Time for Turkey’s president to learn about sharing

Editor's note: We’ve partnered with Beacon Reader, a crowdfunding site that helps people like you support important journalism projects, to investigate why donors — who pledged $5.4 billion — aren't keeping their promises to the thousands of Gazans left homeless by the brutal war with Israel last summer. We’re looking for funders willing to put a few dollars toward making sure this important story gets told. You can help us here.

NEED TO KNOW:

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a lot of things. The world’s most expensive palace, for example, which is so large that some 50 White Houses could fit inside of it. He has denied having gold-plated toilet seats — he's actually going to court over this — but the fact that he had to deny such a thing gives you a sense of who we’re dealing with. The extravagant touches pair nicely with the strongman image Erdogan has been cultivating, and which he had ambitions to expand.

But in a sensational shake-up this weekend, Erdogan may have lost the biggest jewel in his crown. For the first time since his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, the party is now required to form a coalition government after slipping at the polls. While the AKP took more seats in parliamentary elections than any other party, it lost serious ground to the Republican People's Party, the Nationalist Movement Party, and the People's Democratic Party (HDP).

The pro-Kurdish HDP, with nearly 13 percent of the vote, won 80 seats, breaking into the national scene for the first time. Led by a man some call “Kurdish Obama,” the liberal HDP managed to reach beyond its Kurdish base to attract support from secular Turks, women and the gay community.

This election was a big moment for LGBT representation in Turkey. Several LGBT candidates ran for seats in parliament, taking the community’s fight against discrimination from street activism into national politics. They didn’t win — but with Erdogan’s powers waning, it’s hard to say they lost.

WANT TO KNOW:

Remember when the G7 was the G8? It wasn’t so long ago that Russia enjoyed a seat at the table when Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, David Cameron and other top leaders got together to talk economics and security over pretzels and beer. But since annexing Crimea last year, Moscow has been suspended from the elite club.

That doesn’t mean the G7 aren’t still talking about Russia. In fact, Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis has been a top agenda item at the meetings that started over the weekend. G7 leaders reaffirmed that sanctions must remain in place until Russia backs away from Ukraine’s borders.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko grabbed international headlines last week when he warned his country about a potential “full-scale” Russian invasion. A day earlier, Moscow-backed separatists launched what officials in Ukraine said was their largest assault in months, leaving at least two dozen dead outside the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

But here’s the thing: That “full-scale invasion” isn’t likely to happen. At least not any time soon. From Kyiv, GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Dan Peleschuk explains why.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

It's getting harder for super skinny models to find work these days.

The high-profile deaths of several models in the past 10 years, including French model Isabelle Caro in 2010 and Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston in 2006, who both suffered from anorexia, turned the spotlight on the issue of eating disorders in the fashion industry. It also highlighted the unrealistic body images bony models promote to impressionable children and teenagers, both girls and boys.  

Now fashion show organizers, advertising regulators, and even some governments are taking action.

In the latest move, Britain’s independent advertising regulator has banned an Yves Saint Laurent ad featuring an emaciated-looking model lying on the floor, her ribs clearly visible.

The Advertising Standards Authority declared this black and white photo “irresponsible.” Do you agree?