Madrid - A combination of human error and mechanical failure may have caused the air crash that killed 154 people at Madrid airport on August 20, the Spanish daily El Pais on Monday quotes sources of the investigation as saying.

The Spanair MD-82 did not have its wing flaps and slats deployed, according to a preliminary report issued earlier by an investigating commission. The flaps and slats help to lift aircraft on take-off.

Madrid - The Spanish army helped to rescue people stuck in more than 400 vehicles during snowstorms overnight and Monday morning in the north of the country, military and police sources said.

Madrid - Santander shares dropped by 2.1 per cent Monday after trading started at the Madrid stock exchange.

The fall followed an announcement by Spain's largest bank that one of its investment funds had an exposure of 2.3 billion euros (3.1 billion dollars) to Madoff Securities, a Wall street broker suspected of a massive fraud.

Fewer than 1,000 wealthy clients were exposed through the high-risk Optimal hedge fund unit, with institutional and international private banking clients accounting for 2.01 billion of the money.

Santiago de Compostela, Spain - A Cypriot-flagged freighter caught fire off north-western Spain early Monday, rescuers said.

Madrid  - Barcelona scored an important 2-0 home win Saturday over historic rivals Real Madrid, with late goals from star strikers Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi.

The win leaves Barca way out atop La Liga, eight points above second-place Valencia, who came from behind earlier Saturday to beat Espanyol 2-1.

Villarreal, who play Sunday at fourth-placed Sevilla, are nine points behind Barca.

Real, who have lost four of their last six games, are now fifth, no less than 12 points behind Barca - and practically out of the title race.

"We are now a considerable distance from them," said Real captain Raul. "But we shouldn't throw in the towel. We must keep on fighting."

Madrid - A 2-1 defeat of 10-man Espanyol on Saturday keeps Valencia in second place in the Spanish Liga - and leaves Espanyol third from bottom.

Valencia needed a goal eight minutes from time from supersub Vicente to break the resistance of an Espanyol side that had played with one man less for most of the game, due to the sending-off of veteran Francisco Rufete.

The late win leaves Unai Emery's team with 30 points from 15 games, five points less than leaders Barcelona, who are at home later Saturday to historic rivals Real Madrid.

Valencia are now one point ahead of third-placed Villarreal, who are at fourth-placed Sevilla on Sunday.