Spain's King Juan Carlos went into surgery for a hip replacement on Thursday, the latest in a string of operations that have raised questions about the future of his reign.

The 75-year-old monarch waved from the window of the car as he was driven up to Quiron University Hospital in the western suburbs of Madrid, and joked with waiting reporters about the cold weather.

The Spanish government will ease its austerity reforms over the coming two years as the economy appears to be emerging from recession, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Thursday.

"I think we are now in a position to say that there will not be any cutbacks as big as the ones we have adopted over the past two years," Rajoy said in an interview on national radio to mark the midpoint of his mandate.

Moroccan security forces drove back a crowd of about 1,000 migrants who charged at the border fence trying to climb into Spain's north African territory of Melilla, Spanish authorities said on Wednesday.

"A very large group of about a thousand sub-Saharan immigrants" rushed to the fence and were "held back and dispersed by the Moroccan forces" overnight on Tuesday to Wednesday, the Spanish government delegation in Melilla said in a statement.

A Spanish court on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for China's ex-president Jiang Zemin in a case brought by activists alleging that Chinese forces committed genocide in Tibet.

Tibetan rights groups brought the case against Jiang, former prime minister Li Peng and three other Chinese officials, alleging they were responsible for "genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and terrorism" against Tibetans in the 1980s and 1990s.

Spain's chief prosecutor denied on Tuesday that preferential treatment was being given to King Juan Carlos's daughter Cristina, who has so far avoided a court summons in corruption and tax probes.

Cristina, 48, known as the infanta, is linked to the business affairs of her husband Inaki Urdangarin, who is under investigation for alleged embezzlement of public funds. She is herself being probed over her fiscal affairs.

A Spanish court refused on Monday to extradite a child rapist who was arrested in Spain having been controversially pardoned by the king of Morocco.

Daniel Galvan, 63, was among 48 Spanish prisoners pardoned by King Mohammed VI and freed from jail following a visit in mid-July to Morocco by Spain's King Juan Carlos.

Spanish police arrested a 78-year-old British pedophile who was on the run and a judge on Sunday ordered him to be handed back to Britain, a court source said.

Michael McCartney was arrested in the southeastern city of Alicante after he appeared on a list published on Thursday of the 13 most wanted British fugitives in Spain.

The EU executive on Friday said it had found no proof of British claims that Spain had violated European Union rules on border and customs checks at Gibraltar's border.

"The Commission has not found evidence to conclude that the checks on persons and goods as operated by the Spanish authorities at the crossing point of La Linea de la Conception have infringed the relevant provisions of Union law," a European Commission statement said.

A global investigation into a Canadian child porn website had led to the arrest of 341 people including teachers, doctors and police officers, and the rescue of 386 sexually abused children, police said.

Those arrested include six law enforcement officials, nine religious leaders, 40 school teachers, three foster parents, 32 children volunteers and nine doctors and nurses, Toronto police said Thursday.

A Spanish court on Thursday freed a further 13 jailed members of Basque armed separatist group ETA, a court source said, under a rights ruling that has outraged victims' families.

Many Spaniards are outraged by the release of ETA prisoners convicted of deadly shootings and bombings in a violent campaign to carve out an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.