An Istanbul cafe incident is hardly the norm

Istanbul cafe knife incident

With reference to Lizzie Porter's report Turkish man suspected of threatening Saudis with knife in Istanbul cafe (July 3): This is a very unfortunate incident. Our experience has been different though. When we visited, my family found Turkish hospitality to be outstanding and the majority of people lovely to interact with. There were some conversations with taxi drivers where they went on a rant but that can happen anywhere. A few angry voices don't represent the whole.

Mohammed A Ahmed, Dubai

There's no excuse for such behaviour, wielding knives at strangers for keeping him awake, he says. Too often it feels like the world is becoming an increasingly scary, hateful place. Thank goodness this didn't take a nastier turn.

Ayesha Sorrab, Edinburgh, Scotland

The compounding misery in Gaza

In reference to Adla Massoud's article 'Maelstrom of human misery': More than 80% of Gazans now displaced, UN official says (July 3): All one hears about is condemning Israel, but still no serious sanctions or any action against them. The tragedy for Gaza continues.

Barbara Lebar, Sharjah

The dangers of crowd mismanagement

With regard to Taniya Dutta's report 'My dead son was dropped in my lap': Indian woman recalls horror of crush at Hathras (July 3): How could this have been allowed to happen? It is not the first time that such a crush has taken lives. I feel terrible for these poor people for having been conned by a so-called god-man or religious preacher, who is now absconding, into attending this event. What devastating losses, 122 people dead in a tragedy that could have been avoided if there was better crowd management. The victims, mostly all women, could never have imagined the day would end like this. May the families of the victims have the strength to deal with this pain.

Shagufta Abrar, Jaipur, Rajasthan

India's Cricket World Cup glory after 2007

Regarding Ajit Vijaykumar's report Indian cricket set for transition after T20 World Cup glory (July 01): The Indian Cricket team winning the World Cup T20 was amazing to watch for millions of cricket lovers, including myself. Thankfully the match was before the hurricane in Barbados. The captaincy of Rohit Sharma was sharp and all team members contributed to this great, nail-biting match, and a historic victory after 17 years for India. Kudos to Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma and his men. As the article said, with this trophy in the bag, the time was perfect for Sharma and Kohli to announce their retirement from T20 Internationals and for Rahul Dravid to sign off as a World Cup winning coach now. Indeed it was the exit of dreams for the champions.

K Ragavan, Denver, US