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FIVE DEAD IN SALAMANCA CRASH Five women were killed in a horrific road accident in Salamanca on
Thursday in what is considered to be the worst road accident in the
country so far this summer. 
AL-QAIDA SUSPECTS ARRESTED Three suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network
were arrested by police on Tuesday. TENSION MOUNTS OVER MEDITERREAN ISLAND A diplomatic row has been brewing all week over an uninhabited island in the Straits of Gibraltar, 200 metres off the coast of Morocco, which is hardly bigger than a football pitch. The dispute is over the island of Perejil, which has belonged to Spain since 1668 but is claimed by Morocco, and where there has been no Spanish presence for the last 40 years. The crisis began last Thursday, when 12 Moroccan soldiers landed on the island, set up tents and raised their national flag. Morocco said it sent the troops to the island to try to crack down on drugs smuggling and illegal immigration. Spain, however, claimed that the soldiers had violated Spanish sovereignty. On Monday, Aznar warned that Spain would not allow Morocco to keep troops on the island, but every diplomatic effort would be made to restore what he called international legality. The Moroccan foreign minister said they had no intention of taking the troops off the island, but that they too wanted to solve the dispute by means of diplomatic channels. On Tuesday, Spain deployed a warship to waters near the island and, in the early hours of Wednesday, in a surprise move, Spanish forces evicted the Moroccan soldiers and two Spanish flags supplanted the Moroccan flag. At least a dozen Spanish troops took up defensive positions around the island, as two soldiers patrolled and five warships circled nearby. The Moroccan Foreign Minister said that the Spanish action was tantamount to an act of war and demanded that Spain withdraw. On Thursday, Spain said it would withdraw its troops as long as Morocco did not reoccupy it. Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said: “Spain has no desire to stay in Perejil. It desires to return to the status quo, but for that it requires guarantees”. Yesterday, Morocco’s Foreign Minister, as he prepared to visit Europe to discuss the dispute with the European Union in Brussels, said Morocco would not return to the island if Spain withdrew its troops, but that the Spanish troops would have to leave before dialogue could begin. MURDERED BULL FIGHTER IS BURIED Bullfighter José Tomás Reina Rincón was buried in a private family ceremony at Ciudad Real cemetery on Tuesday following a mass held in the town’s bull-ring that was attended by around 1,500 people. The badly beaten body of the 22-year-old bullfighter, who was reported missing after a night out on July 2, was found washed up on a beach last week in Lima, Peru, where he had been taking part in a bullfighting festival. A policeman and three security guards from Lima were arrested after confessing to beating the bullfighter to death and dumping his body in the sea. POLICE DISMANTLE ETA ARSENAL A huge cache of arms and explosives belonging to the terrorist group ETA was discovered in France on Tuesday as a result of a joint operation between French police and Spanish Guardia Civil. Over 300 kilos of dynamite and a sizeable quantity of arms was found in an underground hiding-place at a disused tile factory near the town of Rivière in Les Landes in south-west France. French police had been watching the building by means of video cameras for at least the last 4 months. Six people were arrested in the swoop. The detainees are all French nationals, although one elderly couple are of Spanish origin. All are suspected of collaborating with ETA. Spanish Interior Minister Ángel Acebes said that this find would deal a severe blow to the terrorist group as it is thought to have been one of the major stores of weapons ETA has in France. STATE OF THE NATION DEBATE In his hour-long speech
at the start of the State of the Nation debate in Parliament on Monday
PM Aznar presented an extensive programme of reforms in order to carry
out the promises he made when he obtained his absolute majority in the
elections of 2000. In addition to proposing a special shock plan to
combat crime, he vowed to continue to fight terrorism, modernise national
infrastructures, create full employment, increase the police force,
make changes to the law for criminal prosecution and the penal code
to stop re-offenders, and to project the international image of Spain.
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