Santiago de Compostela, Spain  - The Catholic Church on Friday criticized Spain's Socialist government for its plans to liberalize the country's abortion law.

Cardinal William Joseph Levada, who serves as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, said the government's announcement "saddened" him.

"It is a sign that the vision of created life, the precious dignity of every person that begins with conception, is not the basis of such a project," said the Vatican official, who was attending a theology meeting in the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.

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.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain - Three families which lost seven

Algecira

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.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain - At least three would-be immigrants died during a crossing from Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, radio reports said Wednesday.