The US president accused his French counterpart of failing to secure his country’s borders and letting migrants and radicals wreak havoc
French President Emmanuel Macron has slammed as “stupid” and “unacceptable” remarks by foreign leaders about the unrest gripping France, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump, who blamed the violence on Paris’ lax border policies.
France has been rocked by some of its worst riots in years, sparked last month by teacher shortages and crumbling schools before escalating into nationwide protests over inequality, soaring living costs and public service cuts.
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets over the weekend as demonstrations descended into clashes with police, arson and looting. Nearly 2,400 people were arrested, around 1,000 officers injured, hundreds of businesses looted and buildings torched, with damage estimated at “hundreds of millions of euros.”
Trump claimed that “migrants, jihadists, and communists” had “conquered, looted, and burned” France, accusing Macron of failing to secure its borders. He urged European leaders to “close their borders,” before seizing on the unrest to rally Republicans ahead of the November 3 midterms, warning that scenes of “burning steeples and raging fires” were “what the Radical Dumocrats want to do to AMERICA” with their own migration agenda.
Macron isn’t amused
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Macron accused outside actors of manipulating information about the events to their gain.
“There was foreign manipulation of information, which gave rise to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign leaders,” he said. “We have had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false… These people annoy me.”
Asked whether he was referring to Trump, Macron replied: “Among others.”
President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that foreign leaders — including those “on the other side of the Atlantic” — were seeking to exploit France’s tense social climate for political gain following a weekend of street violence and looting.
While there is no clear evidence that migrants have played a disproportionate role in the unrest, multiple videos posted online have shown protesters waving Palestinian flags alongside French ones.
They said the riots and destruction in France were about the cost of living and schools.
French authorities have largely blamed the violence on radical far-left groups and opportunistic criminals, without linking its organization to immigrants. Meanwhile, politicians across France’s political spectrum blamed Macron and his government for the unrest, accusing the administration of undermining public services and failing to maintain order.
Macron made his remarks during a Middle East trip that he refused to postpone despite the turmoil at home, leaving his government to deal with the fallout. He tried to defend his decision, insisting that changing his plans would have signaled “nervousness” and that he had given his government a “sufficient roadmap.” Yet with just six months until France’s presidential election and his approval rating at a record-low 15%, the trip has only fueled perceptions of a lame-duck presidency as Macron quite literally left the scene as Paris and other cities burned.
His absence drew criticism of an “absent president” and left rivals Marine Le Pen, who leads first-round polling for April 2027 with 32-36% support, and Jean-Luc Melenchon, to dominate the debate at home.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has ordered curfews ahead of fresh protests, with gatherings banned near Paris landmarks including the Louvre and Champs-Elysees for three days. France also plans to deploy 1,000 counterterrorism troops to reinforce police on Saturday, October 24. Lecornu is due to meet mayors of riot-hit cities on Thursday to coordinate efforts to prevent further violence.
In his remarks, Macron also dismissed suggestions of foreign interference in the unrest itself, citing a lack of evidence. His remarks followed a flurry of Western media speculation seeking to blame the riots, which spread from France to Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Albania, on outside meddling – with Russia once again cast as the usual suspect.
Outlets such as The Financial Times and the Telegraph, citing “anonymous” sources, reported that several EU governments had asked intelligence agencies to investigate possible Russian involvement. The FT expanded the suspect list to Iran and Algeria, claiming some officials had even demanded a formal EU probe.
European officials also joined the finger-pointing. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto suggested the riots were part of a “hybrid war” waged through social media by an unidentified actor. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama went further, accusing Russian and Iranian intelligence services outright.
Yet the allegations have apparently failed to convince even Brussels. According to Euronews, the European Commission has declined to launch an investigation, citing insufficient evidence.
The speculation follows a familiar pattern of EU officials invoking “hybrid warfare” and the alleged “Russian threat” amid domestic turmoil. Just this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Moscow and Minsk of “weaponizing migration,” linking them to the summer crisis in Spain’s Ceuta, where an estimated 70,000 migrants crossed from Morocco, sparking a border emergency and political fallout over EU migration policies. However, yet again, she presented no evidence connecting either country to the crisis.
Moscow routinely dismisses allegations of interference and claims of a Russian threat as “absurd” fabrications, accusing EU leaders of using the narrative to deflect blame for their own policy failures and distract from mounting domestic crises.
Responding to Rama’s accusations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told him to look closer to home.
“These are citizens of your own country who took to the streets to protest. Don’t shift your responsibility onto others. Deal with your own domestic problems,” she said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, described the unrest sweeping the EU as evidence of “a major crisis… bordering on chaos.”
Prime Minister Bart De Wever is certain the bloc will not revive the Ukraine-funding proposal he blocked last year
The European Commission will not revive a proposal to seize Russian sovereign assets immobilized at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear to finance Ukraine, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has said.
Approximately €210 billion ($236 billion) in Russian central bank assets have been frozen in the EU, most of them held at Euroclear. Brussels has been using profits generated by the funds to support Ukraine through a so-called “windfall tax,” but has stopped short of confiscating the principal over concerns about the legal consequences. De Wever has repeatedly raised those risks at meetings of EU leaders.
“One colleague came to tell me in the hallway that it was as if I had run a flamethrower over that debate,” the prime minister told Belgian lawmakers on Wednesday, according to local media, referring to discussions last year. De Wever was briefing the Belgian parliament on the meeting.
De Wever said he was certain the European Commission would not reopen the debate, although he could not guarantee that individual member states would refrain from doing so.
“Not everyone experienced the discussion,” he said. “New leaders have emerged who are developing a discourse that I was able to nip in the bud last year.”
The proposal that De Wever considers a nonstarter nevertheless received support in various forms from Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, among others, during last week’s European Council summit.
EU leaders previously considered using approximately €185 billion ($208 billion) in Russian sovereign assets held in Belgium to finance Kiev. After De Wever demanded collective guarantees against potential financial and legal consequences, they instead agreed last December to raise €90 billion ($101 billion) through EU borrowing.
European officials claim that the Russian assets could be used to repay the loan. Moscow has denounced both the windfall tax and the proposed confiscation of Russian money as theft.
Kiev has deemed the foreign financing available for 2026-2027 insufficient, with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky requesting an additional €70 billion ($79 billion) last week. The EU has made no new funding commitment and reportedly plans to seek further contributions from other potential donors, particularly the UK and Canada.
The Pentagon and State Department reportedly made similar preparations before launching the war against Iran in February
The US military has quietly begun withdrawing troops from bases across the Middle East, while Washington is ordering diplomatic personnel to leave several missions in the region, NBC News reports.
The moves come as President Donald Trump considers launching a new wave of attacks on Iran, and the withdrawals resemble preparations made by the Pentagon and State Department ahead of the initial US-Israeli strikes in February, NBC reported on Wednesday, citing two US officials and two people familiar with the matter.
US troops stationed in Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait are among those being relocated, according to the report. Washington reportedly intends to maintain a limited presence at its regional bases, including personnel responsible for air defenses and security.
Ahead of the February 28 attack, the Pentagon withdrew large numbers of troops from potentially vulnerable bases to shield them from expected Iranian retaliation. Tehran accused Washington of using Gulf residents as “human shields” after thousands of US service members took shelter in civilian hotels and office buildings.
US Central Command spokesman Timothy Hawkins declined to discuss the reported troop movements, saying US forces are regularly repositioned to “optimize mission readiness” and remained prepared to defend US personnel and interests.
The State Department has also ordered non-essential personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, citing escalating attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement against civilian airports and other critical infrastructure.
Reuters reported that Washington is preparing additional diplomatic withdrawals across the Gulf, citing US officials, but State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott described reports of further withdrawals as “inaccurate.”
The developments come amid reports that senior US military officials have presented Trump with options for renewed strikes against Iran. According to NBC, the proposals include attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, underground installations, and strategic islands, including Kharg Island, a critical oil export hub, and Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz.
Some of Trump’s advisers, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, have reportedly advocated resuming military operations to increase pressure on Tehran. Others have warned against launching another major campaign without a clearly defined objective.
Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, holding closed-door talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just days before Israel’s October 27 parliamentary elections. Netanyahu is seeking another term amid mounting criticism of his handling of the wars in Gaza and Iran. Trump has endorsed his reelection bid.
Trump pledged earlier this month that the US would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterm elections, while maintaining that military force remains an option if diplomatic efforts fail. Netanyahu has also ruled out launching new strikes before Israel’s election, but declared on Sunday that Israel is prepared to attack Iran even without American participation.
The US-Israeli war against Iran, launched on February 28, has entered its eighth month, disrupting global energy markets and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has offered to restore normal navigation through the vital waterway within seven days if Washington lifts its naval blockade, eases oil sanctions, and agrees to a broader cessation of hostilities.
Trump has rejected the Iranian proposal as “unacceptable,” while his administration continues to consider whether additional military pressure could force Tehran to accept their terms.
One agent suppressed alerts to human reviewers, while another removed a monitoring system and falsely denied doing so
Two OpenAI agents disabled security monitoring systems during testing, with one later denying it had done so, the company has revealed.
The disclosure follows a string of similar incidents in recent months involving autonomous AI agents, which can independently plan and carry out tasks using external tools.
In a blog post on Tuesday, OpenAI said that the incidents occurred on October 3 and 6, involving its GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra agents, respectively.
In the first case, the coding agent tasked with creating evaluation tasks using employee feedback collected via Slack disabled automatic alerts to the company’s security team. According to OpenAI, the agent reasoned that the user’s prior instruction not to send messages on the team communication platform during the process applied to all notifications, including security alerts.
Three days later, the GPT-6 Astra agent removed the monitoring integration of a program it was migrating, taking its cue from a reference it had been fed that did not have the security feature. When asked later by the human user, the agent denied removing the monitoring system.
OpenAI said that it was investigating why the agents disabled the safeguards and working to prevent similar incidents. While the behavior may have resulted from “benign overpersistence” by the agents to complete the task, the company said that it was also “developing evaluations to test whether models might have a propensity to evade misalignment monitoring in particular.”
Last month, the Wall Street Journal, citing Saachi Jain, OpenAI’s head of safety systems, reported that the company had scrapped the release of its GPT-6.1 Astra model. The decision reportedly came after internal testing had found the model to be more deceptive than its predecessors and apt to employ potentially unsafe external tools without first seeking the user’s permission.
Also in September, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that an OpenAI agent had hacked his country’s Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal, with the company failing to report the breach for nearly three months.
Earlier, in July, OpenAI disclosed that its models had escaped their sandbox during cybersecurity testing, accessed the internet, and hacked into the servers of the Hugging Face online repository for AI models and datasets.
Other developers have reported similarly troubling behavior in tests.
Earlier this month, Anthropic released a report detailing instances of “unintended” actions by its AI models, including Claude Haiku 4.5 providing a bogus tip to Philadelphia police regarding an ongoing homicide investigation.
Calls to halt AI development or impose tighter regulations on the industry have grown louder.
Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton has warned that increasingly powerful AI could eventually escape human control, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also urged governments to adopt a more active role in imposing safety standards on the industry.
However, US President Donald Trump has brushed off such concerns, saying that restrictions on AI development could allow China to overtake the US in the technological race.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, too, has argued that the world must absorb some “bad things” resulting from AI development, including hacks and scams, as the benefits afforded by the technology far outweigh the drawbacks.
A New Mexico judge has ruled that Facebook’s parent company deceived millions of users about how their personal data was collected and shared
A US judge has ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in civil penalties for deceiving Facebook users about the privacy of their personal data, in a landmark ruling stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which exposed the harvesting of personal information from millions of Americans for political campaigns.
New Mexico District Judge Francis Mathew issued the ruling on Wednesday, following a jury verdict in September finding Facebook’s parent company responsible for nearly 44 million violations of the state’s consumer protection laws.
The judge concluded that Meta’s misconduct warranted a penalty exceeding $219 billion under state law, but reduced the amount to $25 billion, making it one of the largest financial penalties ever imposed on an American corporation.
“Facebook’s wrongdoing – over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public – goes to the heart of Facebook’s core business practices,” Mathew wrote in his order.
The case arose from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when it emerged that the British political consulting firm obtained personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent.
The information was collected through a third-party personality quiz application that exploited Facebook’s system for accessing users’ friends’ data. Cambridge Analytica used the information to develop psychological profiles of voters and deliver targeted political advertising, including during the 2016 US presidential election.
The company was established in 2013 as the American political-data arm of the British SCL Group, a private contractor specializing in behavioral influence, psychological profiling, and strategic communications. SCL also marketed influence and research services to defense clients, including the UK Defense Ministry.
The scandal also exposed connections to Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley data-analysis company with extensive contracts involving US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon. A 2018 New York Times investigation revealed that at least one Palantir employee advised Cambridge Analytica’s researchers during the company’s 2014 efforts to harvest Facebook information.
Palantir denied having a formal business relationship with Cambridge Analytica, maintaining that the employee acted in a personal capacity.
Cambridge Analytica collapsed in 2018 amid worldwide scrutiny of its operations, while Facebook faced regulatory investigations, lawsuits, and billions of dollars in penalties.
Attorney General Raul Torrez hailed Wednesday’s judgment as a warning to Silicon Valley that even the largest technology companies could be held accountable for violating consumer protection laws.
Meta has denied misleading users and plans to appeal the ruling, arguing that the unprecedented penalty is unconstitutional. Responding to the jury’s verdict last month, the company also invoked freedom of speech, insisting that Facebook is a forum for free expression.
Numerous PHP-powered platforms were pulled after critical vulnerabilities were detected by AI
Numerous websites worldwide, including government-run pages, temporarily went dark after the AI-assisted discovery of critical vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language, which powers around 70% of the web globally.
On Wednesday, the developers of the popular open-source programming language, which helps websites run and display content, issued an urgent security alert over “critical remote code execution vulnerabilities.”
The flaws could allow hackers to take control of affected websites, prompting the release of urgent fixes, with all PHP users “strongly encouraged to update immediately.”
Cybersecurity agencies worldwide, including the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, the Australian Signals Directorate, and the Canadian Center for Cyber Security, issued their own alerts, advising users to apply the patches immediately and prioritize internet-facing systems.
Organizations that were unable to update immediately or that relied on outdated, unsupported PHP versions were advised to take their systems offline until the fixes could be applied.
The announcement prompted France’s Interior Ministry to temporarily shut down prefecture websites, with local government pages also unavailable. In neighboring Belgium, the Foreign Ministry similarly took its websites offline on Wednesday. In the Netherlands, the National Cyber Security Center, the websites of all major political parties, and at least one port took similar precautionary measures.
In Denmark, the national school communication platform was temporarily shut down; in Finland, the government’s public web services went dark.
Disruptions also affected services operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
The flaws in PHP were identified by two cybersecurity companies, Calif and Wiz, in August. PHP developers have since worked on fixes, while keeping the discovery under wraps to prevent malicious actors from exploiting the vulnerabilities.
The cybersecurity companies said they made extensive use of AI models in the process, including Google’s Gemini 4 Argon and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol.
Wiz stated that the “underlying flaws had been present for decades, but demonstrating their exploitability required an exceptionally complex chain of steps, at the edge of what human researchers could practically achieve.”
OpenAI described the case as “one of the most impactful security issues in recent memory,” and predicted that more flaws would be discovered in the coming months with the help of AI.
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