Barcelona - Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils have withdrawn with injuries from next week's Barcelona Open with injuries as the clay season countdown draws closer to the start of the French Open.

Monfils was barely a factor in Monte Carlo this week, losing in the first round to Janko Tipsarevic while complaining of pain in both knees from tendinitis.

The 2008 Australian Open finalist Tsonga has not played since the Miami quarter-finals at the start of the month against Novak Djokovic.

Port of Spain  - The Summit of the Americas, which brings together all countries in the hemisphere except Cuba, started Friday at a hotel in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

This will be US President Barack Obama's first major meeting with Latin American leaders and his first trip to the region since taking office in January.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was the first to enter the conference hall, as part of a parade in which each leader entered the room preceded by a flag-wielding soldier dressed in white.

Madrid  - Spain's King Juan Carlos was received with republican protests when visiting a mining region in Asturias in the north, the daily El Mundo said Friday.

The monarch had to bear with flags of Spain's 1931-36 Second Republic, shouts of "long live the republic" and loudspeakers playing the republican anthem on his way to visit a coal miners' training centre in Sama de Langreo on Thursday.

Madrid  - A debt-ridden construction entrepreneur kidnapped the manager of his bank office in southern Spain to pressure him for a loan of 50,000 euros (65,500 dollars), El Pais reported Friday.

The Belgian national living in Marbella approached the manager in a parking lot near the bank on Tuesday, the daily reported.

He pointed a pistol at the man, saying hired killers would hurt his family unless the manager arranged for him to get the loan and gave him his car.

Caracas/Port of Spain  - President Hugo Chavez warned Thursday that Venezuela and "other countries" will veto the final declaration of the Summit of the Americas that is set to take place from Friday in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Venezuela vetoes the declaration of the Americas," he said in the eastern Venezuelan town of Cumana.