Rude cuckold gesture costs Portuguese minister his job

Manuel Pinho, Portugal's economy minister, has resigned after making a cuckold gesture to an opposition MP during a stormy debate in parliament.

Mr Pinho placed his index fingers on either side of his head, mimicking horns, as he taunted Bernandino Soares, the leader of the Communist group in the Portuguese parliament, who had challenged the government's plans for a mine.



Jose Socrates, the Portuguese prime minister who is preparing for a general election in September, said Mr Pinho's gesture was "inexcusable."



A man whose wife is adulterous has traditionally been referred to as "wearing the horns of a cuckold", a reference to the fact that the unfortunate man is the last to know of his wife's infidelity. In Portugal, the gesture is widely recognised to mean that a man's wife is having an affair.

Mr Pinho said he regretted his act during a tense state-of-the-nation debate, though he said he was responding to an insult from the lawmaker.