern Afghanistan, while a top US general met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, officials said Wednesday.

The visit by top US and British officials comes amid the Afghan government's constant demands to have more control over NATO troops stationed in the war-wracked country.