La Molina, Spain - Tanja Poutiainen of Finland claimed her first alpine skiing season victory in a giant slalom on Saturday and with it moved on top of the World Cup standings - profiting from crashes.

Placed fourth after the first run, Poutiainen clocked a combined total of 2 minutes 16.76 seconds from both runs as she pipped Italy's Manuela Moelgg by two hundredths of a second for her eighth career victory.

Moelgg clocked 2:16.78 and Nicole Hosp of Austria was third in 2:17.41 minutes in the Pyrenees resort of La Molina which saw its first World Cup race.

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.

Madrid - Spanish inflation dipped to 2.4 per cent in November, down from 3.6 per cent in October, in its steepest monthly slide since January 1987, according to government data released Friday.

Madrid  - Sergio Busquets is about to extend his contract at Spanish giants Barcelona, according to the online versions of newspapers Marca and Mundo Deportivo on Thursday evening.

Busquets, 20, is poised to sign an improved contract which will last until 2013.

The negotiations are being carried out by Josep Maria Orobitg, the midfielder's agent, and Txiki Begiristain, Barca's technical secretary.

The youngster is the son of 1990s Barca keeper Carles Busquets.

Madrid - A judge at Spain's National Court on Thursday summoned for questioning the author of a top secret document which shows that former conservative premier Jose Maria Aznar allowed the United States to fly terrorist suspects via Spain to its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Judge Ismael Moreno called former senior official Miguel Aguirre de Carcer for interrogation as a witness on December 17. The judge did so despite not having received the original document, dating from 2002, which he had requested.

Madrid - Espanyol midfielder Ivan de la Pena will be out of action for around a