Congratulations to Matilde and a big welcome to Guillermo !!!!
Nowadays, young children seem to be more clever than we think! Have a look at the following video downloaded from the web ...
viernes, 3 de septiembre de 2010
FINANCE & ECONOMICS-2
Inditex puts Zara products online
By Financial Times Sept 2010
Spanish retailer Inditex makes its second foray into web-based selling on Thursday, giving Zara customers across Europe the opportunity to buy garments from the popular fashion brand online.
The long-awaited roll-out of Zara’s transactional website will begin in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France – six countries that are among the most important of the company’s 76 markets.
The Zara online service will later be extended to the Americas and Asia, and the format will eventually be adopted by more of the company’s brands.
Of Inditex’s eight store brands only one – housewares retailer Zara Home – has sold directly to internet users until now.
Asked recently about the company’s late arrival to internet retailing, Pablo Isla, chief executive, said: “For us, now is the right time to go online.”
Some analysts venture that Mr Isla, who has made Inditex the world’s largest apparel retailer by sales since taking the helm five years ago, wanted to concentrate on Asian expansion and cost controls before turning to new sales formats.
Others point to relatively low broadband and online buying penetration in the Spanish market, which still accounts for about a third of total group sales.
With its focus on fashion-conscious teenagers and young people, Inditex has long used the internet to promote its various lines and corporate image and is also popular on Facebook, where it has 4.5m fans.
Its smartphone application, launched about a year ago, has been downloaded by 2m people.
“The internet and the world of social networking are indispensable tools and extraordinary channels for communication and fit perfectly with our group’s philosophy,” said Mr Isla on Wednesday.
Inditex, whose brands also include Massimo Dutti and Pull and Bear, is at the vanguard of computerised ordering and dispatching systems, with managers in each of its 4,700 stores providing daily updates on sales and taste trends.
However, Mr Isla says Zara, its flagship brand, had been waiting for online demand to build before launching into cyberspace.
The fact that clothes are not as easy to sell online as, say, books and music – people generally like to try on garments and there is a high return rate – also made the venture less urgent. He told analysts in July that he expected the web sales service to be “complementary”, rather than cannibalistic.
Analysts are upbeat about the possible impact of internet sales on Inditex’s results, with some suggesting a 10 per cent boost to next year’s profits. Group net profits were €1.3bn ($1.7bn) in 2009, up 5 per cent year on year, with Zara accounting for about one-third of group sales of €11.1bn in the six countries where online sales begin on Thursday
.
In spite of difficult trading conditions in its home market and other crisis-hit countries, Inditex’s shares have performed well this year, up more than 20 per cent as the push into Asia – including an Indian debut for Zara – and the online plans won the support of investors and analysts. The shares on Wednesday closed up more than 2 per cent at €53.69.
Inditex said on Wednesday that all items on sale at its Zara outlets would be available online and at the same prices. Customers can choose from the usual range of paying methods and opt either for a free store pick-up or paid-for postal delivery.
The online return and exchange policy is identical to the store system, with shoppers given 30 days to change their minds. Queries will be handled by customer service operators or via e-mail or chat messaging.
Inditex said on Wednesday that iPhone and iPad applications that allowed purchasing would “soon be available”.
“This should be a big deal,” says Luca Solca, analyst at Bernstein Research.
“What we generally find is that high street names with strong public recognition see an advantage from online selling.”
Inditex is expected to follow up its six-country trial by introducing Zara online next year in key non-European markets such as the US, Japan and South Korea.
“Inditex is in a lot of countries where it still does not have much depth,” said Mr Solca. “Online sales will help it reach potential customers who have no easy access to physical stores.”
By Financial Times Sept 2010
Spanish retailer Inditex makes its second foray into web-based selling on Thursday, giving Zara customers across Europe the opportunity to buy garments from the popular fashion brand online.
The long-awaited roll-out of Zara’s transactional website will begin in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France – six countries that are among the most important of the company’s 76 markets.
The Zara online service will later be extended to the Americas and Asia, and the format will eventually be adopted by more of the company’s brands.
Of Inditex’s eight store brands only one – housewares retailer Zara Home – has sold directly to internet users until now.
Asked recently about the company’s late arrival to internet retailing, Pablo Isla, chief executive, said: “For us, now is the right time to go online.”
Some analysts venture that Mr Isla, who has made Inditex the world’s largest apparel retailer by sales since taking the helm five years ago, wanted to concentrate on Asian expansion and cost controls before turning to new sales formats.
Others point to relatively low broadband and online buying penetration in the Spanish market, which still accounts for about a third of total group sales.
With its focus on fashion-conscious teenagers and young people, Inditex has long used the internet to promote its various lines and corporate image and is also popular on Facebook, where it has 4.5m fans.
Its smartphone application, launched about a year ago, has been downloaded by 2m people.
“The internet and the world of social networking are indispensable tools and extraordinary channels for communication and fit perfectly with our group’s philosophy,” said Mr Isla on Wednesday.
Inditex, whose brands also include Massimo Dutti and Pull and Bear, is at the vanguard of computerised ordering and dispatching systems, with managers in each of its 4,700 stores providing daily updates on sales and taste trends.
However, Mr Isla says Zara, its flagship brand, had been waiting for online demand to build before launching into cyberspace.
The fact that clothes are not as easy to sell online as, say, books and music – people generally like to try on garments and there is a high return rate – also made the venture less urgent. He told analysts in July that he expected the web sales service to be “complementary”, rather than cannibalistic.
Analysts are upbeat about the possible impact of internet sales on Inditex’s results, with some suggesting a 10 per cent boost to next year’s profits. Group net profits were €1.3bn ($1.7bn) in 2009, up 5 per cent year on year, with Zara accounting for about one-third of group sales of €11.1bn in the six countries where online sales begin on Thursday
.
In spite of difficult trading conditions in its home market and other crisis-hit countries, Inditex’s shares have performed well this year, up more than 20 per cent as the push into Asia – including an Indian debut for Zara – and the online plans won the support of investors and analysts. The shares on Wednesday closed up more than 2 per cent at €53.69.
Inditex said on Wednesday that all items on sale at its Zara outlets would be available online and at the same prices. Customers can choose from the usual range of paying methods and opt either for a free store pick-up or paid-for postal delivery.
The online return and exchange policy is identical to the store system, with shoppers given 30 days to change their minds. Queries will be handled by customer service operators or via e-mail or chat messaging.
Inditex said on Wednesday that iPhone and iPad applications that allowed purchasing would “soon be available”.
“This should be a big deal,” says Luca Solca, analyst at Bernstein Research.
“What we generally find is that high street names with strong public recognition see an advantage from online selling.”
Inditex is expected to follow up its six-country trial by introducing Zara online next year in key non-European markets such as the US, Japan and South Korea.
“Inditex is in a lot of countries where it still does not have much depth,” said Mr Solca. “Online sales will help it reach potential customers who have no easy access to physical stores.”
CURRENT AFFAIRS-3
Spanish authorities warn holidaymakers of 'balconing' dangers
Growing number of deaths and serious accidents caused by people jumping from balconies towards swimming pools
Guardian.co.uk
Emergency services on Spain's Balearic islands have warned holidaymakers of the dangers of jumping off balconies and said the "balconing" craze has claimed four lives this summer and left many tourists seriously injured.
The growing number of deaths comes amid a surge of serious accidents caused by people scrambling up the sides of buildings, jumping from one balcony to another or hurling themselves down towards swimming pools.
Emergency services on the islands said they had to rush three young people to hospital in the space of 12 hours on Sunday after they had plummeted from hotel and apartment balconies.
The most seriously injured was a 20-year-old Briton, who fell from a third floor balcony in the Ibiza resort of Platja d'en Bossa.
Two 18-year-olds were also taken to hospital after separate incidents in Magaluf, in Mallorca, on the same day.
The number of balcony accidents is already triple that of previous summers, with hotel owners saying there seems to be a growing craze for balcony dares and local media pointing to a series of internet videos labelled "balconing".
"Jumping into the swimming pool or crossing from balcony to balcony are some of the causes … though we have also had people sleepwalking," a spokesman for the islands' emergency services said.
A hotel receptionist in the resort town of Alcudia, in Mallorca, said those caught attempting balcony jumps were normally drunk or had taken drugs and were trying to keep the party going once they got back to the hotel.
"This year it has become a real plague," she told El País newspaper. "If you catch them, they say that they have lost their room key, but mostly they are trying to get to a girl's room or think they can jump down into the pool."
Jumps towards swimming pools have caused horrific injuries in the past, with one jumper reportedly mistaking a pond that was only a few inches deep for a proper pool.
Hoteliers say they have tried to make it more difficult for people to jump off balconies in recent years. A campaign is under way to rid the islands of their reputation for booze and drug holidays, with hotels now throwing rowdier guests out onto the street.
Local tourism authorities said other British holidaymakers were normally the first to applaud when this happened.
"We don't want to be seen as a debauched paradise," one hotelier told El País. "If our guests don't pay attention to the signs asking them to behave correctly and responsibly, we throw them out."
A survey of 6,000 young British and German holidaymakers on the Balearic islands last year found that 35% had been drunk at least every other night, and 9% said they had been sexually harassed.
A similar survey found that a quarter of those travelling without a partner had sex on the islands, with one-third of those failing to use condoms.
Growing number of deaths and serious accidents caused by people jumping from balconies towards swimming pools
Guardian.co.uk
Emergency services on Spain's Balearic islands have warned holidaymakers of the dangers of jumping off balconies and said the "balconing" craze has claimed four lives this summer and left many tourists seriously injured.
The growing number of deaths comes amid a surge of serious accidents caused by people scrambling up the sides of buildings, jumping from one balcony to another or hurling themselves down towards swimming pools.
Emergency services on the islands said they had to rush three young people to hospital in the space of 12 hours on Sunday after they had plummeted from hotel and apartment balconies.
The most seriously injured was a 20-year-old Briton, who fell from a third floor balcony in the Ibiza resort of Platja d'en Bossa.
Two 18-year-olds were also taken to hospital after separate incidents in Magaluf, in Mallorca, on the same day.
The number of balcony accidents is already triple that of previous summers, with hotel owners saying there seems to be a growing craze for balcony dares and local media pointing to a series of internet videos labelled "balconing".
"Jumping into the swimming pool or crossing from balcony to balcony are some of the causes … though we have also had people sleepwalking," a spokesman for the islands' emergency services said.
A hotel receptionist in the resort town of Alcudia, in Mallorca, said those caught attempting balcony jumps were normally drunk or had taken drugs and were trying to keep the party going once they got back to the hotel.
"This year it has become a real plague," she told El País newspaper. "If you catch them, they say that they have lost their room key, but mostly they are trying to get to a girl's room or think they can jump down into the pool."
Jumps towards swimming pools have caused horrific injuries in the past, with one jumper reportedly mistaking a pond that was only a few inches deep for a proper pool.
Hoteliers say they have tried to make it more difficult for people to jump off balconies in recent years. A campaign is under way to rid the islands of their reputation for booze and drug holidays, with hotels now throwing rowdier guests out onto the street.
Local tourism authorities said other British holidaymakers were normally the first to applaud when this happened.
"We don't want to be seen as a debauched paradise," one hotelier told El País. "If our guests don't pay attention to the signs asking them to behave correctly and responsibly, we throw them out."
A survey of 6,000 young British and German holidaymakers on the Balearic islands last year found that 35% had been drunk at least every other night, and 9% said they had been sexually harassed.
A similar survey found that a quarter of those travelling without a partner had sex on the islands, with one-third of those failing to use condoms.
FINANCE & ECONOMICS-1
Spanish Youth Part of the Lost Generation
www.spiegel.de
At almost 20 percent, Spain suffers the second-highest unemployment rate in the European Union. But the rate for those just entering the job market is twice as high. This month, Madrid wants to push through far-reaching labor market reforms. But opposition promises to be fierce.
In the end, Sonsoles García had to postpone her wedding. She had planned a huge celebration for the summer of 2009, one made possible in part by a promotion she had received at work. But then she lost her job and before she knew it, García, 28, was the latest to join Spain's swelling ranks of the unemployed.
On a recent Friday, she waited for an hour and a half in line at an unemployment office in the Madrid quarter of Moratalaz -- only to discover that she was ineligible for further benefits. The air was stale and stuffy in the overcrowded room. The old, the young, Spanish citizens and immigrants -- all are waiting to speak with their case workers.
At roughly 20 percent, Spain's unemployment rate is second only to Latvia in the European Union. And the hardest hit has been the nation's youth. Among Spaniards under 25 years of age, fully 40 percent are jobless -- a rate twice what it was a mere two years ago. It is, say some, a generation that has been knocked off its feet by the economic crisis. Others say they are merely lazy.
One thing, however, is sure: It has become Spain's lost generation.
'Constantly Worried'
"You can achieve anything you set your mind to," a beautiful brunette promises from a poster hanging on the dingy walls inside the unemployment office. Just below the poster, two men are filling out an application for benefits.
At first, García thought she would be able to quickly find another job. She traveled to England and registered for a language course in Bournemouth, ultimately staying for seven months. But when she returned, the job market hadn't improved. "The worst thing is that I am constantly worried," García says, though she is one of the lucky ones. Her parents have been able to take over the payments on an apartment she bought just before she was laid off.
Borja Sánchez, 21, is also once again reliant on support from his mother. He quit school at the age of 17 and began working as an elevator mechanic, but always from contract to contract. In the beginning, it seemed there would be no end to the jobs coming his way, but before long, they dried up. Now, because of the freelance nature of his work, he isn't even eligible for welfare benefits and has moved back home.
Sánchez belongs to the group in Spain that seems to have suffered the most from the crisis: young, poorly educated men. As Spain's economy flourished in the middle of the last decade and the construction sector exploded, many young men made an "historic mistake," says sociology professor Luis Garrido. During the boom years, many assumed that the upswing would never end and opted to make quick money in construction. Some 30 percent of Spanish youth left school before earning a diploma.
"They had money in their pockets. But now, they can't afford a thing anymore," Garrido says. "The younger they are and the worse educated they are, the worse they have been hit by the crisis."
Feelings of Uselessness
Spanish sociologist Enrique Gil Calvo says the results are not pretty. "We are talking about young men without university degrees, who live with their parents and are caught up in a feeling of uselessness. They feel like there is no reason to make an effort."
It is a problem that the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has recently promised to solve. In addition to pushing through a massive -- and unpopular -- austerity program in late May, Zapatero has vowed to introduce measures which will make it easier for companies to both hire and layoff staff.
"The government will approve the labor reform at a cabinet meeting on June 16, whether or not there's an agreement (with unions and employers)," Zapatero said last week.
In particular, Madrid hopes to address the great divide which currently splits the Spanish labor market. Regular employees, with unlimited contracts, benefit from strict laws limiting the ability of companies to layoff workers. Should they be forced out anyway, they often receive generous severance packages.
As a result, Spanish companies prefer hiring workers on fixed-term contracts. Last year, in fact, a quarter of the Spanish workforce labored away under fixed-term contracts, called simply "junk contracts" by many in Spain. Even those who earn a university degree are often forced to labor away for a mere €1,000 per month. In Germany, just 10 percent of workers have such fixed-term contracts.
'More Opportunities'
The Labor Ministry in Madrid has proposed raising salaries for those under 30 and improving training programs available to them. "Our youth have every reason to be critical," Maravillas Rojo, the secretary general of employment in the Labor Ministry, said last month. "We haven't communicated well about the changing labor market. We have to provide them with more opportunities."
Pressure on Zapatero to push through labor market reforms has been rising. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, demanded a "radical reform" of the Spanish labor market on Spanish television. He said that unemployment was too high and that too many people received only short-term contracts.
European Union leaders, too, have urged Zapatero to take action. Late last month, the Spanish prime minister pushed through a far-reaching austerity program in an effort to assure international investors that Spain would do its part to shore up confidence in the euro. Madrid is seeking to save €15 billion this year and the same amount again next year.
But the package passed parliament by just a single vote and opposition to the package -- particularly public sector pay cuts -- has been intense. On Tuesday, unions claim that some 75 percent of Spain's public sector workers joined a general strike protesting 5 percent pay cuts (though estimates late on Tuesday put the number drastically lower, at below 15 percent participation). Even the ratings agencies seem skeptical, with Fitch downgrading Spanish debt last week.
Compounding Zapatero's problems, his efforts at labor reform have borne little fruit so far. Talks between the government, Spanish labor unions and employers have achieved little. "Things aren't going particularly well and it is possible that the government will have to reform the labor market by decree," José Antonio Alonso, a parliamentary spokesperson for Zapatero's Socialist Party, said recently.
Zapatero's government is set to turn over a draft of labor market reform to unions on Wednesday for review. According to a report in El Mundo, the draft includes measures which would make it easier for Spanish companies to cut pay should they run into financial difficulties. Severance packages would also be drastically reduced.
'You Need to Have Money'
Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega emphasized, however, that reform would come no matter how the unions reacted to the proposals. "I reiterate that whatever happens, the government will approve the labor reform on June 16," she told reporters. "Until this happens, we should allow the talks to continue without any kind of pressure. We are still in favor of dialogue and consensus."
Still, unions are viewing Tuesday's strike as a test of strength ahead of possible further strikes against the government's planned labor market reform.
Spain's society appears to be crumbling in other ways as well. The unemployed youth are said to belong to "Generation Ni-Ni" -- an abbreviation for "ni estudian, ni trabajan" (neither do they study nor do they work). Many see them as lazy, preferring to leech off their parents for as long as possible. A television reality show even sought to dramatize the generation's indolence. A number of unemployed youth were filmed for weeks as psychologists urged them to "find projects that are fun and which help motivate them for the future," as the TV station described it.
Still, the "Generation Ni-Ni" distinction may not be entirely accurate. The youth institute Injuve argues that the primary problem is the lack of opportunities for those just entering the job market. Many have emigrated looking for jobs while others have continued their studies.
Sonsoles García, for example, has gone back to school to get her Masters in Business Administration. Other plans, such as getting married and having children, will just have to wait, she says. "In order to have a family," she says, resigned, "you need to have money."
CURRENT AFFAIRS-2
Bullfighting in Catalonia: The impending death of Barcelona’s ring
Lonely Planet
Bullfighting in Catalonia will be banned from 1 January 2012.
To its aficionados, bullfighting is an art. Some would say a dying art, and Spain's northeast region of Catalonia hammered another nail into the coffin in July 2010, when the regional parliament voted to ban it from 2012.
Hemingway called it "death in the afternoon" and fight-goers think of it as la fiesta (a word that can mean feast, party or celebration). Barcelona was once the only city in Spain to boast three bullrings, but by 1977 they were down to one - indeed the only bullfighting ring in Catalonia.
On Sunday evenings from Easter to late September, the Plaça dels Braus Monumental in Barcelona, an art nouveau colosseum, throws open its gates to the public for an evening of blood, courage, nobility and, many insist, insensate cruelty.
Six bulls and three star matadores (those star bullfighters who do most of the fighting and slaughter the bull at the end) appear on the ticket. The matador leads a cuadrilla (team) of other fighters who make up the rest of the colourful band in the ring.
In essence, the matadores aim to impress the crowd and jury with daring and graceful moves as close to an aggressive, fighting bull as possible. At the end of a particularly fine display, the jury may award one of the dead bull's ears to the matador. Two ears signify an even better result, while the tail represents the peak of recognition. To be carried out of the ring by fellow toreros (the word toreador exists only in opera) at the end of the evening is an honour. To do so at the Las Ventas ring in Madrid, the capital of bullfighting, is every matador's dream.
While the death of the bull is generally inevitable (its meat is later sold), this in no way implies the bullfighter always gets off scot-free. It is a genuinely dangerous business and being gored and tossed about like a handkerchief by several hundred kilos of bull is every bit as terrifying as it looks. Possibly the most valiant (some would say reckless) bullfighter in the world, José Tomás, came close to death when he was gored in the groin at a fight in Mexico City in April 2010.
José Tomás has performed to ecstatic crowds in Barcelona's ring, but has also had to run the gauntlet of lines of animal rights protesters to get into the ring. He may never have to do so again.
On 28 July 2010, Catalonia's parliament, after long debate (under Spanish law, citizens who collect at least 50,000 signatures within 120 days in support of a proposed change in the law may present that petition to the regional parliament, obliging the latter to debate and vote on the proposal) voted 68 to 55 (with nine abstentions) in favour of banning bullfighting in Catalonia.
While few doubt the sincerity of the more than 180,000 signatories to the petition, the issue has become part of a broader political wrangle. Catalan nationalists eager to push the idea that bullfighting is a Spanish cultural imposition that offends Catalan sensibilities, turned the debate into an issue of national identity. However the Socialist president of Catalonia, José Montilla, who leads a minority government, voted against the motion.
Relations between the central government and Barcelona have long been strained over issues such as devolution, distribution of revenues and local identity, and Montilla did not wish to serve up another pretext for raising tension between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. In addition, some estimates put the cost of compensation to the company with the license to stage bullfights in Barcelona at more than 300 million euros.
Catalonia is not, however, the first region to outlaw bullfighting. The Canary Islands passed similar legislation in 1991, but only after the popularity of bullfighting had ebbed to such an extent that the rings stood virtually empty at weekends. Montilla and many other politicians would have preferred to let the same thing happen in Barcelona. In a bullring with a capacity for nearly 20,000 spectators, the number of tickets sold, many of them to curious tourists, often fails to exceed 3,000.
The Catalan vote means Article 6 of the Animal Protection Act will strictly outlaw bullfights in Catalonia from 1 January 2012. The bulls, however, are not out of trouble.
In more than 30 southern Catalan towns, especially in the Delta del'Ebre area (a low, flat, rice-growing area around the broad delta of the Ebro river), a distinctly Catalan tradition that involves turning bulls into a spectacle (albeit without killing them) remains in place, protected by its status as a local tradition.
In the correbous (bull running), bulls are chased around town with flaming torches attached to their horns (bous embolats) or have heavy ropes wrapped around each horn (bous capllaçats), which are then pulled in opposite directions by two groups of young men in a kind of tug-of-war. The bulls are subsequently taken to the slaughterhouse. These spectacles generally take place on town feast days, mostly between July and September. Among the most important take place around mid-August in towns such as Amposta, Deltebre, Ulldecona and Corbera d'Ebre.
Lonely Planet
Bullfighting in Catalonia will be banned from 1 January 2012.
To its aficionados, bullfighting is an art. Some would say a dying art, and Spain's northeast region of Catalonia hammered another nail into the coffin in July 2010, when the regional parliament voted to ban it from 2012.
Hemingway called it "death in the afternoon" and fight-goers think of it as la fiesta (a word that can mean feast, party or celebration). Barcelona was once the only city in Spain to boast three bullrings, but by 1977 they were down to one - indeed the only bullfighting ring in Catalonia.
On Sunday evenings from Easter to late September, the Plaça dels Braus Monumental in Barcelona, an art nouveau colosseum, throws open its gates to the public for an evening of blood, courage, nobility and, many insist, insensate cruelty.
Six bulls and three star matadores (those star bullfighters who do most of the fighting and slaughter the bull at the end) appear on the ticket. The matador leads a cuadrilla (team) of other fighters who make up the rest of the colourful band in the ring.
In essence, the matadores aim to impress the crowd and jury with daring and graceful moves as close to an aggressive, fighting bull as possible. At the end of a particularly fine display, the jury may award one of the dead bull's ears to the matador. Two ears signify an even better result, while the tail represents the peak of recognition. To be carried out of the ring by fellow toreros (the word toreador exists only in opera) at the end of the evening is an honour. To do so at the Las Ventas ring in Madrid, the capital of bullfighting, is every matador's dream.
While the death of the bull is generally inevitable (its meat is later sold), this in no way implies the bullfighter always gets off scot-free. It is a genuinely dangerous business and being gored and tossed about like a handkerchief by several hundred kilos of bull is every bit as terrifying as it looks. Possibly the most valiant (some would say reckless) bullfighter in the world, José Tomás, came close to death when he was gored in the groin at a fight in Mexico City in April 2010.
José Tomás has performed to ecstatic crowds in Barcelona's ring, but has also had to run the gauntlet of lines of animal rights protesters to get into the ring. He may never have to do so again.
On 28 July 2010, Catalonia's parliament, after long debate (under Spanish law, citizens who collect at least 50,000 signatures within 120 days in support of a proposed change in the law may present that petition to the regional parliament, obliging the latter to debate and vote on the proposal) voted 68 to 55 (with nine abstentions) in favour of banning bullfighting in Catalonia.
While few doubt the sincerity of the more than 180,000 signatories to the petition, the issue has become part of a broader political wrangle. Catalan nationalists eager to push the idea that bullfighting is a Spanish cultural imposition that offends Catalan sensibilities, turned the debate into an issue of national identity. However the Socialist president of Catalonia, José Montilla, who leads a minority government, voted against the motion.
Relations between the central government and Barcelona have long been strained over issues such as devolution, distribution of revenues and local identity, and Montilla did not wish to serve up another pretext for raising tension between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. In addition, some estimates put the cost of compensation to the company with the license to stage bullfights in Barcelona at more than 300 million euros.
Catalonia is not, however, the first region to outlaw bullfighting. The Canary Islands passed similar legislation in 1991, but only after the popularity of bullfighting had ebbed to such an extent that the rings stood virtually empty at weekends. Montilla and many other politicians would have preferred to let the same thing happen in Barcelona. In a bullring with a capacity for nearly 20,000 spectators, the number of tickets sold, many of them to curious tourists, often fails to exceed 3,000.
The Catalan vote means Article 6 of the Animal Protection Act will strictly outlaw bullfights in Catalonia from 1 January 2012. The bulls, however, are not out of trouble.
In more than 30 southern Catalan towns, especially in the Delta del'Ebre area (a low, flat, rice-growing area around the broad delta of the Ebro river), a distinctly Catalan tradition that involves turning bulls into a spectacle (albeit without killing them) remains in place, protected by its status as a local tradition.
In the correbous (bull running), bulls are chased around town with flaming torches attached to their horns (bous embolats) or have heavy ropes wrapped around each horn (bous capllaçats), which are then pulled in opposite directions by two groups of young men in a kind of tug-of-war. The bulls are subsequently taken to the slaughterhouse. These spectacles generally take place on town feast days, mostly between July and September. Among the most important take place around mid-August in towns such as Amposta, Deltebre, Ulldecona and Corbera d'Ebre.
CURRENT AFFAIRS-1
Will Bureaucracy Fell Spain's One-Man Cathedral?
Time Magazine
Almost fifty years ago, Justo Gallego wanted to thank God for curing his tuberculosis, so he decided to build a cathedral — by himself. Since then, the former monk, who has no construction training, has labored every day on his 86,000-sq.-ft. (8,000 sq m) creation in the center of Mejorada del Campo, on the outskirts of Madrid. Today the cathedral is more than half done and has made its creator and his hometown famous throughout Spain. But at the age of 85, Gallego knows he will never see his project to the end. His hope is that the local diocese will take it over when he's gone. Instead, a problem with zoning permits may mean Spain's one-man cathedral will have to come down.
For almost half a century, Gallego has relied on his instinct and "God's guiding hand" — no blueprints, no equipment — to build the pillars, walls and arches of his cathedral, mostly out of discarded construction materials. It comes complete with two towers, a crypt, cloisters, offices, a library and a 130-ft.-high (40 m) dome modeled on the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. "They called me crazy and laughed at me, but look at it," Gallego says defiantly as he paints a steel beam on one of the 147-ft. (45 m) towers. "I started with a cross and then just kept on building." But the future of Gallego's legacy is uncertain. He is building his cathedral, which isn't officially recognized by the church, without any permits. Municipal authorities admit privately that for decades they looked the other way as Gallego raised his structure only a couple of blocks from city hall, in part because he is now beloved in town, but also because few actually thought he would succeed.
That tactic won't work for much longer, though, as Gallego prepares to leave his incomplete masterpiece to the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares, which will have to decide whether to keep building the cathedral or destroy it. "What Don Justo has done is admirable. I kneel before his faith," says Father Florentino Rueda, vicar and legal adviser of the diocese. "But this construction is illegal, which means we could inherit a problem."
The story of Gallego's quixotic quest dates back to Spain's civil war. Gallego, born in 1925, was too young to fight, but the war brought his schooling to an abrupt end and he spent most of his youth working on his family's farmlands. A devout Catholic, he left home and joined a monastery when he was 27 with plans of becoming a priest, only to have his dreams dashed nine years later when he was expelled for contracting tuberculosis. After his recovery — which involved spending two years in a hospital — he returned home to Mejorada del Campo and decided to "marry" the Church his own way: by consecrating his life to building a cathedral for Our Lady of the Pillar, whom he had prayed to while he was ill.
Back then, in the 1960s, Spain was ruled by the dictatorial General Francisco Franco and a government strongly aligned with the Catholic Church. Local authorities extended Gallego an open building permit for the cathedral on his land in the middle of town. With sporadic help from his nephews and money he got from selling other properties he had inherited, Gallego began construction in 1963. For inspiration, he looked to just three books about cathedrals and castles.
At first, the cathedral was the object of ridicule, but in time, Gallego earned the respect of many of his neighbors. Then people from across the region volunteered for days or weeks at a time to help and construction companies donated surplus building materials and money. But even after Franco's death in 1975 and Spain's return to democratic rule, nobody brought up the permit issue.
Then, in 2005, the cathedral was used in an advertising campaign for the energy drink Aquarius, catapulting Mejorada del Campo to national fame. The rural village became a tourist magnet, with visitors arriving from around Spain by the busload to see Gallego's work. After touring the grounds littered with scrap metal and other building materials — with no apparent concern for health and safety regulations — they can buy calendars and books on Gallego at the door. The attention has now brought the building-permit problem out into the open, but nobody is willing to be the villain who puts an end to Gallego's quest. "The entire country would condemn them if they tried," Father Rueda says.
Officially, the cathedral is "in legal limbo," a city hall official says, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Mejorada del Campo has asked regional and national authorities to intervene, but the ultimate jurisdiction is municipal. "The work is very advanced and we don't know how to stop it," the official says. "We are all concerned about what happens if this thing falls down, but nobody wants to be responsible for stopping [the construction]. Many people here have grown up with the cathedral."
What happens next is anybody's guess. "We would like to legalize it, but how much is it going to cost? Is it even possible? And who's going to insure this?" Father Rueda asks. But Gallego isn't worried about permits and costs — those are issues to be dealt with once he's gone. "I trust the laws of God, which helped me come this far," he says. For now, he is focused simply on dedicating the rest of his life — however little time that may be — to bringing his dream as close to reality as possible.