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/ 4 May 2006

Barcelona retain Spanish title

FC Barcelona won its second straight Spanish league title and 18th overall on Wednesday, claiming the crown when final challenger Valencia was beaten by Mallorca 2-1. Barcelona players began celebrating at halftime of their game at Celta Vigo and went on to toast their success with a 1-0 win courtesy of a 55th-minute goal by Samuel Eto’o.

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/ 26 April 2006

Zidane confirms his farewell

Real Madrid star and France legend Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday explained his decision to retire after the World Cup finals in Germany and not play on with his club for another year. ”I didn’t make this decision overnight. It’s one I’ve mulled over for a long time,” Zidane told a news conference in Madrid, confirming what he had told French television on Tuesday.

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/ 29 March 2006

First-galactico Figo slams the Real circus

The first galactico of the Florentino Perez era at Real Madrid, Portugal star Luis Figo, compared the last few years at the Spanish club to a circus in an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca on Wednesday. ”If the most important thing in your project is to make a circus then you have a lot less chance of achieving sporting success.

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/ 28 March 2006

Eriksson tops Real’s magnificent-seven list

Real Madrid have included England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on a seven-man shortlist from which they hope to find a replacement for Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. Four English-based managers and three Italians appear on the shortlist, announced by Real Madrid president Fernando Martin on Monday.

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/ 23 March 2006

Finally, Ronaldo finds the net

Real Madrid’s three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo couldn’t hide his relief after finally finding the net following 36 barren days in which the Spanish giants have gone into a downward spiral. Ronaldo’s injury-time goal salvaged a point in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Real Zaragoza, the team which humiliated Real 6-1 in the Spanish Cup last month.

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/ 22 March 2006

ETA announces ceasefire in Spain

The armed Basque separatist organisation ETA announced on Wednesday it is declaring a permanent ceasefire, a condition set by Spain’s government for the opening of talks with the group. Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the government hopes the ceasefire means the ”beginning of the end” of violence.

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/ 19 March 2006

Spanish doctors perform 60kg ‘tummy tuck’

Spanish surgeons using cranes and ropes removed a 60kg mass of fat and liquid from the abdomen of a middle-aged woman in the procedure known as a tummy tuck. Francisco Javier Gabilondo, chief of plastic surgery at Hospital Cruces near the Basque city of Bilbao, said on Friday the operation was ”more spectacular than it was difficult”.

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/ 6 March 2006

New Real boss sees smoother road ahead

Real Madrid’s new chairperson Fernando Martin said he believed a smoother road lay ahead for the club following what he termed a ”very important win” on Saturday over city rivals Atletico Madridt. ”It was a very important win,” property developer Martin told reporters after the 2-1 success gave him a winning start five days after taking over from friend Florentino Perez.

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/ 2 February 2006

Mittal stands by bid for Arcelor

Mittal Steel chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said on Thursday that opposition to his hostile takeover bid for European steelmaker Arcelor could not weaken the "industrial logic" of his plan which would protect European jobs. The bid by Mittal would create by far the biggest steel group in the world, accounting for 10% share of global steel production.

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/ 30 January 2006

Would-be migrants find new route to Spain

Spanish police have detained about 200 African undocumented immigrants in the biggest such swoop this year, press reports said on Monday. The north and sub-Saharan Africans were captured off Almeria and Granada on the southern coast as well as the Canary Islands after arriving on five boats over the week-end.

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/ 19 December 2005

Villarreal moves into third place in Spanish League

Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan scored a goal each on Sunday, and Villarreal rallied to beat Getafe 2-1 and move into third place in the Spanish league. Villarreal trailed at El Madrigal stadium when striker Ivan ”Riki” Sanchez-Rico scored in the 20th minute with an overhead kick, but Riquelme levelled in the 45th with a curling free kick that crossed the line via the crossbar.

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/ 6 December 2005

‘Greatest’ Real Madrid descend in chaos

Real Madrid have descended into utter chaos and confusion. The ”Greatest Club in the World”, as they like to be called, are quickly become the greatest laughing stock of Planet Football. On Saturday night, the ”Galacticos” struggled at home to beat minnows Getafe 1-0, a result that took them up to fourth in the Spanish Liga.

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/ 29 November 2005

Tropical Storm Delta sweeps Canary Islands

A 63-year-old man died and more than 200 000 people were left without power in several cities as Tropical Storm Delta unleashed torrential rain and strong winds on the Canary Islands, authorities said on Tuesday. The rains and winds also affected hundreds of people who were left stranded at the islands’ main airports.

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/ 11 November 2005

Prehistoric skull may be missing ancestor

Palaeontologists excavating a dump outside Barcelona have found a skull dating back 14-million years that could belong to a common ancestor of apes and humans. The nearly intact skull, which has a flat face, jaw and teeth, may belong to a previously unknown species of great ape, said Salvador Moya, the chief palaeontologist on the dig.

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/ 8 November 2005

Beckham tests new Adidas soccer boot

David Beckham will hope to bend the ball even further at next year’s World Cup finals in his new soccer boots. The Real Madrid and England midfielder took turns with other top players taking free kicks and playing soccer tennis at an Adidas boot launch. They also shot a ball against a wall to measure how fast it was moving.

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/ 2 November 2005

Africans in limbo scrape by in Spain

The luckier ones sleep in crowded apartments or shelters and do construction work, dodging inspectors or using a friend’s papers. The less fortunate live in parks and hand out fliers, toiling for a pittance. They are Africans in limbo, scraping by in a country that does not want them but cannot expel them.

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/ 24 October 2005

Body of Nigerian first lady returns home

The body of the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was set to leave Spain on Monday afternoon for Abuja, a day after she died in the southern resort of Marbella, Nigerian officials said. Stella Obasanjo died on Sunday and an autopsy was carried out, but the sources were unable to comment on the findings.

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/ 24 October 2005

Beckham red-carded as Real Madrid crash

England skipper David Beckham was sent off as Real Madrid crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Valencia on Sunday leaving city neighbours Getafe to take top spot in the Spanish championship. Getafe, in only their second season of top flight football, beat Real Zaragoza 5-2 while Real’s four-game winning streak came to an end with their home defeat.