Friday to Friday: World events that caught our attention

Everyone is talking about school protests in France, but the same thing is happening in Belgium. In Liège, for example, anti-education protesters blocked roads, smashed windows, set fire to garbage cans and threw stones and firecrackers at police. Police responded by using water cannons and tear gas. Belgian students and teachers oppose austerity measures. The main reasons for the discontent were the increase in the cost of education in higher education institutions by 35%, changes in the rules for passing training courses and cuts in budgets, as well as an increase in the burden on high school teachers, who were obliged to work an additional two hours a week without increasing pay. It seems that Belgians and other Europeans will need Spider-Man’s help to figure out who is right and who is to blame for what is happening on the streets.

87-year-old Spaniard Maricarmen Abascal died in a hospital in Madrid, where she was treated on September 23, after she was forcibly evicted from the apartment where she lived for 70 years. Her story, which has become a symbol of Spain's housing crisis, has sparked street protests. After the ownership of the housing where she lived was transferred to the hedge fund, the rent increased several times and exceeded the amount of Maricarmen's pension. She was taken out of the house on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance. Footage of the eviction went viral on social media and sparked a wave of protests. Part of the protesters set up a tent camp in the central square of Madrid Puerta del Sol. In the future, this provoked an internal political crisis, which has already resulted in early elections in the country.

No one knows exactly what is happening in Yemen. No sooner had the internationally recognized government of this country announced the beginning of a large-scale military operation against the Houthis than the Houthis (Ansar Allah movement) reported on their military successes. They announced the establishment of control over the area of al-Mawasit in the province of Taiz in the south-west of Yemen and the seizure of the house of the head of the governing presidential Council Rashad al-Alimi, who, in fact, launched an operation against them. This fall, the Houthis conducted an offensive and occupied the Yemeni coast of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This major success led to the escalation of the armed conflict between the Houthis and the Yemeni authorities and Saudi Arabia.

In Catalonia held a traditional competition for the construction of human towers – castels. They have been built for more than 200 years and are recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Originating in the eighteenth century, these living towers – the Tarragona Castells – symbolize balance, strength, teamwork and courage. Every two years, Tarragona hosts the massive Concurs de Castells tournament in Tarragona, bringing together the best teams from all over Catalonia. The last, 30th in a row, the tournament ended with the victory of the group Castellers de Vilafranca ("green") from the city of Vilafranca del Penedes. This victory was historic: the group scored 14,635 points and for the first time in the world history of castels was able to successfully build and completely dismantle the complex tower 9 de 9 amb folre (9 levels of 9 people each).

And this guy on the bike is the famous Valtteri Bottas. From the Bahrain Grand Prix (which was held in Malaysia) to the Singapore Grand Prix, the Formula 1 pilot got on a gravel vel. 419 km, most of which are far from asphalt. Most riders prefer to get to race on private jets, but Bottas, 37, jumped into the saddle on Sunday and documented his journey on social media for three days. Finn shared several videos and photos, and on Wednesday afternoon posted a selfie on his bike with the caption: "Ride to work/study on 419.67km," adding a smiley face to it. Bottas also shared a photo of his "certificate of completion" obtained after achieving this result. Some people really think that Formula 1 is a roll of majors on the fastest cars in the world. In reality, there are just such titans. The physical — with stiff pens on weight and insane concentration — must be absolutely crazy.

Against the backdrop of sad events in world sports - Lionel Messi's last match for the Argentine national team, Alexander Ovechkin's statements about the last season in the NHL and Cristiano Ronaldo's demarche around his last or penultimate match in the Portuguese national team - it seems that only Serb Novak Djokovic from among the old robbers preferred sports to scandals, intrigues, investigations. The 39-year-old not only won his 102nd victory in the APR tournaments, but also won the tournament in Beijing for the seventh time. Djokovic extended the winning streak on the courts of the Chinese capital to 34 matches, becoming a seven-time champion of this tournament. No other player has achieved so many victories in a single ATP tournament while remaining undefeated. And how cool it is to be a contemporary.