Madrid  - Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Wednesday denied press reports that Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang had cancelled a visit to Spain because King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero declined to meet with him.

The tiny oil-rich central African country had not requested such meetings, Moratinos said, explaining that no plans had been made for Obiang to visit Spain.

Madrid- The dismantling of the most dangerous cell of the militant Basque separatist group ETA may have foiled a string of bombings in tourist resorts during the holiday season, press reports said Wednesday.

Nine suspected members of ETA's Vizcaya cell, including its leader Arkaitz Goikoetxea, were arrested on Tuesday.

Police seized maps of touristic southern Spanish cities such as Cadiz, Seville, Granada and Huelva, a general one of the Costa del Sol region, and a map of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

Mad

Sydney  - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday named Madrid as host of the next Catholic youth festival.

Speaking at the closing papal mass of the Sydney event, the pontiff urged the 250,000 attending the final gathering of the week- long World Youth Day to join him again in three years.

"I thank you all for your participation in World Youth Day 2008 here in Sydney, and I look forward to seeing you all again in three years' time," the 81-year-old pope said. "World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain."

Madrid  - Spain's National Court will seek the extradition of four alleged Nazi war criminals

Madrid- Spain's highest court Thursday overturned the guilty verdicts of f