Madrid - In the midst of the Christmas rush, there's a long line of people waiting patiently in central Madrid. They're not after this year's must-have item; they want a Christmas lottery ticket.

Despite rising unemployment and the ongoing financial crisis, Spaniards' enthusiasm for the annual Christmas lottery remains strong. After all, when the winning numbers are drawn Monday, the biggest lottery in the world could shower up to 2.3 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars) on some lucky people.

Indeed, the crisis seems to have spurred, not dampened, interest in the lottery. Now Spaniards who are having problems paying their mortgage or have lost their jobs have begun to see the lottery as a way out of financial problems.

Madrid  - Atletico Madrid moved up to joint second in the Spanish Liga on Saturday with an important 3-2 win away to lowly Espanyol.

Maxi Rodriguez scored twice for Atletico, fellow Argentine Sergio Aguero netted the other goal.

They now have 30 points from 16 games, the same as Sevilla and Valencia, who lost 1-0 away to fifth-placed Real Madrid earlier on Saturday.

"It was really important for us to win tonight, but we had to work hard for it," said Aguero.

Madrid  - Real Madrid came back to life on Saturday with a tight, tense 1-0 home win over Valencia.

Real won thanks to an early goal from Gonzalo Higuain and a stellar display from goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Valencia left the Estadio Bernabeu complaining about the sending- off of captain Carlos Marchena, and bemoaning their lack of precision in attack.

Real only had 43 per cent possession, due to the counter-attacking style imposed by new coach Juande Ramos.

The win takes Real from sixth to fourth, with 29 points from 16 games.

Madrid - The Spanish government on Friday approved plans to tighten the conditions for immigration, lengthening the maximum detention of undocumented migrants from 40 to 70 days.

The planned law will also make it more difficult for immigrants to bring family members to Spain, allowing them to bring parents only if they have lived in Spain for at least five years and if the parents are more than 65 years old.

The law will also grant more rights to undocumented immigrants, such as the right to form associations and to stage demonstrations, and the right to education for minors.

Wellington  - New Zealand has urged Spain to take action against the owners of a boat seen fishing illegally in Antarctic waters, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Friday.

He said the Spanish-owned Bigaro, which has been blacklisted under an international treaty aimed at protecting resources in the Antarctic, was photographed Tuesday by a Royal New Zealand Air Force plane on a maritime surveillance patrol in the Southern Ocean.

The Bigaro was fishing inside the management area of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which has blacklisted the ship for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Antarctic, McCully said.

Madrid  - For Maria G., a 40-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant in Madrid, it is a grim Christmas ahead.

"Since my husband lost his construction job six months ago, we have only relied on my earnings," says the bakery employee and housemaid, one among hundreds of thousands of immigrants to have been hit hard by Spain's deepening economic crisis.

"We could not even dream of giving each other presents this Christmas," Maria sighs, explaining that she always sends more than half of her monthly income of about 1,000 euros (1,400 dollars) to her children and other relatives back in Latin America.