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The United Kingdom, Venezuela, Turkey and Syria remain global hot-spots in the news. British leaders are still waiting to see what kind of effects Brexit will have on the country's way of life. Venezuela's economy is reeling from government mismanagement and plunging oil prices.


Meanwhile, a series of bombings in Turkey over the weekend is just the latest in a series of consistent violence spilling over from neighboring Syria. 

MPR News reporter Euan Kerr spoke with three reporters covering these areas about what is happening, and what is changing.


Two months after British voters stunned the world by choosing to leave the European Union the future of the country and those it trades with is still uncertain.

How does Brexit affect Minnesota?


The very fact that Brexit happened is still a shock to many Britons, and as the shock wears off many are wondering what has really changed in the past two months, said BBC reporter Matt Cole, who noted the departments designed to lead the U.K. out of the European Union have not been fully formed or fully staffed.


"A lot of people are looking at Brexit, and what's it mean and some are wondering, will it even ever happen," said Cole.


The numbers in the Venezuelan crisis speak for themselves: Inflation is currently running at 720 percent this year. It's expected to hit 2,200 percent next year. The International Monetary Fund estimates the Venezuelan economy will shrink by 10 percent this year.

There are five hour lines at grocery stores,

 and recently when the government opened the border with Colombia for 12 hours, 85,000 Venezuelans poured over the border to go shopping for basics.

Residents are having to come up with creative solutions to these problems that they have never seen before, said Nick Casey, Andes bureau chief for the New York Times.


"Just 12, 15 years ago this country was one of the richest in the region," Casey said. "But over the years, mainly during the years of Hugo Chávez and his successors, there were a number of changes to the economy that made the country into a more difficult place to do business."


The attempted coup in Turkey last month has renewed charges by many in the international community that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is moving toward a dictatorship. 

 of a small boy sitting still, wounded and bloodied, in the back of an ambulance, renewed outrage against the Assad regime.


Despite this development, Washington Post reporter Louisa Loveluck says not much has changed.


"For myself, this image, while it was incredibly sad, didn't necessarily stand out as compared to the others that we receive on a daily basis," Loveluck said. "I think this was a small, digestible moment that we were able to stick on the front pages and news anchors were able to cry about it on television. But you speak to doctors in Syria and they will say, 'We still feel abandoned.'"

To hear all three conversations, click the play button above.

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Britain, Venezuela, Turkey and Syria remain global hot spots in the news. MPR News reporter Euan Kerr spoke with three reporters covering these areas about what is happening, and what is changing.

MPR News reporter Euan Kerr was joined by experts across the globe to talk about Brexit, the economic crisis in Venezuela, and the violence in Syria and Turkey. 8/22/16

3 journalists on UK, Turkey, Venezuela flashpoints

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