The former president of Spain’s Balearic islands has been jailed for six years for bribing a newspaper columnist to praise him in his articles.

TENS of thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets of Galicia’s capital yesterday to protest at Madrid’s response to a tanker disaster as a new wave of oil began hitting beaches.

Amid increasing criticism over the Spanish government’s handling of the Prestige disaster, Environment Minister Jaume Matas blamed a Dutch salvage company for the spillage of millions of gallons of toxic fuel oil from the sunken tanker last week, a newspaper reported Sunday.

PICTURESQUE coastal areas hit

THE tanker that broke in half and sank apparently took most of its cargo of toxic fuel oil to the frigid bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, where it may solidify and pose less danger to fishing grounds and scenic beaches along northwestern Spain.