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France's boy bullfighters

Since 1983 the French Tauromachy Centre in Nimes, southern France, has trained some 1,000 youths in the art of bullfighting. Twenty of them have gone on to become professional matadors, facing fighting bulls in the arena. Twice a week, students take courses with a matador to learn the movements and gestures of the bullfighter in the ring, but without an animal present. Students train with calves in the surrounding fields during spring, and regularly participate in beginner's bullfights (becerradas) without killing calves. Solal, a 12-year-old, has been taking courses for three years; Nino, a 10-year-old, for just a year now. Both are normally enrolled in French public schools, but have one thought in mind - bullfighting. They share a passion linked to the city of Nimes, famous for its ferias and bullring. (Reuters)