Russia`s second largest oil group Lukoil is in advanced negotiations with Repsol YPF to buy 30 percent of the Spanish-Argentine company in a deal worth 9.0 billion euros, Spanish national radio said Wednesday.

The number of journalists and other media staff killed around the world declined in 2008 but remains high, while virtually all of those responsible continue to go unpunished, a media safety group said Wednesday.

Health authorities in Spain Wednesday expressed outrage over a raffle being organised by a nightclub in which the prize is breast enlargement surgery.

The raffle, called `Pretty Woman,` is to take place at the Pacha discotheque in the Mediterranean city of Valencia on December 5. Tickets cost 20 euros (25 dollars) and the prize is worth 4,500 euros.

Latin American countries are well placed to survive the global financial crisis without falling into recession, the heads of Spanish businesses with interests in the continent said Wednesday.

A would-be immigrant died Wednesday after reaching Spain`s Canary Islands in a wooden fishing boat from Africa with 135 others, hospital sources said.

The man had been taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack after arriving on the island of Tenerife late on Tuesday.

Spain on Wednesday promised to help families of victims who disappeared during the 1936-39 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco to track their remains.

Spain is hurtling toward recession, showing economic contraction in the third quarter and with scope for a rebound limited, the OECD said Wednesday, as it called for reforms expected to be painful for Spanish workers.

Spain is hurtling toward recession, showing economic contraction in the third quarter and with scope for a rebound limited, the OECD said Wednesday, as it called for reforms expected to be painful for Spanish workers.

Spain is on full alert in case of a new attack by ETA in the wake of the arrest of the Basque separatist organisation`s alleged military chief, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcar said Wednesday.

Spain is on full alert in case of a new attack by ETA in the wake of the arrest of the Basque separatist organisation`s alleged military chief, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcar said Wednesday.