King Juan Carlos of Spain successfully underwent lung surgery to remove a small benign growth yesterday, doctors said.
The 72-year-old monarch had a two-hour operation in a hospital in Barcelona and was recovering well, Dr Laureano Molins Lopez-Rodo said.
"It's good news, the lesion is benign," Molins said at a post-operation press conference, adding that there were "no malign cells" in tissue removed from the upper part of the king's right lung.
A statement issued by Avelino Barros Caballero, head of the palace's medical team, said doctors carrying out a routine check-up on April 26 and 27 found what was described as 'calcification' at the top of the king's right lung. (PA)
Groom kidnapped after church wedding
Police in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said gunmen killed a man outside a church where a wedding had just taken place and kidnapped the groom, his brother and his uncle.
Chihuahua state prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said the assailants showed up minutes after the religious ceremony ended and killed a man and kidnapped the others as dozens of wedding guests watched.
Mr Sandoval said no arrests were made and a motive for the attack had not been determined.
Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas, is one of the world's deadliest cities, and a two-year turf battle between drug cartels left more than 5,000 people dead. (PA)
$5,700 in compensation for autistic girl
A US jury awarded $5,700 to the family of an autistic girl whose lunch money was stolen for nearly two months by a teacher's aide.
The Ventura County panel in southern California found that Oxnard Union High School District was negligent for failing to remove the aide from Megan Spitzer's special education class in 2007.
Kristen Santoyo was caught on video stealing the $5 a day that Megan's parents gave her to buy lunch at Camarillo High School.
Megan was unable to tell anyone but her parents' suspicions finally prompted an investigation.
Santoyo, an admitted methamphetamine user, pleaded guilty two years ago and got a 180-day jail sentence.
The attorney for Megan's family, Christina Stokholm, said the 16-year-old girl is thriving at a different school. (PA)
Astronaut pays tribute to Newton
A British-born astronaut will be taking part of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree into space with him next week.
It is believed that Sir Isaac came up with his theory of gravity nearly 350 years ago when an apple fell from a tree.
Flying aboard space shuttle Atlantis next week will be a four-inch sliver of the tree. Astronaut Piers Sellers, born in Crowborough, Sussex, is flying the piece of wood for The Royal Society.
"I'll take it up into orbit and let it float around a bit, which will confuse Isaac," Mr Sellers said.
When Mr Sellers last flew in space in 2006, he carried up a gold medal that the society later presented to British physicist Stephen Hawking. This time, he told them, "What about something for you?" (PA)
New routes assigned
The US Transportation Department said it plans to award four new routes to Tokyo to Delta Air Lines, American, and Hawaiian.
The decision looks to be a big win for Delta, which gets two routes - from Los Angeles and Detroit.
Hawaiian Airlines is something of a surprise because it is so small. It gets a route from Honolulu. American Airlines would fly from New York. (PA)
Cuban ballerina's birthday trip
Cuban prima ballerina Alicia Alonso will return next month to New York and the American Ballet Theatre, one of the places where she got her start in dance seven decades ago, for an early celebration of her 90th birthday.
The National Ballet of Cuba said US authorities approved a visa for the grande dame of Cuban dance and she will visit the American Ballet Theatre to help mark the organisation's 70th anniversary. (PA)
Windfall for museum
New York's Whitney Museum of American Art received a major gift of more than 350 works of art from a longtime benefactor.
The museum said the donation was made by philanthropist and art collector Emily Fisher Landau.
The 367 pieces include works by Carl Andre, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning. (PA)
Russia promises Poland to declassify Katyn massacre files
President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday promised Poland that Russia would declassify secret files on the Katyn massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet forces in World War II.
Medvedev made the vow to acting Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski, in the latest symbol of entente between the countries since the death of Polish president Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash in Russia last month.
"Work on the Katyn case will be continued on my direct order, including the declassification of materials," Medvedev said, according to Russian news agencies.
He also handed over to the Polish side 67 volumes of evidence from Russia's Katyn enquiry. (AFP)