Caceres, Spain - Spain is about to become one of the world's first countries to e

Madrid - Unemployment in Spain climbed in November for the eighth consecutive month, increasing by about 170,000 to nearly 3 million, the highest since February
1996, the Labour Ministry announced Tuesday.

The service and construction sectors were affected most, the ministry said.

Spain's unemployment has risen by nearly 43 per cent over the past year. European Union statistics put the jobless level at 12.8 per cent.

Madrid - What should a great club do when it is immersed in a massive injury crisis and has slipped down to fourth in its domestic league?

Answer: sign a top-class forward to revitalize the attack - and to cheer up the frustrated fans.

This is exactly what troubled Real Madrid intend to do now, by signing Klaas Jan Huntelaar from Dutch giants Ajax.

Embattled Real president Ramon Calderon hinted on Monday evening that he was about to buy "a top-class striker", and the Spanish media are sure that he was referring to Huntelaar.

Madrid  - Spanish champions Real Madrid announced on Monday evening that defender Pepe would be out of action until January.

The Portugal defender tore the cuadriceps muscle in his left leg in Saturday's 3-1 defeat away to Getafe, and the club doctors believe that he will be out of action between four and five weeks.

Wesley Sneijder and Miguel Torres both limped out of the Getafe defeat with pulled muscles, and will both be out of action for around ten days.

Real's other injury victims are Gabriel Heinze, Mahamadou Diarra, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Gonzalo Higuain.

However, Arjen Robben and Fabio Cannavaro will probably be able to return next Saturday against Sevilla, after being out for two weeks.

Madrid - The debt-ridden Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso said Monday it is continuing to negotiate the possible sale of its 20-per-cent stake in the country's biggest oil company Repsol YPF.

Spokeswoman Ana de Pro made the comment after Sacyr announced the sale of its highway operator subsidiary Itinere to US Citigroup for 7.9 billion euros (10 billion dollars).

The sale of Itinere allows Sacyr to cut its debt by 37 per cent to 12.5 billion euros.

Madrid - Spain's former government authorized US flights transporting terrorist suspects to make stopovers in Spain, and tried to keep the illegal flights secret, the daily El Pais reported Monday.

El Pais on Sunday published a top secret Foreign Ministry document dating from 2002 and showing that the United States had requested permission for CIA flights to make "emergency landings" in Spain.

The document clearly states that the flights transported Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from Afghanistan to the US military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.