Madrid - Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini could be targeted by Spanish champions Real Madrid for the next season, the AS sports daily said on its website on Wednesday.

According to AS, Pellegrini is one of the coaches preferred by Jorge Valdano, the man tipped to return as Real sporting director if Florentino Perez, as expected, wins the upcoming presidential elections.

The elections will likely take place on June 14, and Perez, who has still not officially announced his candidature, is the clear favourite to win them.

Madrid - Seve Ballesteros said he is fighting to win his "sixth major" in his first public interview since undergoing several operations to remove a malignant brain tumour.

"This is the most important shot of my life, I'm battling to win my sixth major," the 51-year-old golfer said in an interview published Tuesday in the Spanish Marca sports newspaper.

Madrid  - Spain could "continue being proud" of its financial system, Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said Monday, one day after the government announced its decision to bail out the savings bank Caja Castilla La Mancha (CCM).

It was the first such rescue in Spain during the global financial crisis, and made the government's constant reassurances about the solidity of the banking system ring increasingly hollow.

Madrid - Spain could "continue being proud" of its financial system, Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said Monday, one day after the government announced its decision to bail out the savings bank Caja Castilla La Mancha (CCM).

It was the first such rescue in Spain during the global financial crisis, and made the government's constant reassurances about the solidity of the banking system ring increasingly hollow.

Madrid - Spain's EU-harmonized consumer prices fell 0.1 per cent in March, after rising 0.7 per cent in February, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said Monday.

Spain thus became the first eurozone country to register negative consumer prices during the global crisis, the economic newspaper Expansion said on its website.

Madrid  - The central bank of Spain, a country whose banking system has remained largely untouched in the ongoing world financial crisis, has intervened to save regional savings institution Caja Castilla-La Mancha (CCM), the government said Sunday evening.

The Bank of Spain took control of CCM on Sunday and removed its board of directors, the government said.

Spain's Finance and Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said the savings bank had a large liquidity problem, in comments after a cabinet meeting.