Madrid - The Spanish government is moving jailed members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA to prisons closer to their homes in an attempt to persuade the group to give up armed struggle, press reports said Wednesday.

The government has moved several dozen terrorism convicts who have renounced ETA's ideology of violence.

Prisons in Spain and France hold more than 700 ETA convicts.

Madrid - Valencia striker Juan Mata was called up Tuesday to replace the injured Andres Iniesta in Spain's squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying games against Turkey.

Iniesta will be out of action for around two weeks after pulling a muscle in his right thigh in Barcelona's 6-0 thrashing of Malaga on Sunday.

He is hoping to be fit for Barca's Champions League quarter-final first leg clash against Bayern Munich on April 8.

Madrid - A trial began in Spain on Tuesday of three military officers accused of falsely identifying 30 of the 75 victims of the worst air crash in the history of Spanish peacekeeping missions in May 2003.

The Yakolev 42 was en route from Afghanistan to Spain when it crashed in Turkey, killing the 62 peacekeepers and 13 mainly Ukrainian crew on board.

Thirty Spanish families were given the wrong bodies, which were exhumed later on for their correct identification.

Madrid  - Fewer tournaments to maximize his performance: world number one Rafael Nadal's plan for 2009 is delivering results with amazing precision.

On Sunday, in Indian Wells, Nadal, 22, lifted his second trophy of the season, number 33 in his career, to win his 13th Masters. The two most important tournaments in the first quarter of the year - the Australian Open and the first Masters of the season - have been won by the Spaniard.

Madrid  - Forty-four Basque separatists face trial in Spain after a judge accused them of links with the militant separatist group ETA, judicial sources said Monday.

Judge Baltasar Garzon launched proceedings against 44 members of the banned Basque parties Batasuna, Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) and Communist Party of Basque Lands (PCTV).

The parties have been barred from elections on grounds of being related to ETA, which has killed more than 800 people since 1968.

Madrid - For years, Spain had struggled to be recognized as more than just a middle-ranking European power - as a "relevant global player," as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero puts it.

But just as Spain had got its foot in the door of the G20, participating in meetings drafting global economic policy, its international reputation took a big blow over its unexpected decision to recall its troops from Kosovo.