What's in the news?

:blink: Loads of rioting in London and no idea even why, possibly a shooting..Just tons of reports and footage of looting in the news.

Last I heard, all our 'leaders' were off on holiday *at the same time* as well. Lovely. Country goes to the dogs while they're gone, haha.

The big news over here is of the USA's debt downgrade. Not really sure of the specifics but I know it's causing uproar on the global stock markets. I would have guessed that the US being considered more of a borrowing risk would have pushed investors toward investing in other currencies for \"safety\" but I suppose the US influence on world finance is so huge that it only caused severe turmoil in trading. I'm definitely not an expert on the stock market but Canada is just out of a recession period and I sincerely hope that this uncertainty does not affect our economy or the world too much. Bit annoying that all of the major currencies have dropped though.

firensia wrote:

The big news over here is of the USA's debt downgrade. Not really sure of the specifics but I know it's causing uproar on the global stock markets. I would have guessed that the US being considered more of a borrowing risk would have pushed investors toward investing in other currencies for \"safety\" but I suppose the US influence on world finance is so huge that it only caused severe turmoil in trading. I'm definitely not an expert on the stock market but Canada is just out of a recession period and I sincerely hope that this uncertainty does not affect our economy or the world too much. Bit annoying that all of the major currencies have dropped though.

Oh..If the US currency goes to shit, it will inevitably affect the whole world because the majority of world trade is between the US and others - We're barely even out of our recession as well in the UK. :S Ugh..

Riots are spreading madly here..They've hit most of the main cities. Reached ours too - But the rioters only got one street before they were chased off by the police. I haven't dared wander out, but my parents who have to (they work in the city) told me that the city's like a ghost town full of boarded shops and hooded youths in black, wandering around. You just know that they're waiting to see if a riot occurs and you know they'll leap at the chance to loot anything and everything..

In our city, I heard they only managed to loot a pound store yesterday...*Facepalm*. Really. What was the point in that?!

It's pretty much confirmed that there's no true cause for the riots..Some groups are doing it because they're bored..Some are doing it because they think it's rebellion against 'foreign workers taking jobs'..Some are saying it's because benefits were taken away..Others are saying it's because a guy got shot in London..There's really no *actual* cause. People are just looting for the hell of it.

Envy wrote:

firensia wrote:

The big news over here is of the USA's debt downgrade. Not really sure of the specifics but I know it's causing uproar on the global stock markets. I would have guessed that the US being considered more of a borrowing risk would have pushed investors toward investing in other currencies for \"safety\" but I suppose the US influence on world finance is so huge that it only caused severe turmoil in trading. I'm definitely not an expert on the stock market but Canada is just out of a recession period and I sincerely hope that this uncertainty does not affect our economy or the world too much. Bit annoying that all of the major currencies have dropped though.

Oh..If the US currency goes to shit, it will inevitably affect the whole world because the majority of world trade is between the US and others - We're barely even out of our recession as well in the UK. :S Ugh..

Riots are spreading madly here..They've hit most of the main cities. Reached ours too - But the rioters only got one street before they were chased off by the police. I haven't dared wander out, but my parents who have to (they work in the city) told me that the city's like a ghost town full of boarded shops and hooded youths in black, wandering around. You just know that they're waiting to see if a riot occurs and you know they'll leap at the chance to loot anything and everything..

In our city, I heard they only managed to loot a pound store yesterday...*Facepalm*. Really. What was the point in that?!

It's pretty much confirmed that there's no true cause for the riots..Some groups are doing it because they're bored..Some are doing it because they think it's rebellion against 'foreign workers taking jobs'..Some are saying it's because benefits were taken away..Others are saying it's because a guy got shot in London..There's really no *actual* cause. People are just looting for the hell of it.

That's really too bad. I've never seen the point of destroying one's own city for the sake of anything. It certainly doesn't help anyone. We saw a case of it here in Canada with the last G8/G20 summit being held in Ontario. First, it started as a peaceful protest then it was invaded by some black block anarchists that completely wrecked the city and torched police cars, which of course only made people even madder at the protesters and the message was completely lost. People always take advantage of situations of unrest like this to do their own mischief and get off scotch-free. It's quite sad. I didn't quite catch the full story about London but from what I heard on the news, it was that some criminal got shot by police and that sparked public outrage. Obviously, that was days ago so things could have snowballed from then and also, that rioters were using Blackberry's to organize demonstrations since it's impossible to crack its IM system. Aren't the police in the city doing anything to stop it? Because I mean, this could really affect tourism not to mention endanger its residents.

firensia wrote:

That's really too bad. I've never seen the point of destroying one's own city for the sake of anything. It certainly doesn't help anyone. We saw a case of it here in Canada with the last G8/G20 summit being held in Ontario. First, it started as a peaceful protest then it was invaded by some black block anarchists that completely wrecked the city and torched police cars, which of course only made people even madder at the protesters and the message was completely lost. People always take advantage of situations of unrest like this to do their own mischief and get off scotch-free. It's quite sad. I didn't quite catch the full story about London but from what I heard on the news, it was that some criminal got shot by police and that sparked public outrage. Obviously, that was days ago so things could have snowballed from then and also, that rioters were using Blackberry's to organize demonstrations since it's impossible to crack its IM system. Aren't the police in the city doing anything to stop it? Because I mean, this could really affect tourism not to mention endanger its residents.

Ugh..The top news for our city was that a charity's ambulance was set on fire - Just shows how people are doing this damage mindlessly and for the hell of it.

I don't really understand why people are destroying their own cities either. The majority of us have concluded it's the ones with limited education etc. that are resorting to criminal activity..It's truly pathetic.

Most peaceful protests here also end up violent anyway due to these kinds of uneducated people who want any reason to cause havoc and chaos. Lots just get caught up in it and think they won't be caught just because everyone else is looting or whatever..

It's already clearly affected the image of Britain - My mother told me she read in the news that lots of foreign students and holidaymakers have cancelled flights to Britain..As if our whole 2012 olympic thing wasn't a monetary drain already. Wonder how many people have been put off from attending that now. They were already saying early on that we weren't even sure if the return would cover the cost..

The police are getting better as the days go by - Our city was hit quite late by it all so we already had riot police in position, which limited the damage to just one street. Lots of shops have also hired their own security to keep watch overnight, so our city is relatively lucky, compared to the cities that were struck down early and were not prepared at all. I don't think much else will happen in my city, but I can't really say the same for the others.

At least there's not too much to clean up here.

I heard the news, that three young men were killed when they were hit by a car in Birmingham, while they kept watch in the community to prevent looting.
What the hell is happening - are the troublemakers completely brainless....., and for what?
NOTHING - apart from several economic and social problems for both themselves and the country as a whole.


Although I'm currently not comfortable with the situation, it shouldn't keep me from going to London on 4 September to go to the LondonEgde (and see AC's new releases)