Madrid - Spain's second-biggest airline Spanair will cut its staff by about a quarter to 3,000 in reaction to rising fuel prices and the global airline crisis, the carrier said Friday.

Spanair will also cancel nine routes, reduce flights on some other routes and trim its fleet by 15 planes or 24 per cent. Operative bases will be reduced from seven to two, which will be located in Madrid and Barcelona.

The measures form part of an austerity plan aimed at saving the company 90 million euros (140 million dollars) in 2009.

Spanair and trade unions were due to begin negotiations about the job cuts in the coming week.

Granada, Spain  - A herd of about 150 cattle is frightening the residents of a southern Spanish village, who are afraid to go out for fear of being attacked, residents of Prado Negro near Granada said Thursday.

Hungry cattle entered gardens in the search for food, destroying trees, flowerpots and urban property in the village of 570 residents, local people said.

Many of the cows had just had calves and were therefore deemed unusually aggressive.

Zaragoza, Spain - Spanish firefighters and soldiers were Thursday combating a wildfire that has consumed 2,200 hectares of forest and bush in two days near Zaragoza in the north, officials said.

Hundreds of people were battling the blaze which was reported under control. About 300 residents of the village of Castejon de Valdejasa who were evacuated have returned home.

The fire was sparked by a car which caught fire in a traffic accident.

Another wildfire near Segovia meanwhile prompted the evacuation of about 100 people from Moral de Hornuez.

Zaragoza, Spain  - Spanish firefighters and soldiers were Wednesday battling a wildfire that consumed more than 1,500 hectares of pine forest and bush near Zaragoza in the north, local officials said.

Nearly 300 people living in the village of Castejon de Valdejasa were evacuated because of smoke, but later returned home.

The summer's first major wildfire was sparked by a car which caught fire in a traffic accident near Zuera.

Madrid - Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos, considered one of the most brutal terrorists with the underground Basque movement ETA, was realised from jail on Saturday, triggering a call for a series of protests throughout Spain.

A 52-year-old former policeman, de Juana had been sentenced to more than 3000 years in jail for 25 counts of murder. Owing to the Spanish legal system his sentence was considered served after only 18 years behind bars.

Valencia, Spain  - Spanish bank notes contain the highest concentrations of cocaine in Europe, according to a study made public on Thursday.

Randomly selected Spanish euro notes contained traces of cocaine at an average concentration of 155 microgrammes, according to the study by Valencia University made public in the magazine Trends in Analytical Chemistry.

Cocaine was found not only on notes that had been in direct contact with the drug, but on nearly all notes in circulation, said Miguel de la Guardia, co-author of the study.

He attributed the phenomenon to cross-contamination between bank notes, as well as in money-counting machines in banks.