Ex-PM on News board

Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar has joined the board of Rupert Murdoch's media and entertainment giant News Corp.

Aznar, 53, survived an assassination attempt in 1995 and gained power a year later. He held the presidency until the elections of 2004, at which time he voluntarily stood down.

His right-wing Popular Party had been set to win the country's March 2004 general election under a new leader, but Aznar's insistence that the March 11 Madrid train bombings were the work of Basque extremists appeared to cause voters to change sides.