Madrid - Malaga stay in seventh place in the Spanish Liga as a result of Saturday's pulsating late 3-2 defeat away to in-form Athletic Bilbao.

Victory in San Mames would have taken Malaga up to fourth and they were twice in the lead, only to collapse in the final minutes.

Bilbao were given a rowdy reception in San Mames because of Wednesday's cup win away to Sporting Gijon. They face Sevilla in the quarter-finals next week.

Madrid  - Real Madrid have agreed with West Ham United to take Julien Faubert on loan until the end of the season, according to Spanish media reports.

According to the digital versions of AS and Marca, Real will pay the East London club 1.5 million euros (1.96 million dollars) for the 25 year-old French winger, with an option to buy him in the summer for 6 million euros.

Real have been looking for another winger since selling Robinho to Manchester City in August.

Madrid  - The Spanish government has begun granting certificates recognizing the suffering of General Francisco Franco's leftist victims during the 1936-39 civil war and Franco's ensuing dictatorship, sources of the Justice Ministry said Friday.

The first 42 recipients included the family of former Catalan regional prime minister Lluis Companys, who was sentenced to death by a Francoist tribunal on what is widely regarded as insufficient evidence, and executed in 1940.

Madrid - Controversy continued in Spain on Friday over a National Court judge's decision to investigate a former Israeli defence minister and six military officers or officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza Strip as a possible crime against humanity.

Israeli ambassador Rafael Schutz warned about a possible deterioration of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel, while a far-left party warned the government against trying to intervene against the judicial probe.

Madrid - The militant Basque separatist group ETA on Friday pledged to continue its violent campaign against the Spanish state as it marked its foundation 50 years ago.

ETA would continue "fighting with all forces and in all ways" as long as Spain and France did not recognize what the group regards as the rights of the Basque people, ETA warned in a communique published by the Basque newspaper Gara.

ETA was founded during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who cracked down on Basque nationalism.