Live News From Spain As It Happens

A TEENAGE boy was rushed to hospital in Valencia yesterday (Sunday) after being dragged by a bus when his arm became caught in the door.

Jerry Cunningham, 14, was running for the bus in the city and attempted to board it just a split second before the doors closed, trapping his arm.

After running a few metres, the boy fell and was dragged along the ground by his arm.

Terrified passengers attempted to alert the driver, who eventually realised what was happening and stopped the vehicle to attend to the victim.

Jerry was air-lifted to hospital with fractures to his face, ribs and ankle, and is said to be in a serious condition.

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GUARDIA Civil officers in Madrid have detected 67 illegal connections to the mains water network allowing those who set them up to have on-tap water without paying.

They have arrested 59 people who are said to have 'stolen' 286,000 cubic metres of drinking water – the average household consumes approximately 40 cubic metres a month, meaning the total amount siphoned illegally was enough to supply each of the accused parties for an average of 10 years.

Many of those thought to have been 'stealing' water are owners of companies, which habitually consume more, so police do not believe the situation has been going on for more than a few months.

Over a kilometre of unauthorised pipes tapping into the mains supply was found following extensive investigations that involved geo-radar robotic equipment.

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FOREIGN investors who could potentially create jobs in Spain may be given automatic residence rights and visas in a new move by the central government to encourage multi-national firms to set up branches in the country.

Companies or individuals who bring a 'notable socio-economic impact' or 'important scientific or technological innovation' into Spain will find the paper-trail required to obtain residence will be considerably simplified.

Where these people, or the owners and existing key staff of the firms in question are self-employed and involved in more than one area of activity, they will be given a discount on their monthly social security contributions.

They will need to provide evidence that they intend to make 'significant financial investments' in Spain and 'create jobs' in order to benefit from an easier residence process.

The new law allowing for this is hoped to make Spain a more attractive place for highly-qualified professionals and scientific investigators by cutting down on the red tape required for settling in the country. 

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A SPECTACULAR win for Spain's Rafa Nadal against Roger Federer in Rome left fans open-mouthed as the Swiss world number two crashed out and handed his rival his seventh Italian Open title on a plate.

In just 68 minutes, Mallorca-born Rafa wiped the floor with Federer, ending their 30^th match against each other on a score of 6-1 6-3.

“I didn't have my best day,” Federer admitted afterwards, saying that despite trying to 'play offensively', Rafa had more topspin than anyone else he had played last week in Rome, marking a dramatic change for Federer and meaning the match 'did not go as he had hoped'.

Federer's forehand did not help him and he was broken in the third game, having got off to a poor start with numerous unforced mistakes, whilst Rafa's stunning backhand at the beginning of the fourth game netted him his 11^th point out of 13 and put him at a strong advantage.

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MADRID was the coldest capital city in the world on Friday (May 17) – it's official.

With maximum daytime temperatures of 9.2ºC, it was chillier than every other capital city in the northern and southern hemisphere that day.

And the humidity levels registered meant that it felt much colder than 9.2ºC, according to weather records.

Even Moscow reached maximum temperatures of 25ºC, and the second-coldest capital in Europe – Brussels – had highs of 9.7ºC, or 0.5ºC warmer than Madrid.

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, was the third-chilliest capital in the world at 10ºC.

Even in the southern hemisphere, where winter is fast approaching, temperatures were higher than in Madrid – Buenos Aires was the coldest capital in South America (which officially starts at the México-Guatemala border) at 15.5ºC and Canberra (Australia) registered highs of 14.6ºC.

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SPAIN'S Dani Pedrosa roared to victory in the Moto GP in Le Mans today during a rain-soaked race, and was joined on the podium by the UK's Cal Crutchlow and Pedrosa's team mate Marc Márquez.

This puts Barcelona-born Pedrosa in the lead in the world championship rankings ahead of Márquez, who started badly in today's race despite gaining pole position on Saturday and dropped back to eighth place because of the wet conditions on the track.

But once he had got the hang of the circuit and how to ride it in the rain, a spectacular comeback saw him soaring to third place.

Cal Crutchlow also managed to storm ahead and overtake several riders, netting second place and showing that he had fully recovered from his accident during Saturday's pre-race training session. 

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HUNDREDS of women staged a flash-mob siege, known as an escrache outside the home of justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón this week in protest over the abortion law reform.

Gallardón wants to make it illegal for women to terminate a pregnancy on the grounds of the foetus being deformed or likely to be born with a severe mental or physical handicap, and for girls under 18 to have to seek their parents' permission to have an abortion.

If the reform goes ahead, the only real basis for ending a pregnancy before term will be where the mother's life or health is in serious danger, and will need a doctor to confirm this in writing.

The 300 women who staged what they called a 'feminist escrache' said that as it was they who would have to give birth and to care for the child – possibly for the rest of its life if it were to be born with a serious handicap – they should be the ones to decide whether or not they wish to continue with the pregnancy.

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FOUR Spanish MEPs say they believe their country is using EU agriculture grants on promoting and televising bull-fighting, and have called for an investigation and possible sanctions.

Alfred Bosch, Ana Miranda, Raúl Romeva and Ramón Tremosa say these grants are not even used on the actual breeding of bulls, but on filming, entry tickets, repairing and decorating bull-rings, advertising, TV rights, and benefits for promoters of and companies in the bull-fighting industry.

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A HUGE protest has been planned for May 25 over the fact that the Infanta Cristina has once again been released from her obligation to testify over the infamous Nóos case which her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, is facing trial over.

The King and Queen's eldest daughter was called up twice over suspicions that she may be involved in the money-laundering and fraud racket which Urdangarín and his co-director Diego Torres allegedly used the Nóos Institute as a front for, but on both occasions she has been let off.

Although the judge handling the case believed there was reason to suspect the Infanta's involvement, the prosecution service did not agree, saying there was no evidence to show she had committed any criminal offence and claiming that she was being discriminated against, or used as a public example because of her status.

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JUDGES can now prevent mortgage lenders from repossessing properties where 'abusive' clauses are included in the loan contract, and grant a two-year stay of grace on repossession for homeowners considered to be 'especially vulnerable'.

The new mortgage and repossession law – which came into force yesterday (Wednesday) after being approved in Parliament a week previously – limits interest rate hikes on repayments made as a penalty for defaulting on a monthly quota, and also forces banks to set a minimum reserve when auctioning off properties they have already taken back from their owners.  

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