Madrid  - Heavy rains sparked flooding in several parts of Spain on Monday, causing traffic jams and cutting rail links, officials said.

A elderly woman was found dead underneath a car in Coslada near Madrid. It was not immediately clear whether she had been carried away by floodwater. Four people were reported injured.

Garages and basements stood under water east of the capital. Power cuts were also reported. The highway leading from Madrid to Valencia was blocked by police at several points, causing massive traffic jams.

Madrid -

Madrid - The Spanish transport ministry rejected claims it leaked confidential details of its investigation into the August 20 Spanair air crash which killed 154 people and left 18 injured in Madrid, the Spanish media reported Saturday

"I am also disgusted by this. This is a lack of respect for the survivors," Minister Magdalena Alvarez was quoted as saying, adding she would ensure that those responsible for the leaks would be brought to justice.

Earlier this week, a preliminary report of the commission investigating the crash was leaked, revealing that the Spanair MD-82 jetliner's wing flaps were not properly extended and that the plane's take-off warning system failed to alert the pilots of the problem.

Madrid - The Spanish government Friday adopted measures aimed at encouraging jobless immigrants to return home amid a deepening economic crisis.

Migrants who leave Spain will be paid their entire unemployment benefit in two parts, 40 per cent in Spain and 60 per cent in the home country, Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho said.

The migrants will not lose rights gained in Spain earlier on, the minister added.

Madrid- The credibility of a commission investigating the August 20 plane crash that killed 154 people in Madrid was questioned Friday after the main pilots' representative Valentin Villarroel resigned from it over leaks to the press.

Two other pilots had left the commission earlier. Infrastructure Minister Magdalena Alvarez said she would not accept Villarroel's resignation as long as the pilots' association APCC did not propose a substitute for him.

Madrid  - Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday banned another Basque separatist political party, the Communist Party of Basque Lands (PCTV), for supporting militant Basque separatist group ETA.

The move follows the court's dissolution of Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) on Tuesday, the region's third-strongest party at municipal level, because of ETA links. The parties had emerged as the successors of ETA's political wing Batasuna after it was outlawed in 2003.