Madrid - Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar has denied rumours that he is the father of the child expected by French Justice Minister Rachida Dati, Spanish media reported Thursday.

The rumour was a "total and complete falsehood," Aznar said in a communique.

Aznar said he had instructed his lawyers to take immediate legal action against anyone spreading false information.

A Moroccan internet publication had linked Aznar with the pregnancy of Dati, 42, who is unmarried.

Madrid - Pressure is mounting in Spain to settle accounts with the 1939-75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, with critics seeing government measures to rehabilitate his victims as half-hearted.

The government "forgot the state's responsibility to investigate human rights violations," the human rights group Amnesty International charged, but government representatives stressed its commitment to redressing the injustices of the Franco era.

In 2007, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government passed the Law of Historic Memory, aimed at restoring dignity to leftists killed during the 1936-39 civil war and Franco's subsequent dictatorship.

Madrid  - A judicial move to investigate killings and disappearances during Spain's 1936-39 Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco sparked controversy on Tuesday.

Associations representing Franco's victims and leftist parties welcomed the move as finally doing justice to thousands of victims, while conservative commentators said it reopened old wounds.

National Court judge Baltasar Garzon announced Monday that he was requesting information on deaths and disappearances during the war, which was sparked by Franco's uprising against the legal republican government, and during the dictatorship that lasted until Franco's death in 1975.

Madrid  - A judge at Spain's National Court has requested information on mass graves to determine whether he is competent to investigate disappearances during the 1936-39 Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, judicial sources said Monday.

Judge Baltasar Garzon requested information on disappearances from municipalities, parishes, administrative archives and the Valley of the Vallen, Franco's mausoleum near Madrid, which was built by political prisoners.

Madrid - The captain of the MD-82 passenger plane that crashed in Madrid expected the airline Spanair to switch it after discovering a technical problem just before take-off, the Spanish daily El Pais said Monday.

Captain Antonio Garcia Luna, who was killed in the August 20 accident with 153 other people, asked an airport company employee to arrange for two buses to take the passengers to a new aircraft, the daily quoted the employee in question as telling police.

Madrid - Barcelona made an appalling poor start to their league campaign on Sunday, losing 1-0 away to newly-promoted Numancia.

The shock defeat raises fears that Barca will continue to be feeble on the road, the same as last season.

The only goal came after just 14 minutes, when Mario Martinez turned in a Carlos Bellvis centre from the left.

Just three minutes later Samuel Eto'o hit the Numancia post - and it was going to be that kind of day for Barca.

Josep Guardiola's side dominated from start to finish and created many clear chances, but lacked a cool finish.

Lionel Messi always levelled for Barca in injury time, but his free-kick came back off the post.