Madrid  - Spanish scientists have used modern technology to translate and classify a third of the 10,000 Arabic inscriptions covering the walls of the 14th-century Moorish palace-fortress of the Alhambra in Granada, press reports said Friday.

The classified inscriptions were inside the Comares Palace at the reddish citadel which is counted among Spain's most popular tourist attractions.

Contrary to popular belief, most of the inscriptions were not poems or verses of the Koran, said Juan Castillo, director of the project.

Madrid  - A controversy surrounding the planned liberalization of abortion heated up in Spain on Friday as scientists disagreed over whether scientific arguments could be used for or against the termination of pregnancy.

A group of top scientists signed a counter-manifesto in response to an anti-abortion declaration which has been signed by some 2,000 scientists and other professionals since last week, the daily El Pais reported.

Science showed that human life began at the moment of conception, the pro-life intellectuals argued.

Madrid  - Nearly 3,000 African would-be immigrants drowned or died of exposure while trying to cross over to Spain in 2008, media reports Friday quoted a southern Spanish human rights group as saying.

The association Pro Derechos Humanos Andalucia (APDHA) said in its annual report that it was aware of 581 deaths.

Since most deaths never became known, about 2,900 migrants were likely have died in 2008, the group estimated.

Madrid  - Political changes were looming Friday in Spain's troubled Basque region as it appeared increasingly certain to get its first government defending its unity with Spain.

Two mainstream Spanish parties, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialists and the conservative People's Party (PP), agreed on Thursday that a conservative would head the Basque parliament following the March 1 regional elections.

That was expected to pave the way for Basque socialist leader Patxi Lopez to become regional prime minister in May.

Madrid  - For years, tourism had been one of the main engines of Spain's economy, but its role is being increasingly questioned.

Not only has Europe's economic slowdown hit the tourism industry, with the number of foreign visitors plunging by nearly 16 per cent in February.

Spain's traditional tourism model based on the sea and sun is also facing increasing competition from cheaper destinations, and global warming poses far-reaching challenges for the tourism industry.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain  - The Spanish holiday island of Tenerife suffered a massive black-out on Thursday, local media reported.

The electricity company Unelco tentatively attributed the power cut to a flash of lightning which may have hit a power plant in Las Caletillas in the east of the Canary Island in stormy weather.

The black-out affected almost the entire island of 900,000 residents, causing people to get stuck in lifts and traffic lights to go off.