Spain's Supreme Court has found internationally known human rights judge Baltasar Garzon guilty of authorising the illegal recording of defence lawyers' conversations, a court spokesman said on Thursday.

The unanimous ruling disbars Garzon for 11 years. He cannot appeal against the ruling, the Supreme Court said.

The case is separate from one currently in progress in which Garzon is accused of illegally ordering an inquiry into tens of thousands of suspected murders by forces loyal to Francisco Franco.

The case involves allegations he illegally authorised police investigating a corruption case to record the conversations of lawyers with their clients in custody. Garzon told the court he had authorised the taping of conversations of defendants in custody only because lawyers were suspected of involvement in money laundering.

It was brought by two businessmen who are awaiting trial for allegedly bribing members of the centre-right People's Party (PP), which won a landslide election victory in November. "The conversations were taped...for a concrete and specific reason, that had nothing to do with their defence preparation," Garzon told Spain's Supreme Court. "All and every measure was taken to protect the right to a (fair) defence."

Police have arrested a presumed member of the armed Basque group ETA in Bilbao, Spanish news agency EFE reported on Thursday quoting police sources.

There was an arrest warrant issued by Spain's High Court for the suspect, identified as Juan Francisco Gómez López.

According to the same sources, the detainee had been arrested previously in 1989 when he was planning an attack on a Spanish police patrol.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Caja Laboral Popular's (Caja Laboral) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BBB+' from 'A' and Viability Rating (VR) to 'bbb+' from 'a'. Fitch has removed the Rating Watch Negative (RWN) on its Long-term IDR and the Outlook is Negative.

Fitch believes that it will become increasingly challenging for Caja Laboral to sustain profitability and asset quality metrics given the expected deterioration in Spain's economic outlook and the severely strained state of the country's real estate market.

Caja Laboral's focus on the relatively more resilient Basque Country and Navarra regions, a 12% Fitch core capital ratio(FCC)/weighted risks (end-Q311) and an exposure to real estate and construction lending (11% of total loans and foreclosures at end-Q311) that is below the sector average partly offsets these risks, but do not mitigate them fully.

Caja Laboral's exposure to land is high at 6% of total loans and foreclosures at end-Q311 and it was 25% covered by reserved, which in Fitch's view is under reserved. Fitch estimates that the recently announced tougher provisioning requirements of the Spanish Ministry of Finance should they have been taken through equity and profit and loss at end-Q311, would have resulted in a FCC ratio of around 10%,which still remains strong.

The bank's operating profit and its below-peer net interest margin, in part a reflection of there being no interest rate floors in its mortgage loans, will continued to be under pressure as economic conditions toughen and further asset quality deterioration continues. The bank's large residential mortgage portfolio (64% of total loans) has performed well to date, with non-performing loans of just 1.5% versus a 2.7% average for peers.

Caja Laboral's ratings also consider its solid franchise in the wealthy Basque Country and Navarra which has provided it with a large and relatively stable retail funding base. They also reflect Caja Laboral's adequate liquidity with no wholesale funding maturities in 2013, limited European Central Bank reliance to date and unencumbered assets pool of around 9% of total assets at end-Q311.

The Support Rating of '3' and Support Rating Floor of 'BB' reflect Fitch's belief that there is a moderate probability of support from the Spanish authorities if needed, in light of Caja Laboral's importance in the Basque Country.

Greek leaders failed on Thursday to agree on a reform and austerity programme, the price of a financial bailout to avoid a messy default, forcing Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to go to the country's financial backers with an incomplete deal.

Venizelos will travel to Brussels later on Thursday, where his fellow euro zone finance ministers had hoped he would present a commitment to make budget savings worth 3.3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) this year.

But after all-night talks with leaders of the three parties in the Greek coalition and with officials from the EU and IMF, Venizelos emerged shortly before dawn to say that one issue remained unresolved.

"I am leaving for Brussels in a short while with the hope that the Eurogroup meeting will be held, and a positive decision on the new programme will be taken," he told reporters.

"The financial survival of the country in the coming years depends on the new programme ... It is time of responsibility for everyone."

Venizelos did not say what the problem was or why he was not certain the Brussels meeting on the 130 billion euro bailout would go ahead.

A spokesman for the socialist PASOK party said disagreement over pension reform had been the stumbling block.

A senior government official said the party chiefs had agreed on how to make about 90 percent of the promised savings, leaving a relatively small hole in the calculations.

Athens had to close this gap quickly, said the official. "Greece has another 15 days to specify fiscal savings worth 300 million euros," he said on condition of anonymity.

PM hopes

Earlier, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said he hoped the party leaders could sort out their differences before the euro zone finance ministers meet at 1700 GMT.

Prospects for a long-awaited deal on Greece's second bailout since 2010 appeared to brighten when the finance ministers' chairman Jean-Claude Juncker called the Brussels meeting – which IMF managing director Christine Lagarde will also attend – to examine the bailout and accompanying bond swap.

On offer from the European Union and International Monetary Fund is a package involving the new rescue funds - which Greece needs to avoid a chaotic default when big debt repayments fall due on March 20 - and a bond swap with private creditors to ease the nation's huge debt burden.

In return, Athens must accept conditions requiring big cuts in many Greeks' living standards. The smallest member of the coalition, the far-right LAOS party, was particularly uncomfortable with the measures.

"The president of LAOS George Karatzaferis expressed serious reservations," said Papademos, a former central banker brought in when a PASOK government collapsed last November.

Panos Beglitis, spokesman for PASOK which is in the coalition along with LAOS and the conservative New Democracy party, said they had disagreed over the level of cuts to
supplementary pensions needed to safeguard the pension system.

However, Beglitis told reporters the leaders had agreed to cut the minimum wage by 22 percent as part of efforts to make the economy more competitive. Plans to scrap bonuses paid to private sector workers at Christmas, Easter and in the summer had been dropped.

Two sources close to the Athens talks said the government would promise spending cuts and tax rises totalling 13 billion euros from 2012 to 2015, almost double the seven billion it originally pledged.

Athletic Club Bilbao will play against FC Barcelona in the final of the King's Cup after the Catalans beat Valencia 2-0 on Wednesday.

Cesc Fabregas scored one goal and set up another as to advance to the Copa del Rey final. Lionel Messi lobbed a long pass that Fabregas chased down and deftly chipped over goalkeeper Diego Alves for Barcelona's 15th-minute opener.

And after Sofiane Feghouli left Valencia with 10 men late on after receiving his second booking, Fabregas set up Xavi Hernandez to send Barcelona through 3-1 on aggregate.

The final will pit the two most successful teams in the competition. Barcelona will look to add to its record 25 titles on May 25, while Athletic Bilbao aims to avenge its 2009 final loss to the Catalans that denied the club a 24th title.

"I am happy with the Copa campaign that my team has had, but we were playing against the best team in the world,'' said Valencia coach Unai Emery, who has yet to beat Barcelona in eight tries. We had our chances until the second goal but Barcelona is a great team."

Valencia received a setback just before kickoff when leading scorer Roberto Soldado was ruled unfit to play because of the flu. He was replaced by Basque striker Aritz Aduriz up front.

Barcelona, meanwhile, received a boost by the return of Xavi and Alexis Sanchez to the starting 11 and Andres Iniesta to the bench, while Isaac Cuenca and Thiago Alcantara again filled in for the injured Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Busquets.

Contrary to Barcelona's usual style, Valencia owned possession for the first 10 minutes and made all the attacking plays at Camp Nou stadium. Feghouli had Valencia's first clear chance when he was played behind Barcelona's high defensive line and sent a left-footed blast into the side-netting in the 12th.

But Messi soon turned the flow of the game in the 15th, lobbing a long-range pass from the other side of the half-way line for Fabregas to run down and lift over Diego Alves.

It was Fabregas' 15th goal of the season in all competitions. At this pace, he should have little trouble breaking his season-best tally of 19 from his time at Arsenal.

Messi almost set up another goal for Barcelona four minutes later after robbing defender Adil Rami, but Diego Alves blocked his shot and Cuenca sent the rebound wide.

Back in control, the Catalan giants settled into Valencia's territory with Fabregas testing Diego Alves with a pair of strikes from inside the box before halftime.

Valencia caught Barcelona flatfooted after the restart, though, winger Jordi Alba and Aduriz drawing good saves from goalkeeper Jose Pinto.

Again it was Messi who put Barcelona back in charge, first firing a shot off a defender that hit the crossbar and then showing a lightning-fast change of foot to squirm through three defenders and flick a shot that Diego Alves dived to parry.

Yet unlike the first half, Valencia responded and Aduriz soon caught Pinto off his line, but Javier Mascherano cleared the danger.

Messi, who has had problems finishing off chances recently and had a penalty blocked by Diego Alves in the first leg, again missed from point-blank range after Alexis had robbed the ball and set him up with only the 'keeper to beat.

Jonas, Valencia's scorer in the first leg, forced Pinto to tip his rising strike over the bar in the 73rd as the game turned into an up-and-down contest late on.

But Feghouli left Valencia a man down from the 76th, and Fabregas rolled Alexis' low cross over to an unmarked Xavi on the right side for his Spain teammate to blast into the left corner of the net in the 81st and seal the series.

The Bilbao Arena was the setting for the third encounter between the home side Gescrap BB and Real Madrid in as many weeks, after another Euroleague game and an ACB game.

Gescrap were desperate to set the record straight after losing to Madrid in week three of the top 16. The hosts made a blistering start and thanks to the sharp shooting of Kostas Vasiliadis and Raul Lopez, they cruised into a 34-14 lead in the first quarter.

There was no let-up in the second quarter either, as Gescrap increased the advantage to 26 points at half-time. Real Madrid had no answer to Vasiliadis, who top scored on the night with 19 points.

But the match ended on a sour note when Aaron Jackson reacted angrily to Sergio Llull's wild slap, causing a melee. Cool heads prevailed, however, and Gescrap were left to celebrate a convincing 93-69 win.

Spain's government will unveil reforms to rigid labour laws on Friday that it hopes will be radical enough to get to grips with sky-high unemployment while not severing links altogether with unions ahead of key regional elections.

Investors will be watching closely as the legislation also marks the latest stage in a concerted campaign by Madrid to persuade markets it can slash its public deficit and iron out structural weaknesses in an economy that is heading back into recession.

The centre-right government, elected in a landslide in November, is prepared on Friday to go further with its reforms than a labour pact reached between unions and business leaders at the end of January - even if that risks provoking a general strike.

Workers and management agreed to give more power to companies to hire and fire, reduce the cost of layoffs, and untie wage agreements from inflation.

The government has said it also wants to give firms the ability to modify workers' hours in response to demand rather than simply laying them off, bringing an end to the rapid rise in temporary contracts that has helped push youth unemployment to just shy of 50 percent.

But it is unclear if that reform will be part of Friday's programme, and even if it is, the consensus is that a jobless rate now close to 23 percent will not come down any time soon. "I think the reform will only go half way. That's a shame, because it is necessary, even if it's hard to explain to society," Fran Gonzalez, economist at Caixa Catalunya, said.

Sources close to the government told Reuters there is a split between those who do not want the reform to be so deep that it brings about a breakdown in relations with labour
unions, and those - said to include Economy Minister Luis de Guindos - who want something more radical.

As things stand, analysts believe a desire to retain voter support ahead of upcoming local elections in heavily populated Andalucia and the northern region of Asturias mean de Guindos could lose out. "The problem is that the government faces elections in the short term... Right now it's not looking like we'll see the radical reform that Spain needs," said Jose Pin at the IESE business school.

"We've got 23 percent unemployment, so you need to reduce it fast. If the reform is radical the economy will breathe and unemployment will be reduced much faster."
No job creation yet

The previous Socialist government reformed labour rules in 2010, but the changes were widely criticised for not tackling the collective bargaining wage-setting process or delinking salaries from consumer prices.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy acknowledged on Wednesday that the difficult economic environment - Spain is facing its second recession in under three years - meant job creation is still a long way off. "Unfortunately the figures will not improve this year...They are going to get worse," Rajoy told Parliament.

A day earlier, Employment Minister Fatima Banez said the reform would try to end Spain's dual track employment system.

As things stand, an older generation of workers with robust benefits are very expensive to let go, and a younger generation in so-called "junk jobs" or hired on temporary contracts have no benefits or job security.

The government is expected to legislate on collective bargaining agreements in an attempt to give firms more power in setting wages according to their economic circumstances rather than across entire sectors as happens at present.

It will also likely reduce the number of days of severance pay a firm has to pay from a maximum of 45 per year worked at present, with unions hoping for it to be taken no lower than 33, and business leaders hoping for 20.

Another likely element will be incentives for firms to hire youth workers.

Strike risk seen acceptable

Rajoy has long said he expects the reform to trigger at least one general strike, and his advisers say if that doesn't happen the reform is too soft.

Fernando Lezcano, spokesman for the CCOO labour federation, said the contents of the reform would determine whether a strike takes place, criticising the government for not working with labour more closely on the reform.

"The government seems worried about satisfying the demands of financial institutions and (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel, while it refuses to enter into dialogue and share information with Spain's social partners," he said.

But it there is a strike, the high unemployment rate may well keep it from gaining mass backing. A survey by pollster Sigma Dos published in El Mundo newspaper on Tuesday showed 65 percent of people would accept a full-time contract with a 20-day severance package.

Analysts say the real proof the reform is working or not will come in October. The Spanish tourist and service sectors create jobs at a fast rate over the summer months, and analysts say that if there are fewer lay-offs in October after the season ends then it would be a sign the labour reform was working.

The United Nations' top human rights official called on Wednesday for urgent international action to protect civilians in Syria, saying she was appalled by the Syrian government's military onslaught on the city of Homs.

Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, also implicitly criticised Russia and China for vetoing an Arab and Western move in the U.N. Security Council to get Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to quit.

"I am appalled by the Syrian government's wilful assault on the city of Homs, and its use of artillery and other heavy weaponry in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city," Pillay said in a statement.

Anti-Assad activists in Syria say that, after an overnight artillery bombardment, government forces are thrusting into rebel-held areas of Homs with tanks as troops fired rockets and mortars, leaving many dead.

Pillay, a former South African high court judge said it was extremely urgent "for the international community to cut through the politics and take effective action to protect the civilian population."

She said "the virtual carte blanche" granted to Syria by the veto of the U.N. resolution "betrays the spirit and the word" of a 2005 global accord on collective action to protect civilians when their government was failing to do so.

Her statement came as both Russia and China continued to defend their stance.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was "not really the international community's business" to try to determine the outcome of a national dialogue between government and opposition in Syria.

China said its veto was based on the U.N. Charter and principles and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that Beijing would make "unremitting efforts for the peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis".

Pillay said over the past 11 months of a "brutal government crackdown on largely peaceful protests in Syria," thousands of people had been killed, detained, tortured and abducted.

Officials in her Geneva office say the deaths are now so widespread around the country that they can no longer issue reliable estimates. Last December she put the figure at more than 5,000.

"All evidence points to the involvement of the Syrian army and security forces in the perpetration of most of these crimes," said Pillay, who is also a former judge in the International Criminal Court. "In the light of their nature and scale, they may constitute crimes against humanity, punishable under international law.

"Those in command should remember that there is no statute of limitations for serious international crimes and that there will be a sustained effort, for as long as it takes, to bring justice to all those who have been victims of the gross and systematic crimes taking place in Syria today."

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary clashed with angry workers from Spanair on Tuesday when he was announcing new routes connecting the Basque airport of Bilbao with Madrid and Barcelona.

The Spanair workers, that were protesting Spanair's "decision to cease operations", felt insulted by some of gestures of Michael O'Leary. TV footage shows Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary making a victory sign in what workers said was an apparent act of provocation and a lack of respect. Police had to step in after tempers flared and protect the Ryanair chief executive.

Ryanair is examining opportunities in Spain following the collapse last week of loss-making rival Spanair.

Spanair said it had "taken the decision to cease operations," grounding its fleet. An estimated 22,000 passengers who had booked seats on 220 canceled flights were left looking for alternative arrangements.

The airline, whose hub was Barcelona airport, employed around 2,000 people and used the services of some 1,200 ground staff. It stopped operating after a Spanish regional government announced it could no longer fund the airline.

A first look at the program of the 47th Heineken Jazz Festival, to be held in San Sebastian between the 19th and the 23rd of July 2012, includes names such as Antony, Bobby McFerrin, Jamaican Legends (Sly & Robbie, Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin), Yellowjackets, Ray Gelato, Marc Ribot, Ninety Miles (Stefon Harris, David Sanchez and Nicholas Payton) and Peter Evans.

Antony puts together a unique voice and a fascinating personality. His intimate music is sometimes close to jazz and blues, but his style really is as puzzling as his person. His performance in San Sebastian will be really exceptional, because there will be a large orchestra of about 40 musicians: the Basque orchestra Et Incarnatus, that has found its outstanding position among other bands due to the recognized expertise of its members and its adaptation to a varied repertoire ranging from classical music to collaborations with pop groups and rock.

With this wonderful support, Antony will offer an attractive show titled Cut The World, consisting of songs from his four previous albums with symphonic arrangements by Nico Muhly, Rob Moose and Maxim Moston.

Bobby McFerrin is the most popular jazz singer in the world. McFerrin is an inimitable artist, an acrobat with his voice and a great communicator, making an entire auditorium sing with his vocal chords as his only instrument. McFerrin’s concerts are a guarantee of fun and are at the same time exquisite, something that you do not always find. His extraordinary debut in San Sebastian’s Plaza de la Trinidad in 2001 is still remembered by the fans.

He now returns with an impressive project together with Yellowjackets, one of the most enduring and influential bands in modern jazz. They have won a Grammy in no less than thirteen times.

Jamaican Legends is a must for lovers of jazz and reggae, with the participation of the true legends of Jamaican music: Sly & Robbie, Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin.