Barcelona - One of the 18 people who were in a critical condition following a gas explosion in their block of flats in north- eastern Spain died on Thursday, regional health officials said.

The 60-year-old woman had burns to 85 per cent of her body.

Twenty-two of the 27 injured victims remained at hospital. They included eight children, five of whom were described as being in a very serious condition.

A gas explosion caused a three-storey building to partially collapse and sparked a fire in the low-income locality of Gava near Barcelona on Wednesday.

Barcelona  - Twenty-five people were injured early Wednesday in what was believed to have been a gas explosion in Gava near Barcelona in north-eastern Spain, a spokesman for emergency services said

Barcelona, Spain - Authorities in the north-eastern Spanish region of Catalonia on Wednes

Barcelona - Spain's Rafael Nadal, world number one, stepped down from the Davis Cup final against Argentina later this month, due to a knee injury.

Nadal himself explained his decision Monday in Barcelona, after undergoing several medical tests.

Spain is set to play Argentina in the Davis Cup final November 21- 23, on an indoor carpet court in the Argentine coastal city of Mar del Plata.

Argentina seeks its first-ever "salad bowl," as the tournament trophy is known, while Spain is seeking its third title.

Nadal, 22, quit his Paris Masters quarter-final 10 days ago, when he lost 6-1 to Russian Nikolay Davydenko. He was suffering from tendinitis in his right knee.

Madrid, Barcelona - Spanish police Thursday detained 18 people on charges of links with Islamist terrorism, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.

Eight of the detainees were Moroccans, Rubalcaba said. Six are being held in the Barcelona area, one in Madrid and one in Algeciras on the southern coast.

Ten other people were also being questioned, Rubalcaba said, adding that some of them might be released.

Barcelona  - The disappearance of whole species is an irreversible problem that is worse than the ongoing financial crisis, reported the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as it closed a world conference in Barcelona Tuesday.

"The message from the meeting is this: species variety guarantees the well-being of human society and the economy," said IUCN General Director Julia Marton-Lefevre.