MADRID CAR BOMB NEARLY KILLS POLITICIAN

Jose Maria Aznar, leader of Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party, was slightly injured in a car bombing in Madrid today. The Basque separatist group ETA is believed responsible for the attack. The attack comes four months after ETA killed another leading PP figure, Gregorio Ordonez. Many of the PP's members oppose greater autonomy for the Basque provinces. TIME Spain reporter Jane Walker says that because the provinces are essentially autonomous already, with their own schools and taxation systems, ETA has steadily lost support. Thus "Every now and then they have to attack someone to keep their name in the papers, but most Basques now prefer to settle this at the ballot box."