Women take the bull by the horns
By Jose Manuel Ribeiro
Hey, sports fans, think youâre tough? Then try out a growing Portuguese pastime that is like playing rugby with a runaway refrigerator. Itâs bull tackling, and nearly 1,000 enthusiasts, or âforcados,â from all walks of life love to jump into the ring for a head-on collision with a maddened bull. A mixture of sport, spectacle, high testosterone machismo, male bonding and, some say, art, the rough-and-tumble event is as unique to Portugal as port wine or codfish ice cream, Reuters Lisbon chief correspondent Ian Simpson wrote in August 2005.
At the time, if anyone mentioned the notion of women trying out to be a Âforcado you would have said they were dreaming or had no idea of the inner workings of the Portuguese bullfighting world.
But six years later it is no longer a dream as a group of young and graceful women tackle the bulls in central Portugal.
In the past weÂve seen women on horseback â the woman matador â challenging the bulls, but now the last male bastion in the sport has become open for women too.
Wearing traditional stocking caps and red sashes, a forcado shouts ÂTouro! Touro! (Bull! Bull!) and jumps on a bleeding bullâs head as he charges, while the seven other team members pile onto the animal until it is immobilized.
Only rare and few things still change the world, but it was a privilege to be a witness to this change of minds and culture in a deeply traditional activity.
What we can imagine for the future will never be as it was in the past.
CVC’s Virgin Active acquisition cleared in EU
The European Commission said in a statement the deal would
not raise any competition concerns.”Autobar and Colomer have limited market shares on their
respective markets concerned and their products are not key
drivers of consumer demand in health and fitness centres,” the
EU executive said.CVC controls vending machine operator Autobar and cosmetics
supplier Colomer, which operates in Virgin’s fitness centres.Virgin Active has 254 clubs with 1.1 million members in
Britain, South Africa, Italy, Iberia and Australia.
UPDATE 1-W.House working with Congress on yuan bill issues
“If this legislation were to advance we would expect those
concerns to be addressed,” said White House Press Secretary Jay
Carney, reiterating Washington’s view that China needs to
address the undervaluation of the yuan.The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill on Tuesday
to slap tariffs on Chinese goods for keeping the yuan low to
subsidize its exports at the cost of U.S. jobs. The bill now
faces the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, who
oppose the measure and warn that it could start a trade war.”We share the goal of the legislation in taking action to
ensure that our workers and companies have a level playing
field with China, including addressing the undervaluation of
their currency,” Carney said, adding:”Aspects of the legislation do … raise concerns about
consistency with our international obligations, which is why we
are in the process of discussing with Congress those issues.”China on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to block
the bill, raising the risk of further strains between the
world’s top two economies.
Counterparties
You can find all these stories, with witty tags and amusing pictures, on Counterparties.com
The ECB has picked a really bad time to have an existential crisis — Washington Post
Canadian job growth is surging; U.S. job growth: not so much — Business Insider
Here’s why they’re doing so well — Reuters Canada
Three simple policy steps to restore “macroeconomic resilience” — Macro Resilience
Nassim Taleb is a big believer in his own “influence as an intellectual” — Bloomberg
The leaked Volcker Rule memo — American Banker
Lehman sues Goldman over the collapse of a Virginia real estate deal — WSJ
Companies that spend a lot on lobbying outperform the S&P 500 by 11% — The Economist
British Energy Minister Chris Huhne made a “marginal” (if Machiavellian) Twitter error — BBC
