Tag Archives: WorldNews

BRICS summit: China, Russia slam ‘protectionist bullying’

18667039_303.jpg

Xi Jinping has claimed “bullying” tactics have eroded international trade and investment. Vladimir Putin said international growth has been in decline for almost two years.

Family suicides in Turkey speak of a society that has lost hope | Elif Shafak

4992.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=8

With an economy deep in recession and democracy in tatters, human self-worth is also taken away

Fatih is known as one of the most conservative districts of Istanbul. Last week some people in the area saw a note attached to the door of a flat: “Beware! There’s cyanide inside. Call the police. Don’t enter.” Whoever wrote the note had clearly wanted to protect the neighbours from a toxic substance. When the police arrived they found four bodies – two men, two women, aged between 48 and 60. The dead were all from the same family, the Yetişkins, who had been residents of the neighbourhood for decades. The siblings had, according to friends, also lived in unemployment and penury – the wages of one sister, a music teacher, used to keep creditors at bay. Unable to find jobs to cover the family’s growing debts, they’d been battling depression and anxiety.

They were beautiful people. They did what they did because of poverty

Continue reading…

Neighbours meet to plot path out of Chile crisis amid exasperation at elite

3500.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=8

Hundreds of town hall-style meetings – cabildos – are taking place to debate causes and solutions of the current unrest

In the dappled shade of Santiago’s Parque Almagro, hundreds of Chileans sat immersed in conversation, reflecting on the past, present and future of their country.

As strikes and protests continue across the country, tens of thousands of people have attended spontaneous town hall meetings to seek a way out of more than a month of sometimes violent political unrest.

Continue reading…

Waves in St Mark’s Square as Venice flooded by highest tide in 50 years

3072.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=8

High waters peaked at 1.87 metres as the flood alarm sounded across the Italian city of canals

Venice was hit by the highest tide in more than 50 years on, with tourists wading through flooded streets to seek shelter as a fierce wind whipped up waves in St. Mark’s Square.

The exceptionally intense “acqua alta,” or high waters, peaked at 1.87 metres (six feet) as the flood alarm sounded across the Italian city of canals, the tide monitoring centre said.

Continue reading…