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The rider is almost certainly out of the Olympic Games as well.
Spanish rider Óscar Pereiro has been forced to retire from the Tour de France, after a fall in yesterday’s stage in which he broke his humerus bone. It means that the Galician rider, who won the Tour in 2006, will almost certainly also miss the Olympic Games.

The spectacular fall came as the rider from the Caisse D’Epargne team, came has he took a curve on the descent at Col de Agnel, where the road surface was damp in drizzle.

Pereiro did not lose consciousness at any time and was evacuated to hospital while the rest of the riders slowed their pace until it was known that the Spaniard was out of danger.

The tragedies happened in Valladolid and Madrid yesterday.
Two children drowned in leisure parks in Spain yesterday, one in Valladolid and the other in Madrid. It happened just hours apart with the two year old boy falling into an inflatable swimming pool in Valladolid when visiting the Juan de Austria Adventure Park as part of a school trip.

The second tragedy was the death of a four year old girl who drowned in the swimming pool at the Aquópolis in San Fernando de Henares in Madrid. She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the Gregorio Marañón hospital.

The man set himself alight at a petrol station in the town last Saturday.
News comes today that two local police from La Vila Joiosa were injured last Saturday when trying to help a 35 year old local man who had set fire to himself after covering his body with petrol.

It happened at a petrol station in the town where the man had taken his car and then took the petrol pump to cover himself with fuel while still seated in the vehicle. He then took out a lighter.

A worker at the petrol station immediately cut the supply of petrol to the pump and advised the police that there was a man with a lighter covered with petrol.

When they arrived at the scene the police tried to get the man to come out of the vehicle, but as they tried to open the door of the car he used the lighter to start a fire. He is now in the burns unit of Alicante Hospital with second degree burns to both of his arms.

One of the police has first degree burns to his face and arms and was allowed home yesterday. The other policeman remains in hospital also with second degree burns.

The man is known as a common criminal in the town, and it seems is currently suffering sentimental problems.

The first operation of its type in Spain took place at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona.
The first stomach reduction operation to be carried out through the vagina in Spain has taken place at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona.

The patient was a 67 year old woman, and the operation is thought to be just the fifth time that the technique has been carried out worldwide. It comes following collaboration between the hospital and the Olympus company which develops the instruments needed for the procedure which leaves the abdominal wall untouched.

The technique is said to be less painful for the patient and also has fewer complications.

The judge is investigating whether any crime was committed by the parents.
A two year old boy has died in the Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Sevilla after being left in the sun in the parked family car while his parents carried out their business.

The child was transferred firstly to the health centre at Camas on the outskirts of the city, suffering from convulsions and with a body temperature of 43 degrees, and was then transferred to the city’s main hospital on July 18 where he has been on assisted breathing. However there was nothing the doctors could do to stop the child entering into a state of brain death.

A judge in the city is reported to be investigating whether any crime has been committed. It comes following news of the death of a three year old last week who had been left in a car in France.

It happened on the A-7 motorway early yesterday morning for reasons that are still be investigated.
A woman has died and four people were injured when an Alicante ambulance carrying six people overturned on the A-7 motorway at 7,30 am yesterday at the 866.5 km point.

Three of those on the vehicle were cancer patients being taken for treatment in Valencia. A 60 year old woman from Villena died instantly when the ambulance left the road and overturned at Massalavés, while her 64 year old husband is seriously hurt in the intensive care unit of the Ribera Hospital.

The 22 year old driver of the ambulance was only slightly hurt and has spent the night in Elda hospital but is expected to be allowed home today. The reasons he lost control of the vehicle are still being investigated.

One man was seriously injrued when shot at random in the street when out walking.
It was a tragic Saturday in Madrid with three shootings, two of them fatal. An as yet unidentified 35 year old man died after being shot in the temple. He was found lying on the ground by a police patrol in the Las Rosas area of the capital.
He was rushed to the Ramón y Cajal hospital where he died some hours later.

The other fatality was a 35 year old Chinaman who died in the Gregorio Marañon Hospital after being shot three times in the early hours in a discotec in Avenida de Sanaa Eugenia.

And finally a 52 year old man was seriously injured when shot in the street, in Calle Luchana in the Chamberí district.
It seems that he was shot by chance when walking in the street, and reports say he continued to walk for some time before he realised that he had been hit.

It happened during a family arguement in May last year.
Alicante Provincial Court has sentenced a man to seven and a half years in prison for stabbing his son, who was defending his mother during a family argument. It happened in Calle Pintor Pérez Pizarro in the city in May last year, and the court rejected defence claims that the son was stabbed in the neck when he fell onto the knife.

The father was also ordered by the court to compensate his son with 20,720 €. The son spent eight days in hospital as a consequence of the stabbing.

The woman’s partner covered her with alcohol saying he was giving her a massage, but then set her alight.
A 39 year old Alicante woman has suffered ‘deep second degree and third degree’ burns after her partner massaged alcohol into her genitals and then set her on fire.

The couple is homeless and live in an abandoned house in the city, and 20 minutos reports that the woman suffered the pain for two days before seeking medical help. She is now waiting for an operation in hospital while her partner has been arrested by the National Police and has been sent to prison on remand.

Police sources explained that the couple had been arguing when the man said he forgave the woman and offered to give her a massage. It was then he carried out the brutal abuse.

ETA explodes bomb at Basque country barracks

News Staff Reporter
A GUARDIA CIVIL officer was killed and four others were injured when an ETA bomb exploded at Legutiano (Alava) barracks during the early hours of Wednesday.

Initial investigations say ETA could have used up to 300 kilos of explosives in the van which blew up, destroying a surveillance annex to the main building and causing serious damage to the barracks’ façade.

Fatal victim Jose Manuel Piñuel Villalón, 41, was in the surveillance annex at the time and his body was found among the rubble. He was married, had one son and was only transferred to Legutiano two months ago.

Four other officers were injured, one of whom was rushed to the intensive care unit at a Vitoria hospital. In recent medical reports doctors say they no longer fear for his life.

ETA did not warn of the explosion, and experts believe the terrorists were trying to cause a massacre with several fatalities to show their strength.

Police found a Peugeot 306, stolen in April, which was used by the terrorists to escape. The explosive device attacked to the car did not work and police are gathering prints and other evidence.

Minister for the Interior Rubalcaba visited Legutiano on Wednesday morning.

Demonstrations and minutes of silence were held throughout Spain on Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday).

Many Costa town halls held minutes of silence at midday and issued statements of condemnation.

PARTIES UNITED AT LAST

For the first time in many months, all parties represented at the parliament expressed their condemnation of the attack and their full support towards the government in handling the terrorist situation.

PP leader Mariano Rajoy was the first to offer his support to Sr Rodríguez Zapatero, marking a considerable u-turn in the party’s criticism towards the government in the matter over the past year.