Politics

摘要

Large protests spread across Turkey against the increasingly authoritarian rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. The trouble began in Istanbul when riot police used violence to end a sit-in by environmentalists who were trying to halt the redevelopment of a park. Mr Erdogan insisted that the protests were "no Turkish spring". The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, called an early mayoral election, two years ahead of schedule. He is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, who appointed him. Direct elections for the office were only recently restored. Mr Sobyanin is expected to win September's vote, especially with his opponents caught on the hop.