A small town in New Zealand has staged its own version of the running of the bulls - using sheep.

Nearly two thousand of the fleecy animals raced along the streets of Te Kuiti in the North Island on Sunday.

Although the woolly version is tamer than the Spanish event, the local Mayor, Mark Ammon, said there were nonetheless risks of breakaway sheep causing damage to the town’s property.

“The odd shop window broken, council gardens trampled, we’re a bit worried they might get on the highway and go to Taupo or Wellington,” Mr Ammon said.

Te Kuiti - which calls itself the sheep capital of the world - was filled with spectators of all ages who lined the streets to watch the sheep running.

Tags: runningthe bulls

With so much takeover action in the Spanish property market, a slowdown in spending is not the end of the world.
There have been many articles in the press recently on takeovers and if you were thinking about buying in Spain this should help boost your confidence.

This from business times
16 February 2008

LONDON — Inmobiliaria Colonial SA gained as much as 13 per cent in Madrid trading on speculation Investment Corp. of Dubai will present a takeover offer for the Spanish property company.

The shares added as much as 22 cents to 1.94 euros and traded at 1.84 euros, up 7 per cent, as of 11:09 a.m. in Madrid. The stock has slumped 66 per cent in 12 months.

“There’s a lot of unconfirmed speculation in the market that other funds may be interested and that could push the Dubai fund into making an offer,” said Francisco Salvador, a director at Venture Finanzas SA in Madrid.

Negocio reported that a group led by Juan Villalonga, a former Telefonica SA chairman, gained 400 million euros ($586 million) in backing from a Taiwanese fund for a possible bid for Barcelona-based Colonial. The newspaper didn’t say who provided the information.

Colonial said Jan. 31 it was approached by the Investment Corp. of Dubai about a possible bid. Nozar SA, Colonial’s second-largest shareholder, said February 7 that it may agree by February 21 to sell its stake to the Dubai investors.

Investment Corp. of Dubai is expected to make an offer for Colonial on Feb. 21, El Pais reported yesterday in its property supplement, citing no one

Tags: spanish, property

Owning a luxury home is dream comes true for most of us.
A luxury home is one that has all the comforts making life ideal.  But, before you make your first move, give some serious though before investing huge amount of money.
For example, before buying your luxury villa, you need some extra consideration.
Each region of Spain has many of options. For example, Costa Brava, Costa del sol, Costa blanca, Costa Almeria, Costa Calida etc have luxury villas to suit different budgets and different needs.So make up a lsit of the pros and cons of each to help focus your decision making.

Spanish villas are usually located in rural, semi-rural or urban locations, and also close to luxurious facilities.For example  your bedroom villa could be close to hospitals, banks, restaurants etc.

The online presence of the top operators has made the entire process easier for you to work through your wish list. Such companies don’t only offer you good suggestions, but also help you buy the property, i.e. luxury villas at agreeable price. These companies are well connected to many of estate agents, developers, lawyers, and property specialists making the entire deal much easier.