MADRID, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A judge in Madrid found 21 people guilty Wednesday in the March 2004 terror bombings of commuter trains and acquitted seven others.

The 27 men and one woman had entered pleas of innocent to charges ranging from murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack, a BBC correspondent reported.

The bombers used 10 backpacks stuffed with explosives and nails on March 11, 2004, to detonate on four packed commuter trains. The explosions killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800 others in what Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez ruled was a terror attack, the report said.

Two of the men were each sentenced to more than 40,000 years in prison, while another found guilty of supplying explosives from a mine was sentenced to more than 35,000 years in jail, a Deutsche Welle correspondent reported.

However, under Spanish law a person can serve no more than 40 years in prison.

The attackers were protesting the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, prosecutors said during the four-month trial.

Iran warms to Russia, nuclear watchdog

TEHRAN, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Iran's leadership wants closer and better ties with Russia and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, reports from Tehran said Wednesday.

During a brief visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday night, a spokesman quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has serious plans to develop cooperation with Russia," the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad reportedly vowed Iran's nuclear program was fully transparent to the monitoring of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency and the country was in compliance with international regulations.

Later this week, the five permanent U.S. Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- along with Germany are scheduled to have talks on whether to call for increased sanctions against Tehran. There is concern Iran's program could lead to the development of nuclear weapons, which the country denies.

Later in November, the IAEA will report to the United Nations on what its inspectors have learned about the program.

Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attacks

JERUSALEM, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Israel's air force launched two airstrikes in Gaza and killed at least four Palestinian militants after a multiple rocket attack into Israel.

The rocket attack happened Tuesday night in the western Negev area, where four rocket shells and five mortar shells landed, IsraelNN.com reported Wednesday. One of them badly damaged a home, where a woman and her granddaughter narrowly escaped injury, officials said.

In retaliation, Israeli jets launched two sorties over Gaza. In the first strike, three Palestinians were injured. Local media claimed the victims had nothing to do with rocket attacks.

The Israeli military responded by saying their missile could have malfunctioned and said the injuries were also a consequence of guerrillas using civilian areas to target Israel, the report said.

The second strike targeted a Hamas-led police station in Khan Yunis, where military officials claimed four Palestinian fighters were killed.

Pakistan's military aid missing target

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. government expressed concern that the Pakistani government isn't serious in its counter-terrorism efforts, which is funded largely with U.S. aid.

Pakistan receives nearly $150 million a month from the United States in the form of military hardware and cash. Pakistan receives more military aid from the United States than any other country, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Wednesday.

Critics, however, suggest the aid isn't being used efficiently in the counter-terrorism effort.

Seth Jones, a U.S. foreign policy and Afghanistan expert with the Rand Corp., told the Post that the Pakistan military “is not very effective, and there have been elements of the government that have worked with the Taliban in the tribal areas in the past.”

Other critics said Pakistan is targeting cash aid at larger weapons systems, such as its F-16 Fighting Falcon program, rather than funding its counterinsurgency programs.

Pakistani officials counter that while there is slow progress in the counter-terrorism efforts there, stringent U.S. monitoring over equipment and aid hampers the overall effort.

“Is our military effort going as well as we hoped? No. But is Iraq going as well as hoped?” Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, said in the Post.

Bahamas-bound storm Noel strengthens

MIAMI, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Slow-moving Tropical Storm Noel soaked Cuba and gathered strength Wednesday as it headed toward the Bahamas.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said at 11 a.m., Noel's sustained winds had risen to 50 mph with higher gusts as the storm moved off mainland Cuba. Strengthening over the next 24 hours was likely, the report said.

Noel's center was about 175 miles south-southwest of Nassau moving to the north-northwest at 8 mph.

The storm is blamed for as many as 30 deaths in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. No immediate word of injuries or damage were available from Cuba.

Noel's effects were being felt as far north as Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where beaches flew rough surf and rip tide warning flags, the Miami Herald said.

"Interests in southern Florida should closely monitor the progress of Noel," forecasters said, as tropical storm-force winds extend up to 115 miles, mainly to the north and east of the center.

AccuWeather forecasters said Noel was expected to move through the northwestern Bahamas Thursday and by then, seas would also be rough offshore of Georgia and the Carolinas.