More than 200 migrants stormed across a triple-layer border fence into Spain's north African territory of Melilla on Friday, Spanish authorities said, in one of the largest such crossings in years.

Some 300 people launched the dawn assault to cross into the Spanish city, which lies on the northern tip of Morocco, and 214 made it across, the authorities said.

Lawmakers in Spain voted on Thursday in favor of a bill that will reduce the capacity of the country's courts to pursue cases of human rights abuses committed abroad.

The bill curbing the use of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which allows judges to try certain cases of crimes against humanity that took place in other countries, was passed by 180 votes to 137.

A group of Pakistanis jailed in Spain in 2009 over a plot to bomb the Barcelona metro protested their innocence Thursday, claiming they were framed by a corrupt witness.

Jan Khan, the legal consultant for the men, said they wanted to clear their names of the terror charges.

Some of Europe's most spectacular prehistoric cave paintings reopen for a glimpse to a handful of visitors on Thursday at Altamira in northern Spain after a 12-year closure.

Renowned for vivid paintings of bison and animal-headed humans, the rocky cave closed in 2002 because scientists said the breath from crowds of visitors was damaging the prehistoric paint.

Paco de Lucia, 66, the Spanish guitar virtuoso who brought flamenco to a world audience, has died of a heart attack while playing with his son on Mexican beach.

Born Francisco Sanchez Gomez, he was credited with modernizing the gypsy tradition of his native Andalusia, absorbing jazz and pop influences in a decades-long career.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Wednesday rejected calls to respond to a disarmament pledge by the Basque separatist group ETA.

Rajoy insisted the group disband unconditionally despite its pledge last week, in response to questions from Basque politicians in parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Tuesday that a referendum on Catalan independence planned for November 9 will not take place because it would be illegal.

"This referendum can't take place, it is not legal," he told parliament during an annual state of the nation debate.

A hoax documentary that falsely claimed a failed 1981 military coup attempt was staged to boost King Juan Carlos's image has stirred controversy in Spain.

Viewers took to social media sites to complain about the 50-minute documentary that aired on Sunday night, with many saying the seminal moment in Spain's recent history was too serious to be treated lightly.

Some 500 African migrants stormed a triple barbed-wire border fence Monday that divides the Spanish territory of Melilla from Morocco, with about 100 making it over, an official said.

The migrants targeted two different sections of the border and were "very violent" as they used "sticks and threw rocks at Spanish and Moroccan police", said a spokeswoman for the Spanish government's representative in Melilla.

Three international monitors appeared before a judge in Spain on Sunday to give evidence about their meeting with militants from the armed Basque separatist group ETA.

The move came after the International Verification Commission announced Friday that it had overseen ETA militants handing over a small cache of weapons as the first step towards disarmament.