Two young girls stand holding hands in a flooded street
Image: © Picture by Dieu Nalio Chery AP/Press Association Images

Hurricane Matthew, India protests and TV debates. 31 September -7 October: What just happened?

Hurricane Matthew hits Haiti, mass protests on Indian streets and US vice presidential candidates face off. Here's our review of the news over the last seven days

Hurricane Matthew leaves Haiti devastated and heads toward US

Hurricane Matthew caused massive damage to Haiti and other parts of the Caribbean this week, leaving 21 people dead and thousands more displaced. The storm is expected to strengthen and hit the southern United States, where millions have been told to evacuate and people have been stockpiling food and supplies. The hurricane has destroyed livestock, crops, homes, roads, bridges, and communication networks, creating complete chaos in what is already one of the world’s poorest countries. The UN has said that 350,000 people are in need of assistance, and the expected presidential election there has been put on hold. The Guardian has the full story.

Millions take to the streets in India

People protest in India

Millions of people have been taking part in silent protest marches in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The situation is complex and has to do with the way people from different castes are treated by the government. There’s been a growing sense of injustice linked to economic inequality and a lack of opportunities in higher education and the jobs market, as well as rising costs for struggling farmers. It doesn't look like the social unrest is going to die down anytime soon – more than 10 million people are expected to demonstrate in Mumbai again at the end of October. Here’s a full report from the BBC.

Ding ding, US presidential debates, round one-and-a-half

Dr. Evil's Minimes.

The US vice-presidential debate took place on Tuesday with Republican candidate Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine going head to head. It's not easy being #2, and to be honest, most people don't pay much attention to this debate – but they do cover some important stuff. We’ve summed up the important bits on debt (they're both creating loads, but Trump's creating loads) and social security (Kaine: the rich should probably pay more towards it. Pence: no comment) in our round-up. Obviously neither candidate missed the chance for a bit of primetime name-calling too,  with Pence calling Clinton “weak”, and Kaine calling Trump a “fool”.

Big report, big headache

Ross from Friends falling asleep.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a very, very long report called the “global economic outlook” this week. It’s really long and it would take an absolute age to go through the whole thing. It basically says that the world’s economy isn’t doing so great at the moment, but that it might get better. Maybe. To prevent ourselves from falling asleep, we took a look at the summary of the report and then summarized that for you. Warning: even this may induce headaches and tiredness. Do not operate heavy machinery after reading.

In other news...

Leaving on a jet plane. Nigeria is selling two of its 10 presidential jets in an attempt to cut down on ‘waste’. The country’s economy has been suffering, and many people think that jets for politicians are a tad frivolous. Now the president will have to make do with just eight!

Move over Apple. Google have released a new smartphone in a bid to rival Apple’s iPhone. The Pixel and Pixel XL has unlimited photo storage and new voice activated ‘assistant’. Oh, and it also comes in three colors - Really Blue, Very Silver, and Quite Black.

Big Bang, big bucks. A list of the highest paid American TV stars has been released, with the stars of the Big Bang Theory topping the pile. Actors Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki all receive an estimated $1m per episode. Bazinga!

The Great British (Banknote) Bake Off

A five pound note

Bored Brits have started shrinking the new plastic mini £5 notes by putting them into the oven, just because they can. The whole point of the new notes is that they’re a lot stronger than the old paper ones and are supposed to last longer. But inventive Brits aren’t gonna let that stop them.

The whole thing seems to have started accidentally after someone tumble dried one that they’d left in their pocket. A photo of this found its way onto Facebook, and then everyone started having a go. Looks like some British people literally have money to burn.

Recent articles

Reader Comments