Madrid  - Spanish football club Valencia announced on Monday that star striker David Villa will be out of action for around three weeks, after tearing a muscle in his right thigh in Sunday's 1-0 win away to Racing Santander.

Villa, 28, will miss Spain's final World Cup qualifying matches against Armenia and Bosnia, as well as Valencia's home game against Liga leaders Barcelona on October
18. Spain have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Villa was top scorer at Euro 2008 and is currently the leading marksman in La Liga, with six goals. dpa

Valencia, Spain  - A wildfire forced the evacuation of about 20 people overnight in eastern Spain, emergency services said Wednesday.

The 20 were evacuated preventatively from the village of Villalonga as flames were moving through pine forest and bush towards their country houses.

The fire, which was fanned by wind, was believed to have been sparked by lightning.

Wildfires have consumed more than 80,000 hectares this year in Spain and Portugal. (dpa)

Valencia, Spain - Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton led home a McLaren-Mercedes 1-2 Saturday to claim pole position for the European Formula One Grand Prix in Valencia.

The winner of last month's Hungarian GP registered a time of 1 minute 39.498 seconds for the 5.419-kilometre street circuit, finishing 0.034 seconds ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

Valencia, Spain - Adrian Sutil was fastest in a shortened final free practice session Saturday for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The Force India driver registered a time of 1 minute 39.143 seconds for the 5.419-kilometre circuit, ahead of Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima and Robert Kubica in a BMW-Sauber.

Championship leader Jenson Button was sixth fastest in a Brawn GP while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel could only manage 18th after appearing to suffer engine problems.

Qualifying continues later Saturday with the race on Sunday at the city circuit.

Valencia, Spain  - Rubens Barrichello topped the opening practice session for the European Formula One Grand Prix on Friday while Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer was rock bottom.

Barrichello clocked 1 minute 42.460 in his Brawn GP over the 5.440-kilometres lap on the street circuit in Valencia as he held off a challenge from McLaren-Mercedes.

Valencia, Spain  - German Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel has renewed his contract with Red Bull until 2011, the team announced on Friday.

Red Bull said in a statement on its website that the contract includes an option to extend the deal until 2012.

Vettel, 22, joined Red Bull from sister team Toro Rosso this year on an original contract until 2010. He has won two races this season (three overall) and ranks third in the drivers' standings led by Brawn GP driver Jenson Button. (dpa)

Valencia, Spain - Formula One will not allow refuelling during Grand Prix races next year as part of new sporting and technical regulations published by FIA for the 2010 season.

It will mean larger fuel tanks and a return to low-fuel running in qualification for pole position, according to the changes published ahead of the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

Valencia, Spain  - German driver Nick Heidfeld remains confident of continuing in Formula One despite the withdrawal of BMW at the end of the season.

Heidfeld, 32, told German Press Agency dpa he had already been in talks with other teams before BMW's decision, although the announcement at the end of last month took him by surprise.

With seven races left of the season with BMW Sauber - beginning with Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia - Heidfeld admitted he was now in the shop window in seeking a new contract elsewhere.

Valencia, Spain  - Doctors in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Wednesday completed the country's first face transplant operation, which lasted nearly 16 hours, the head of the medical team and the Health Ministry said.

The donor was a 35-year-old man who was killed in a traffic accident, according to the ministry.

His facial tissue was transplanted on a 43-year-old male patient who had sustained serious injuries. Further details were not immediately known.

Valencia, Spain - A court in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Monday shelved corruption charges against a high-ranking politician in a scandal affecting the main opposition conservative People's Party (PP), judicial sources said.

Francisco Camps, prime minister of the Valencia region, is one of the main regional leaders of the PP, and the suspicions of him had affected the party's reputation.

The court accepted an appeal lodged by Camps against charges that had initially been presented against him at Madrid's National Court.

Madrid - Valencia moved up to fifth Sunday in the Spanish Liga with a 4-1 thrashing of lowly Getafe.

Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa put Valencia on the road to victory by calmly putting away two penalties. Fellow Spanish internationals Juan Mata and Raul Albiol scored Valencia's other goals.

"It was important for us to win tonight," said Albiol, "in order to keep our Champions League chances alive."

Albiol and company are now just two points behind fourth-placed Villarreal, who crashed 3-0 Saturday at Almeria.

Madrid - Valencia moved up to fifth in the Spanish Liga on Sunday with a 4-1 thrashing of lowly Getafe.

Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa put Valencia on the road to victory by calmly putting away two penalties. Fellow Spanish internationals Juan Mata and Raul Albiol scored Valencia's other goals.

"It was important for us to win tonight," said Albiol, "in order to keep our Champions League chances alive."

Albiol and company are now just two points behind fourth-placed Villarreal, who crashed 3-0 away to Almeria on Saturday.

Valencia, Spain - A 39-year-old Spanish former breast cancer patient will become the world's first woman to give birth to twins after receiving a transplant of her own ovarian tissue, officials said Tuesday in the eastern city of Valencia.

Women who are treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy often experience precocious ovarian failure, health official Manuel Cervera explained.

Valencia, Spain  - Of the many spring fiestas in Spain, the loudest, most colourful and fiery is Valencia's Las Fallas ("The Fires"), which captivates the Mediterranean city for five days every March.

The locals parade proudly through the streets in splendid costumes. Outsiders flock to the city to see the paella contests, folk dances, processions, fireworks displays and "fallas" - gigantic papier-maché sculptures. Last year, 1.2 million tourists jammed Valencia during the festivities.

Valencia, Spain - A fire destroyed a 19th-century theatre in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia overnight, police said Friday.

There had been plans to restore the privately-owned Princess Theatre, which dated from 1853 and was located in the old city centre.

The theatre designed by architect Jose Zacarias Camana was regarded as historically valuable despite having deteriorated after its closure two decades ago.

The fire started in a neighbouring building for causes that were not clear. About 70 people were preventatively evacuated. (dpa)

Madrid  - Spanish giants Valencia Wednedsay cancelled the contract of Ivan Helguera.

Helguera, 33, was under contract at Valencia until 2010, but is now a free agent to join any club in the January transfer window.

Helguera - who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2000 and 2002 - joined Valencia on a free transfer in July 2007.

He has hardly played this season due to a stormy relationship with coach Unai Emery.

Valencia, Spain - A Spanish discotheque Thursday cancelled a prize draw which had sparked a storm by advertising a breast augmentation operation as the jackpot.

The discotheque in the eastern city of Valencia apologized to those who might have felt offended, after the local authorities and the health ministry announced the possibility of sanctions.

Valencia - Spanish football giants Valencia announced on Tuesday that left-back Asier del Horno will be out of action for around three weeks due to injury.

The Basque defender has a twisted external ligament in his right knee, which should not require an operation, the club said. Del Horno, 27, suffered this injury in training earlier in the day.

Del Horno joined Valencia from Chelsea after missing the 2006 World Cup through injury. He has failed to be a regular at Mestalla and was loaned out to his original club, Athletic Bilbao, last season.

Valencia, Spain - Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said Tuesday that the alliance should re-evaluate its relations with Russia without severing them.

The relations should be reconsidered after Russia's "disproportionate" use of force in Georgia, but not broken because they were a "strategic asset," Scheffer said at the
54th annual meeting of the NATO parliamentary assembly.

Valencia, Spain - Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze on Tuesday warned of a new military conflict between Russia and his country while the parliamentary assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) adopted a resolution urging Russia to respect the sovereignty of other countries.

A new Russian military intervention was "very likely" unless the international community was on the alert against it, Baramidze said in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, where about 300 delegates from 50 countries were wrapping up the five-day 54th annual meeting of the NATO parliamentary assembly.