Pamplona : Gory Guts & Glory

A heifer attacks a reveler in the Plaza de Toros at the end of the second running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain July 8, 2009. Six bulls are released every morning at 8:00 through the cobbled streets of Pamplona to the bullring, where they will be killed in a bullfight in the afternoon. A man was gored to death Friday by the bull Capuchino during the running of the bulls at the festival which attracts tourists from across the world. The man is the 15th person to die during the annual bull run in Pamplona since 1911.
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Spanish Baby Jumping Festival

In celebration of the Catholic festival of Corpus Christi, grown men leap over newborns, with full parental consent. Donning creepy, vaguely Elvis-like costumes and wielding whips , the men attempt to "cleanse" the babies of evil. Evidently, recklessly leaping over them is the best way to achieve this.
The town, Castillo de Murcia, has observed this strange practice (called El Colacho) since 1620, and any onlookers who seem to be in need of a quick exorcism are pulled into the "festival of near misses" , as well.
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The Cocaine in Spain...

Air pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities, but scientists now say it is not just smog that chokes people as they walk to work or stroll through the park.
A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.
The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government institute, said on its Web site Thursday that in addition to cocaine, they found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid — a relative of LSD — in two air-quality control stations, one in each city.
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Cinco de Mayo 2009

Of the many battles fought on Mexican soil in the nineteenth century, only one— the Battle of Puebla, fought on May 5, 1862— has given rise to a Mexican national holiday.
Why this one? The main reason is that the Battle of Puebla marks Mexico's only major military success since independence from Spain in 1821.
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Border Burger Dispute

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico is protesting what it says is a whopper of an insult. An advertisement for Burger King's Texican Whopper burger that has run in Europe shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy almost twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavors.
"The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," a narrator's voice says.
Mexico's ambassador to Spain said Monday he has written a letter to Burger King's offices in that nation objecting to the ad and asking that it be removed saying that the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican."
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Cocaine in Spain...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Authorities in Spain said they have seized a 42-piece dinner set made from 42 pounds of cocaine and arrested the intended recipient.
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