Weekly Worldwide Update
- Mila Yasrovaya
- Oct 31, 2015
- 3 min read
Weather
As a result of Hurricane Patricia hitting land and dissipating earlier this week, its remnants were pushed up towards Ontario and were a cause of the abundance of rain and high speed winds that we saw on Wednesday October 28. Cities along the coasts of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario received the worst of the rain and wind, with Toronto getting a record breaking 58 mm of rain with winds between 70-90 km/h. All of southern Ontario was on high-alert that day, as the rain caused many accidents and injuries.
Arts and Entertainment
Along with the arrival of the unpredictable weather, this October also brought with it an array of new and exciting costumes. Google has compiled a list of the most searched for Halloween costumes, and here is a look at the costumes that were the most popular this Halloween season.
Taking the number one spot this year, with the most costume quarries in Canada as well as the United States, is Miss Harley Quinn. The DC Comics super villain who is going to appear in the 2016 movie Suicide Squad inspired the most costumes over the course of last week.
Along with Miss Quinn, 11 of the 18 of the most googled costume searches are inspired by film and book characters such as Joker, the Minions, Mad Max, and Star Wars, just to name a few.
With the U.S. Presidential elections on the way, and both the first Republican and Democrat debates behind, it is no wonder that Donald Trump is sparking headlines and gaining rapid if nonsensical popularity, so much so that he is on our most searched up costume ideas. Now, among the wide assortment of masks in the many costume shops, you will be able to easily find a silicone life-like Donald Trump mask with the greatest of ease.
World
On Thursday October 29, 2015 the ruling Communist Party of China announced that they would be easing their family planning restrictions to allow couples to have two children. This is another broadening of the of the country’s family planning restrictions since 2013, when it was allowed for couples to have two children if one of the would-be parents was an only child. Such changes are made due to the country’s rapidly aging population - with one in every three Chinese to be over the age of 60 by the middle of the century and a low amount of working adults who are able to support them. By allowing all couples to have two children, the Chinese government is hoping to reduce the stress on the country’s demographics and economy. However, some experts fear that it might be too little, too late as the country’s working age population has plummeted drastically, slowing its economy. China could be the first country to “get old before it gets rich”. Yet, some fear that the policy will do little good to improve the situation, as even with the retirement of the policy many young couples are reluctant to have a second child due to the high costs of bringing up a child in an increasingly expensive country.
Astronomy
Earlier in October, scientists on Hawaii’s Mount Haleakala spotted a comet that was due to pass Earth this Halloween. The comet, quickly nicknamed “Spooky” because of its skull like shape, passed Earth, as scheduled, on Saturday at approximately 1:00 pm. Unfortunately, due to timing, Spooky could only be seen passing in some parts of Russia. Spooky quickly gained attention over the past few weeks, not only because of its peculiar shape and timing, but also because it is said to be a dead comet since it wasn’t seen shedding ice and gases into space and creating a long tail of debris. The comet posed very little risk to anyone on the ground as it passed by in a wide berth around both the Earth and our Moon.
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