Madrid - The Spanair MD-82 passenger plane that crashed in Madrid on August 20, killing 154 people, already had problems with wing slats that help provide takeoff lift, El Mundo reported Saturday.

The Spanish newspaper said the technical logbook showed that two days before the crash, defects had been detected twice within a few hours in the mechanism operating slats in the wings' leading edges.

Already 11 days before the crash a defect had been registered. In all three cases, pilots had reported that the slats had not deployed properly.

Madrid - The World Expo on water and sustainable development in Zaragoza, which will close on Sunday, was Friday described as a "reasonable success" by the Spanish government.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the three-month event had left an "important legacy" in the northern Spanish city.

Vega put the number of visitors at slightly over 5 million. Organizers had initially expected the Expo to bring 6.5 million people to the city of 650,000 residents.

The Expo is scheduled to present an environmental charter before the closing ceremony on Sunday.

Vitoria, Spain - Basque authorities will appeal to European tribunals against a ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court which blocked a planned referendum on the self-determination of the northern region, Basque regional Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe said Friday.

The Basque government "respected" the ruling, but regarded it as undemocratic and would not "resign," Ibarretxe said.

The Basque parliament had previously authorized the referendum-like vote to be staged on October 25. The Spanish government lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court, the country's highest court alongside the Supreme Court.

Madrid  - Fires at an electricity substation and a transformer Thursday left 40,000 people without power in Madrid, officials said.

The fires in the central Retiro neighbourhood prompted the evacuation of dozens of people, but caused no injuries.

The fire at the transformer, which was sparked by explosions inside, was extinguished. Firefighters continued battling flames at the substation, where underground cables were on fire.

Madrid- Spanish novelist Isaac Montero has died at age 71, press reports said Thursday.

Montero suffered a heart attack in Madrid on Wednesday.

Winner of several awards, the author of novels, essays and short stories was best-known for his novel Ladron de Lunas (Thief of Moons), which earned him the Critics' Prize in 1999.

Montero was known for the social realism of his satiric depictions of Spanish society under 1939-75 dictator Francisco Franco and the subsequent democracy.

Madrid - The air crash that killed 154 people on August 20 at Madrid airport is expected to cause Spanair losses between 30 and 60 million euros (40 to 80 million dollars), Spanish press reports Thursday quoted sources of the airline as saying.

Ticket sales have dropped by about 8 per cent, reports said. Spanair human resources director Hector Sandoval said the carrier was working to regain the confidence of clients.

Spanair and its employees are currently in negotiations over a savings plan, tabled before the accident, which is to trim staff by a quarter to about 2,700 and the fleet by 14 planes.

A Spanair MD-82 jet crashed off the runway after take-off for reasons that remain unclear. Eighteen people survived the accident.