A bus was attacked on Wednesday evening in Angoulême by about thirty young people armed with swords and baseball bats. A few stops later, the driver was relieved and the damaged bus replaced. No arrests have been made so far, as the thirty young people disperse quickly after the bus leaves. On Thursday morning, the city’s transport network announced that no buses would run, with drivers exercising their right of withdrawal. This is the second bus attack in a week. Source Ouest-France
Sanctions are forcing Russia to find alternative settlement currencies to the US dollar to ensure the security of the country’s economy, according to President Vladimir Putin.“We are moving to the de-dollarization of the economy. We are doing so not because we want to undermine the dollar, but because we want to ensure our security. We are constantly facing sanctions, they do not give us the opportunity to work in dollars,” Putin said on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi. Source RT
Leaders from Russia, Turkey, Germany and France will meet in Istanbul next week in an effort to shore up a truce preventing further violence in Syria’s last rebel-held region and bolster the political process toward ending the seven-year civil war. Source: Bloomberg
China’s economic growth cooled to its weakest pace since the global financial crisis in the third quarter, with regulators pledging further policy support as a years-long campaign to tackle debt risks and the trade war with the United States began to bite. Source: Reuters
