Madrid - The Spanish royal court distanced itself Friday from comments expressed by Queen Sofia in a new biography in which she opposes gay marriage, among other political comments.

The queen was making the comments "in a private framework," a statement from the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid said. The queen's comments had also been misquoted, the palace said.

The new biography, The Queen Up Close, is the first time Sofia has made public comments on political issues.

Author Pilar Urbano said Sofia spoke out against gay marriage, abortion and quotas for women in politics.

Urbano rejected the palace's claim that the queen had been misquoted.

Madrid - Brazilian striker Edu de Souza is out of action for around six weeks due to injury, his Spanish club Real Betis announced on Friday.

London, Oct 31: Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has been branded ‘senile’ in Spain and compared to Spanish dictator General Franco.

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon said Ferguson was ‘getting old’ after an interview in which Manchester United’s coach resurrected Real Madrid’s links with Franco.

Madrid-based paper Marca responded with a series of five pictures of Ferguson changing into Franco, with a headline ‘Ferguson Senile’.

I’m not going to waste any time answering him. I admire his history but recently he has gone a bit senile,” The Sun quoted Calderon, as saying.

Ferguson’s own comments came as he slaughtered Real’s arrogant pursuit of Ronaldo during the summer.

San Salvador, El Salvador (dpa) - Latin America and Spain on Thursday at the 18th Iberian American Summit in San Salvador demanded a greater presence in global financial decisions at a time of crisis.

Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, among other countries, called for a fairer multilateral world order that would take into account the views of emerging countries in the face of a crisis that developed in industrialized nations and threatens to hit developing countries particularly hard.

San Salvador, El Salvador

San Salvador, El Salvador - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday joined calls for a "new financial world order" with stronger mechanisms for control and transparency.

At the Iberian American Summit in San Salvador, the centre-left Rodriguez Zapatero criticized the "myth of deregulation" which according to him put speculation and greed, and the unbounded craving for greater benefits, above the productive economy.