Madrid  - Arjen Robben is the great light shining on Real Madrid these days, as the club appears to take off in La Liga based on the performances of the Dutch midfielder who has set aside for a few weeks his reputation as a "glass player."

Real Madrid beat Mallorca away 3-0 Sunday, to get their third consecutive win and climb to second place in the Spanish championship, albeit still 12 points behind a brilliant Barcelona.

Robben again met the expectations that he has generated in recent times and paved the way for the win with his team's first goal, just three minutes into the game. The winger led a swift counter-attack and scored a quality goal after a run from the midfield.

Madrid  - The number of undocumented immigrants known to have tried to enter Spain dropped by 24 per cent to about 37,000 people in 2008, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Monday.

Madrid  - Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Sunday in various Spanish cities to protest against the Israeli military incursion in the Gaza Strip.

Madrid  - Sevilla moved up to second in the Spanish Liga on Saturday with a comeback 3-1 win away to Deportivo Coruna, together with Valencia's 3-3 draw at home to local rivals Villarreal later on

Madrid  - Sevilla moved up to second in the Spanish Liga on Saturday with a dramatic 3-1 comeback win away to sixth-placed Deportivo Coruna.

Sevilla turned the tables thanks to goals from Luis Fabiano, Renato and Diego Capel - and despite the sending-off of Enzo Maresca.

"This was a really important win for us," said Renato, "given how it happened."

Sevilla now have 35 points from 18 games, nine points less than record-breaking leaders Barcelona, who are away to bottom team Osasuna on Sunday.

Madrid  - Spain's National Court has acquitted three Islamist extremist suspects of financing the al-Qaeda terrorist network, media reported recently.

Those acquitted included Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, known as Abu Dahdah, who is serving a 12-year sentence on the separate charge of having headed an al-Qaeda cell in Spain.

Abu Dahdah was initially handed 15 more years for helping to prepare the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States, but the Supreme Court found that there was not enough evidence to support that charge.