Madrid - Spanish Liga club Deportivo Coruna announced on Friday that striker Omar Bravo has been loaned out to Mexican club Tigres until July.

Tigres will pay Deportivo 394,000 euros (500,000 dollars) for the services of Bravo for five months.

Bravo, 28, joined Deportivo from Club Deportivo Guadalajara in July 2008, but has failed to fit in, scoring just one goal in nine games.

Madrid - The European economy could start recovering from its downturn already this year, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Friday.

Almunia, who was attending an event to mark the 10th anniversary of Spain's entry into the European Monetary Union, linked the recovery to a rapid application of support measures to the financial and other sectors.

Measures against the crisis needed to take into account its "important" impact on the economy, financial system and social framework, Almunia advised.

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Bilbao, Spain  - The militant Basque separatist group ETA criticized overnight Sunday's elections in Spain's Basque region, slamming them as undemocratic and as a "political fraud" in a communique sent to the newspaper Gara.

ETA urged the Basques to vote blank instead of electing a "fascist" regional parliament.

The elections will be the first ones without the participation of parties close to ETA after the Supreme Court barred two radical separatist formations from contesting them.