Madrid - The Spanish government on Monday criticized North Korea's firing of a high-altitude rocket, describing it as a "provocation which seriously weakens the regional security environment."

Sunday's missile launch also "contradicts the will expressed by the (North Korean) government to find solutions through dialogue," the Foreign Ministry said in a communique.

Madrid - French police have discovered 500 kilograms of explosives which were believed to have been stored by the militant Basque separatist group ETA, Spanish police sources said Monday.

The explosives were found in a garage in the south-eastern French city of Grenoble on Sunday.

The owner of the garage became suspicious after the people who had rented the garage were not heard of for months, and informed police, the sources said.

Police searched the garage, finding explosives, materials for making bombs and the anagram of ETA.

Madrid - French police have discovered 500 kilograms of explosives which were believed to have been stored by the militant Basque separatist group ETA, Spanish police sources said Monday.

The explosives were found in a garage in the south-eastern French city of Grenoble on Sunday.

The owner of the garage became suspicious after the people who had rented the garage were not heard of for months, and informed police, the sources said.

Police searched the garage, finding explosives, materials for making bombs and the anagram of ETA.

Madrid - Spain was Monday seen as having overcome its five- year freeze in relations with the United States after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and US President Barack Obama had a warm first bilateral encounter.

Obama called Zapatero his "friend" and relations with Spain "solid" following a summit between the European Union and the US in Prague on Sunday.

The relations between Madrid and Washington cooled when Zapatero recalled Spanish troops from Iraq immediately after his election victory in 2004.

Madrid  - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was Monday widely expected to reshuffle his government at top level this week in response to the country's deepening recession.

Pedro Solbes, who has held the economy portfolio since Zapatero became prime minister in 2004, will probably be replaced by Public Administrations Minister Elena Salgado, according to several media, including the daily El Pais, which is seen as being close to the government.