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France's Macron blames protests on 'ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic'

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Thursday to ban protests by "individuals or groups with no legitimate authority" as he blamed "ultra-left groups" for riots and looting that spread across his country.

Macron made the remarks as thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris on Thursday, according to The Associated Press, ahead of larger demonstrations set for this weekend.

"Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic," Macron was quoted by Reuters as saying following a meeting with intelligence officials.

The news agency reported that businesses in central Paris have started boarding up their windows over concerns of violence on Saturday. Local authorities also told Reuters that protests planned for Saturday in Lyon have been banned.

FRANCE COULD FACE EVEN WORSE DESTRUCTION WITH SECOND WEEKEND OF PLANNED RIOTS, STATE DEPT WARNS

Macron said the strategy adopted for the coming days is to ban protests requested by "individuals or groups with no legitimate authority."

"Where trade unions submit requests to hold demonstrations, prefects will examine them in accordance with the law, but alternative routes will be proposed" to protect city centers, businesses and public buildings, Macron said.

"The rules are simple, and I think they're just common sense. The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations in the coming days," he said. "For those who still want to protest, if they are trade unions, prefects will propose alternative routes."

Organizers of the Paris protest on Thursday said an administrative court in the city overturned a ban issued by police after they challenged it. The Paris police prefecture previously said the ban was necessary, given the risk of street violence after groups of masked youth clashed with police forces, looted shops and torched cars over the weekend.

AMERICANS WARNED ABOUT PARIS TRAVEL AFTER VIOLENCE, LOOTING AND TEAR GAS-FILLED STREETS

The protests began in France in September with calls for education reform, before expanding into larger anti-government demonstrations that French officials say are being fueled by far-left groups.

Protesters gathered peacefully and chanted in the southeastern part of Paris on Thursday while they were watched by a heavy police presence, the AP reported.

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Thursday's planned protests were seen as a prelude to Saturday's big demonstration, when activists from the "yellow vest" movement, whose demonstrations over fuel prices shook France in 2018 and 2019, and the CGT labor union, are expected to join.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Travelers to hot spot sternly warned by State Department as officials deny wider Gulf shutdown

Americans traveling in and through the Middle East have a new wrinkle to sort out.

The U.S. State Department has pushed back against circulating reports that it directed nonessential government personnel and their dependents to leave the entire Gulf region, clarifying that the departure order applies only to Saudi Arabia.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott dismissed the broader regional claims, calling them "inaccurate" after the department released a formal statement confirming the targeted drawdown within the kingdom. 

"The U.S. Department of State issued an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia," the department said. 

AMERICANS WARNED AGAINST TRAVEL PLANS AS TERRORISM THREATENS POPULAR DESTINATION

The clarification arrived amid an uptick in militant strikes aimed at key regional transit hubs. 

In the statement shared with Fox News Digital, the spokesperson noted that "Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions."

Officials warned the security environment remains highly volatile, adding the conflict "has the potential to escalate rapidly, including beyond that immediate area."

The department emphasized that the safety and security of its staff and its households remain its highest priority. 

US STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS AMERICANS OF GROWING SECURITY RISKS IN HISTORIC REGION

The United States "will continue to take all necessary steps to protect and support them as they return to the U.S.," the spokesperson said.

In late September, the State Department renewed its warning to Americans traveling in and through the Middle East amid escalating regional tensions.

The warning came as Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted.

Residents reported hearing an explosion and later seeing a plume of smoke near King Khalid International Airport, according to The Associated Press.

No casualties or damage from the attack were reported at the time.

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In an X post in September, the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs warned that the security environment in the Middle East "remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation."

The agency added, "Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions."

Officials specifically cited hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis in their warning.

"Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports," the post said.

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"This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly. Americans outside the Middle East should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region."

The agency also advised those traveling to or from the region to monitor airport and airline operations, warning that U.S. diplomatic facilities have been targeted, including outside the Middle East.

In June, U.S. officials similarly urged Americans across the Middle East to remain vigilant as tensions mounted across the region.

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At the time, officials warned that airspace closures, demonstrations and threats to locations associated with the United States could disrupt travel with little notice.

The State Department also maintained its "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" advisory for Oman in an Aug. 30 update, warning of risks from armed conflict and terrorism, including the threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran.

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Andrea Margolis of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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Pope Leo XIV needs no further cancer treatment after lung tumor removed, doctors say

Pope Leo XIV will need no further treatment for lung cancer after final tests confirmed the disease was localized, his doctors said Wednesday.

Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora announced the findings just over a week after surgeons removed a tumor from the pontiff’s right lung.

"The final histopathology and molecular testing reports on the tissue removed during the Holy Father’s surgery were issued today," the doctors said in a statement.

POPE LEO WELCOMED BACK AS HE DELIVERS ANGELUS PRAYER DAYS AFTER LUNG CANCER SURGERY

"The results confirmed that the tumor was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A subsequent oncological assessment has confirmed that no further treatment is necessary."

Pope Leo underwent surgery Oct. 13 at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. The operation lasted about 90 minutes, with the pope spending approximately three hours in the operating room, according to the Holy See.

"The doctors said it was successful and there were no complications," the Holy See press office said after the procedure.

The pontiff awoke normally and returned to his hospital room following a brief observation period, Vatican News reported.

RECOVERING FROM LUNG SURGERY, POPE LEO URGES PUTIN TO AGREE TO CEASEFIRE IN RUSSIAN-HELD UKRAINE CITY

He was discharged Saturday after blood tests and a chest X-ray confirmed he was well enough to return to the Vatican. Thousands of supporters gathered outside the hospital, shouting "Papa!" as he departed.

Before leaving, Leo visited the children’s oncology ward, where young patients had sent him letters during his hospital stay.

POPE LEO'S LUNG TUMOR RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT CANCER RISK FOR NONSMOKERS

"Pope Leo, our prayers are for you," a girl named Eleonora wrote in a letter released by Vatican News.

"May God, the Most Holy Virgin, and the guardian angels always protect you," she added.

Eleonora’s mother told the pope her daughter was now healthy, according to the Vatican.

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"Faith moves mountains," Eleonora wrote. "God has heard our prayers."

Fox News Digital's Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.

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French woman recounts 'horror movie' as mob of rioters turned on husband in streets of Paris

A woman who watched her husband get brutally beaten by a mob of rioters in Paris is recounting the terrifying attack that left him bloodied.

"It was like a horror movie. I've never experienced a fear like that before," Almudena Garcia told "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday.

"We were just in the streets in the center of Paris ... We were about to leave, and then we heard some screaming, so we turned around, and we saw one of our friends being beat up by a group of individuals, four or five, and then my husband just ran to them in order to help his friends," she added.

MCDONALD'S RANSACKED AND WRECKED AS STORES, RESTAURANTS SUFFER FROM VIOLENCE AND RIOTING

Garcia, who lives in France, told Fox News the group turned on her husband and began beating him after he tried to help his friend.

"It happened very, very fast," she recounted.

"There were five at the beginning and four or five more just arrived in two seconds, so I just saw my husband being beat up by 10 individuals."

Garcia said she screamed for help during the attack, fearing her husband could be seriously injured or killed.

"I was panicking, and I was asking for help," she said.

According to Garcia, two waiters at a nearby restaurant intervened and pulled her husband inside to protect him from the attackers. She said several members of the group then followed him into the restaurant and continued the assault.

FRANCE'S MASSIVE INTEL FAILURE SPARKS RESIGNATION OFFERS AMID DAYS OF RIOTING

"Thanks to the waiters, they could finally get them [the rioters] out ... and I got into the restaurant, and I just saw my husband all covered in blood ... It was very, very scary," she added.

The attack comes amid weeks of unrest across France, which began over concerns about poor school conditions, has expanded to include protests against rising living costs. Some demonstrations have turned violent, with rioters attacking police, looting businesses and damaging public buildings.

Paris has remained a flash point for violence, with videos circulating on social media over the weekend appearing to show groups of men damaging property in the capital and other major cities.

Violence in the streets has subsided since French authorities imposed curfews in parts of Paris and other cities affected by the unrest, according to The Associated Press. Authorities are preparing for additional demonstrations on Saturday, Oct. 24.

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Fox News' Robert Schmad contributed to this report.

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Ukraine's Zelenskyy open to freezing front lines in ceasefire with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday that he is open to freezing the front lines of the Ukraine-Russia war in an effort to bring the long-running conflict to an end.

Zelenskyy made the remark after being asked by Brian Kilmeade if he would "accept a peace deal that freezes everything the way it is right now, where you still keep 75% or more of your country, regardless of how it started."

"Yes, right now, we have to freeze," Zelenskyy responded. "And I think this is [a] real way to end this war. We call it ceasefire or ‘stop killing’ like President Trump called it.

"Freeze and stop. And, of course, this is the minimum of what we need from Russia today. Then, of course, we will go to [the] president and to Europeans, and we'll ask security guarantees," he continued.

RUSSIA RELEASES AMERICAN TEACHER IMPRISONED ON UKRAINE MERCENARY CHARGES AFTER TRUMP PRESSED PUTIN

"This is the most important … not to be afraid," Zelenskyy also said. "We need 9.5 million people [who have] lost their houses, which are abroad, everywhere. We need them to come back to Ukraine just to live and to build their country."

Russia has often rejected ceasefire deals with Ukraine, saying they would give Kyiv time to rearm themselves.

VIDEO: TRUMP SUGGESTS ZELENSKYY DOES NOT WANT TO END WAR WITH RUSSIA

"There will be no ceasefire to bring him back to his senses and pump him full of weapons," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week, according to the Interfax news agency.

Zelenskyy said on X Wednesday that "Russia strikes our country virtually every hour."

"Of course, we are not losing this war. But we are losing people. Because of the Russian attacks, we're losing people and time. It's such a pity, because our children don't have a real life and childhood. Not only children, but all people," he wrote in another post.

"That's why we need to end this war as quickly as possible. I hope that our partners, Americans and Europeans, will help us. God bless, our strong soldiers stay strong on the battlefield. It helps me stay strong during any kind of negotiations," Zelenskyy added.

The remarks come as President Donald Trump on Wednesday secured the release of Stephen Hubbard from Russia, a retired U.S. teacher who was locked up on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin also agreed Wednesday "in principle" to resume trilateral negotiations with the U.S. and Ukraine after Nov. 10, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said, according to The Associated Press.

Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this post.

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How Saudi Arabia's defense vulnerabilities could become Trump's problem amid Houthi onslaught

Saudi Arabia is turning to foreign allies to fend off Houthi missiles and drones, exposing a military vulnerability that could soon become President Donald Trump's problem.

Britain announced Tuesday it would send Typhoon fighter jets to defend Saudi cities and critical infrastructure. Egypt is already assisting the kingdom and Israel has offered to step in to help.

Riyadh, meanwhile, is asking Washington for more interceptors, and Trump is weighing whether the U.S. should intervene and strike the Iran-backed Houthis directly.

The reinforcements could help shield Saudi cities and critical infrastructure. They do little, however, to eliminate the Houthi launchers and weapons threatening them from Yemen.

SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS HOUTHI THREAT GOES GLOBAL AS TRUMP HOLDS FIRE

"The theme right now, I think, is defensive or defensive-minded," Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.

The question, he said, is whether that evolves into something "more offensive or kinetic."

The Houthis have already demonstrated their ability to punch through Saudi defenses. Their strikes and attempted strikes on the kingdom more than doubled in a single week this month, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, with airports in Riyadh, Jizan, Najran, Dammam and Abha targeted since Oct. 5.

SAUDI ARABIA ON EDGE: ICONIC KINGDOM CENTRE SENDS WORKERS HOME AMID HOUTHI ATTACKS

The most devastating barrage struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 300.

Other attacks have targeted Saudi energy infrastructure, turning the Houthi campaign into a threat not only to the kingdom's security but also to the economic stability Riyadh has spent years trying to project.

Saudi Arabia has spent decades building one of the region's most sophisticated militaries. Riyadh spent an estimated $83.2 billion on defense last year, making it the eighth-largest military spender in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its arsenal includes U.S.-made F-15 fighter jets, Patriot missile defenses and advanced radar systems.

Yet the Houthis are exploiting a mismatch between the defenses Saudi Arabia and its partners spent years building and the weapons now coming at them.

Campbell said the U.S. and its regional partners had been comparatively well-prepared to confront the higher end of Iran's arsenal, including ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons.

PENTAGON RACES TO BUY 10X MORE MISSILES AS IRAN WAR DWINDLES ARSENAL, THREATENS READINESS FOR CHINA AGGRESSION

"What the region was decidedly less prepared for was an array of lower end of the spectrum ... threats posed by Iran and now the Houthis," Campbell said.

The volume is part of the problem. Campbell said Saudi Arabia and other U.S. partners have burned through significant numbers of high-end interceptors against ballistic missiles and other threats, while lower-flying weapons can also challenge radar and early-warning systems that were not necessarily designed or calibrated to detect them.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Riyadh is competing with allies around the world — and the U.S. military itself — for a limited supply of the interceptors needed to defend against missile attacks.

"I also talked to Saudi Arabia today; they’d like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors. We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors," Rubio said, calling them "probably the most in-demand product right now in the defense field."

The U.S. cannot meet every request, Rubio acknowledged. American forces must maintain minimum air-defense requirements at bases around the world, while the sophisticated interceptors are expensive and take time to manufacture even as production increases.

"We have our own needs too," Rubio said.

Saudi Arabia's sheer size compounds the challenge. The kingdom stretches across more than 800,000 square miles, leaving cities, airports, oil facilities and military installations spread across a vast territory.

"Saudi Arabia is a huge geography to protect, and this speaks to a larger threat we’re facing globally: a relatively small nonstate actor can pose a serious challenge to even a sophisticated and extremely expensive military," Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House, told Fox News Digital. "The Houthis can impose enormous costs without having to spend very much themselves."

That imbalance helps explain why Saudi Arabia is increasingly looking beyond its own military for protection. But outside assistance may have limits.

"Many years later, everyone is realizing that the Houthis are not just Saudi Arabia’s problem, but everyone’s problem — whether that’s Turkey, Egypt, France, the UK or others," Al-Muslimi said. "But I don’t think this outside support will make a significant military difference unless the U.S. is directly involved."

That leaves Trump facing a potentially consequential decision: whether to continue helping Saudi Arabia defend against incoming attacks or go further and target the Houthis directly.

Trump has kept direct U.S. military action on the table. Asked earlier this month whether the U.S. could join Saudi strikes against the Houthis, he said, "We may. We’re gonna look at it."

"We’ll make a decision," Trump said. "We move very quickly."

But direct U.S. intervention would not be without precedent — or questions about what another bombing campaign could accomplish.

Operation Rough Rider targeted Houthi positions across Yemen for roughly two months in 2025 before Trump halted the operation after Oman brokered an agreement with the group.

"We’ve already seen the U.S. conduct a 60-day bombing campaign of Houthi strongholds in Yemen with limited, if any, real strategic benefits," Campbell said.

A new campaign would also compete for U.S. military resources amid the war with Iran. Campbell said taking on the Houthis would require clearer objectives and likely contributions from a broader coalition.

Israel has also offered to help defend Saudi Arabia, an offer Trump has publicly encouraged Riyadh to accept. But bringing Israel openly into the fight could create a different problem for the kingdom.

"If I were Saudi, I would never accept help like that," Al-Muslimi said. "The optics are enormously difficult. Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the two holiest mosques in Islam, and appearing alongside Netanyahu to fight another Yemeni group would be a nonstarter for much of Saudi society."

For now, the U.S. continues to provide intelligence and targeting support to Saudi Arabia as its allies focus on defending the kingdom.

"The collective effort seems to be at stemming the threat to the Saudi kingdom itself," Campbell said.

But as Al-Muslimi cautioned, even a stronger defensive coalition may not eliminate the danger.

"It can make Saudi Arabia safer, but it doesn’t solve the larger problem of dismantling the Houthi threat."

The latest fighting is another chapter in a war that has torn through Yemen for more than a decade. The Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to lead a military intervention the following year against the Iran-backed group and in support of Yemen's internationally recognized government.

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Years of Saudi airstrikes failed to dislodge the Houthis, while the group steadily expanded its missile and drone capabilities with support from Tehran. The conflict eventually settled into an uneasy truce before erupting again this year, with Saudi-backed forces fighting Houthi advances on the ground and the Houthis increasingly taking the war across the border into Saudi Arabia.

Yemeni civilians are again bearing much of the cost. More than 250,000 people have fled the renewed fighting, according to the United Nations. WHO recorded at least 674 deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries in just six weeks of fighting between August and September, while millions were already facing severe hunger and displacement after more than a decade of war.

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Russia releases American teacher imprisoned on Ukraine mercenary charges after Trump pressed Putin

President Donald Trump secured the release from Russia of a retired U.S. teacher who was locked up on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

"Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week," according to a Wednesday morning Truth Social post issued by Trump.

"Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin. Stephen is on his way back home. 

"'Welcome home Stephen, it’s great to have you back,'" Trump said, according to the post.

RUSSIA JAILS AMERICAN STEPHEN HUBBARD OVER FIGHTING AS A MERCENARY IN UKRAINE

Another Truth Social post issued by Trump added, "Numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on Russia, have called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S. If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt."

The president added in another post, "Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago! What a difference a President makes!"

Hubbard, a Michigan man, was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years imprisonment. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and that he fought alongside them until being captured two months later.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told Russian President Vladimir Putin of Hubbard during a Wednesday meeting that "because of you, he's going home to his family."

TRUMP TRIES DIFFERENT APPROACH WITH RUSSIA TO BRING AMERICANS RELIEF AMID ONGOING WAR WITH UKRAINE

"He's a 75-year-old man," Witkoff said of Hubbard, describing Putin as a "humanitarian." Hubbard is actually 74-years-old.

President Trump noted on Tuesday that he had been in communication with Putin about Hubbard.

TRUMP WAIVES MANY RUSSIAN SANCTIONS, TARIFFS UNDER NEW LAW BACKED BY LINDSEY GRAHAM

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"I've been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I've been talking to him at length. I've asked him to release him," Trump said. "Let's see what happens."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Vacation spot slapped with US travel warning over crime, sexual assaults and kidnappings

The U.S. State Department has escalated its travel warning for an East African nation popular for its wildlife safaris, urging Americans to reconsider visiting amid heightened health concerns and ongoing security threats.

The State Department on Monday raised its travel advisory for Kenya from Level 2, "Exercise Increased Caution," to Level 3, "Reconsider Travel."

Health risks and crime were cited among the reasons for the advisory, along with civil unrest, kidnapping, terrorism and traffic safety concerns.

AMERICANS WARNED OF KIDNAPPING, EXTORTION AS VIOLENT CRIME GRIPS PARTS OF TOURIST SPOT

"Prepare a will," the advisory added. "Establish a proof of life protocol with your loved ones."

Americans are urged to avoid certain neighborhoods in Nairobi and several counties across the country due to risks of crime, kidnapping and terrorism — as well as areas near the Ethiopian border due to unrest.

In its broader warning about the country, State Department officials said that violent crime "can occur at any time," noting that petty crime "is common" throughout Kenya.

The advisory also noted that solo travelers should exercise caution, and that some Americans have been sexually assaulted in bars, resorts and hotels.

"Local police often are unable to respond effectively to crimes," the advisory said.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS AND SCAMS PLAGUE TOP VACATION HOT SPOT, PROMPTING URGENT ADVISORY

The State Department also warned that Americans frequently fall victim to investment scams involving gold and other high-value commodities, with Kenyan authorities unlikely to help victims recover their losses.

"Property disputes are common in Kenya," added the warning.

"Americans who have bought land, churches and businesses have lost their investments or been pushed off the property by locals who claim the land or business."

Medical services in Kenya are limited, particularly in rural areas, with some facilities lacking essential medicines and equipment.

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"Except for a few private medical facilities based in the large urban centers with enhanced capability, many health issues may require medical evacuation at your own expense," officials said. "Medical facilities will usually deny service if payment is not made upfront."

The advisory also warned that protests can turn violent — with demonstrators previously attacking vehicles carrying Americans, including safari vehicles and motorcycle taxis.

Americans are urged to stay alert in tourist spots, keep a low profile and avoid demonstrations and crowds while visiting the country.

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Kenya is known around the world for its wildlife safaris, picturesque savannas and national parks, which all draw millions of international tourists each year.

The country attracted approximately 2.7 million international visitors in 2025, with travelers from the Americas accounting for 14% of arrivals, according to government tourism figures.

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Similar warnings have been issued for other popular international travel destinations.

Last month, the State Department updated its travel advisory for Peru, warning Americans about crime, civil unrest, kidnapping and terrorism.

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Meanwhile, travelers visiting Brazil have been cautioned about criminals targeting tourists at bars and through dating apps before drugging and robbing them.

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Americans warned about Paris travel after violence, looting and tear gas-filled streets

The U.S. Embassy in France is warning Americans to steer clear of violent protests as unrest sparked curfews and raised concerns about travel disruptions across the country.

The riots — fueled by a range of grievances, including rising living costs and mass migration — have been reported across France, with protests reported in cities including Paris, Lille and Lyon. Authorities have imposed localized curfews as a result.

The embassy said in a Monday statement that partial curfews had been introduced in several French cities, with additional restrictions possible.

MCDONALD'S RANSACKED AND WRECKED AS STORES, RESTAURANTS SUFFER FROM VIOLENCE AND RIOTING

"Following the October 17 protests that turned violent, media report the Prime Minister’s office introduced partial curfews for Monday, October 19 and Tuesday, October 20 in several cities across France, including Lille," the embassy said.

"Media report more curfews may follow for parts of Paris and in prefectures across the country, and that scattered protests could continue."

In Paris, authorities also imposed overnight curfews in areas including Place de la République and the Les Halles Shopping District, according to The Associated Press (AP).

Riot police deployed tear gas across the streets near Place de la République in an attempt to disperse crowds during the escalating street battles, the same source reported. 

ANGRY LOCALS BLOCK FAMOUS BEACH AS MASS TOURISM PROTESTS ESCALATE AT VACATION HOT SPOT

The gas quickly mixed with heavy, acrid smoke from torched vehicles and street fires, according to Reuters.

The chaos forced Dutch entrepreneur Tije De Boer, who was visiting Paris with his children, to evacuate his hotel at Place de la République. 

De Boer described the scene to Reuters as "like a war zone" following the intense protests that rocked the French capital on Oct. 17.

"It's like a war zone here," De Boer said, according to the Reuters report.

TOP TOURIST DESTINATION IN THE WORLD SHUTS DOWN AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS

Major tourist attractions have also been impacted.

The Louvre Museum in Paris was forced to close Monday after protesters blocked its entrances, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Travelers visiting Paris are being advised to avoid popular protest gathering spots, including Place de la République, Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation, along with major thoroughfares such as Boulevard Voltaire, which are frequently used for demonstrations, according to The Times of London.

Outside the capital, Lyon's tourism office at Place Bellecour was vandalized and set ablaze during the Oct. 17 demonstrations, according to city officials. 

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Visitor services have since been relocated to a temporary facility on the same square.

The violence also spread to other French cities, including Limoges, where the historic town hall was set ablaze during the Oct. 17 unrest, according to numerous reports. 

In Bordeaux, the mayor reported that as many as 100 stores had been looted during the demonstrations, Reuters reported.

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Despite the violence, flights to and from Paris have largely continued operating, according to flight data reviewed by Fox News Digital.

However, travelers could still face disruptions on the ground, with the embassy advising Americans to check for Metro station closures and other transportation interruptions before heading out.

The embassy also urged travelers to confirm flight schedules directly with their airlines and allow extra time to reach their destinations.

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"Monitor media and local resources for updated information and curfews in your area," the statement added. "Plan alternative routes and allow extra travel time for travel."

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment.

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Fox News Digital's Jessica Mekles and Reuters contributed reporting.

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Italy unleashes military response to violent riots as France faces a reckoning of its own

Italy is moving to deploy 500 troops with expanded police powers following a weekend of violent riots, taking a more direct military approach to public security than France, where weeks of unrest have prompted authorities to bolster their security response.

Videos of unrest in France and Italy flooded social media on Saturday and Sunday, showing violent clashes between demonstrators and police amid burning buildings and looted storefronts. At multiple points during the chaos, police attempting to contain the violence were forced to retreat.

In Paris, for instance, roughly a dozen officers confronted several hundred demonstrators but were unable to make arrests, using rubber-bullet launchers and grenades to keep advancing rioters at bay as they made a gradual retreat. Italian police in Milan, meanwhile, made a similar retreat as hundreds of young rioters threw explosive firecrackers, metal barriers and glass bottles at them in their attempt to occupy a public square.

Though France is escalating its response now, demonstrations have been ongoing in the country since last month, with many schools being burned and ransacked by rioters.

MACRON JETS OUT OF RIOT-TORN FRANCE FOR GULF TRIP AS POLITICAL PRESSURE MOUNTS

A Fox News Digital investigation found that socialist groups, Islamic advocacy organizations and environmental activists were involved in the French riots, which financial analysts estimate caused over $1 billion in damages. Videos from the unrest also showed demonstrators waving foreign flags, including Palestinian flags in France and an Albanian flag during the violence in Milan.

Italian media reported that many first and second-generation migrants were among the rioters in Milan.

WHO'S WHO: INSIDE FRANCE'S 'CHAOS INC.' FRANCHISE OF COMMUNIST GROUPS, LABOR UNIONS AND GLOBAL ACTIVISTS

With another wave of riots planned for this coming weekend and authorities bracing for more violence, France and Italy are turning to their armed forces to reinforce security after days of rioting.

France’s gendarmes, essentially military police officers, assisted in containing last weekend’s riots. The nation’s interior minister announced on Tuesday that the military would be increasing its presence in anticipation of further rioting.

FRANCE'S MASSIVE INTEL FAILURE SPARKS RESIGNATION OFFERS AMID DAYS OF RIOTING

"We will ⁠deploy the Sentinelle force, ​obviously ‌as a substitute ‌to interior security ‌forces ... mostly to free police and gendarmes in their mission to maintain order," he ‌told France’s legislature.

France has upcoming presidential elections, with some political observers viewing the migrant-heavy riots as an electoral boon for Marine Le Pen, the most popular right-wing candidate.

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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced a similar deployment, pledging that 500 troops will be entering Milan. The country’s deputy prime minister explained that the police would be granted police powers, providing some insight into the role they could play in squaring off against rioters.

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Sea mine crisis re-emerges in Strait of Hormuz as Tehran urges Washington to accept deal

Sea mines have resurfaced as a threat in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran claimed Oct.17 that two oil tankers caught fire after striking the explosives, raising fresh alarms over the safety of one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.

This came as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) warned that sea mines pose a serious threat to vessels navigating the strategic waterway and while Tehran continues to maintain its own unauthorized shipping corridor inside its territorial waters.

"The traffic separation scheme, the information that we have is that they still have mines. And of course, whilst the conflict is ongoing, it's very difficult for us to use third parties to verify that it is clear of these hazards," IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Fox News Digital.

INSIDE THE DANGEROUS US MISSION THAT CLEARED IRAN’S MINES FROM HORMUZ SHIPPING LANES

"So in the meantime, we cannot guarantee that a vessel that intends to transit that route will not be hit by a mine."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said Saturday that two oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported, citing Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

State media also said both tankers were carrying about 2 million barrels of crude oil, according to Reuters.

IRNA also reported that the vessels had switched off their positioning and radar systems and attempted to use a route through the strategic waterway that Iran had not authorized.

IRAN WARNS SHIPS OF 'FORCEFUL RESPONSE' AS US-BACKED HORMUZ ROUTE CHALLENGES TEHRAN'S GRIP

The second tanker was left immobilized after striking a mine, according to the Reuters report.

The alleged strikes came as Tehran continued to maintain its transit passageway inside Iranian territorial waters, imposing tolls and safety fees administered by the IRGC — a framework rejected by Washington and the IMO as inconsistent with international maritime law.

International shipping through the narrow chokepoint has historically relied on an IMO-approved traffic separation scheme adopted in 1968.

"Right now there's only one route that was adopted back in 1968 that is approved and recognized for IMO and that appears in all the charts for the vessels to operate," Dominguez explained.

IRAN FAILS TO STRIKE DEAL WITH US AS DEADLINE PASSES AND TRUMP CALLS FOR ‘WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER'

"There's only one route that should be used for transit, but it's not clear of mines right now, so it's not safe."

"We have received confirmation from Iran about the establishment of its temporary route in the waters," he added before stating that the route was not provided with "an official confirmation or a decision of the organization."

"Any other route needs to actually be sent to the organization to go through the processes, and we have not received that."

"We have received communication from Iran to use that route because of the conflict," Dominguez clarified.

"That's the way that it's been presented. But anything for us to approve needs to go through the mechanisms at the international maritime organizations and the member states need to review it."

The developments also came amid stalled negotiations between Washington and Tehran over ending the conflict and restoring maritime traffic.

DISTRESS CALL CAPTURES TANKER UNDER FIRE, IRAN SHUTS HORMUZ TRAPPING THOUSANDS OF SAILORS

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former Revolutionary Guard commander, said Tehran considered Washington's latest response to negotiations "insufficient," Reuters reported, according to IRNA.

Rezaei said the U.S. had accepted some of Iran's seven conditions but that other issues remained unresolved, adding that Tehran was no longer responding to Washington and that the U.S. needed to clarify the outstanding matters.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had submitted a proposal to Washington through Qatar, which is mediating the negotiations, outlining conditions under which the Strait of Hormuz could reopen and normal maritime traffic resume within seven days.

"Our situation is clear and based on ⁠the seven-day proposal presented to the US. They shared comments which ​we are reviewing, but our proposal is still on the table ​and if there is any honesty on the US part, which there isn't, the way to reopening the Strait of Hormuz is obvious," Araqchi said in ​Baghdad, Reuters reported

IRAN REQUESTS TALKS WITH US AS WHITE HOUSE WARNS 'VIOLENCE WILL BE MET WITH VIOLENCE'

Meanwhile, attacks on commercial vessels around the Strait of Hormuz have surged over the past two weeks.

Senior Iranian officials also told Reuters that Tehran has shifted its strategy for attacking commercial vessels during that period.

For commercial shipping operators, Dominguez warned that the continued threat of mines and attacks means the waterway has yet to return to normal operations.

The Strait of Hormuz is "not open for business in the way that it was before the conflict started," he said.

"Our role right now is to prepare for when we have the opportunity to go back, resume the operations, follow all the procedures at IMO, but not until the root causes are addressed and those are beyond IMO."

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Fox News Digital reached out to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for comment.

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Iran regime under pressure as rebel groups escalate attacks in volatile southeast

A new coalition of Iranian opposition groups in the restive southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan and Kerman in the Islamic Republic have launched a string of armed attacks against the clerical regime in the region.

The six strikes claimed by the coalition known as the People’s Fighters Front (JMM) have contributed to instability in the provinces, raising pressing questions about whether armed resistance against the clerical regime in Tehran will spread and if the regime can retain control over Sistan and Baluchistan, which is a majority Iranian Sunni province.

Iran is largely a Shiite Muslim country, and the minority Iranian Sunni population has faced discrimination over the decades. Sistan and Baluchistan is the second largest of the 31 Iranian provinces.

MOJTABA KHAMENEI DEFIES ‘MALICIOUS’ ATTACKS AS US ARMY ZEROES IN ON IRAN’S 350,000 TROOPS

Mardo Soghom, an Iran expert who has written extensively about the Islamic Republic, told Fox News Digital, "The Sunni unrest can stretch the regime's military and internal security capabilities and have a psychological impact on its forces, in addition to what they experienced during the 40-day operation by the U.S. and Israel. The armed groups would not be able to establish control of the south-east, but they can seriously weaken the regime's control."

He added, "Whether these forces are receiving assistance from the Islamic Republic's adversaries — being that the Gulf Arab states or even Israel and the U.S. — remains an open question."

According to an October Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) report, "The pace of violence accelerated significantly in recent weeks [in the provinces] with 18 incidents recorded in just the final 18 days of the reporting period, surpassing the total for any previous full month." 

JMM coalesced as an opposition coalition in Dec. 2025 through an amalgam of Baloch nationalist organizations with the militant Sunni group Jaish al-Adl.

HRANA documented "at least 63 armed incidents were recorded across Iran’s southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan and Kerman between March 31 and Oct.10, 2026, amid a sharp escalation in armed violence in the region."

The armed resistance resulted in "at least 94 people dead and 33 injured, while official sources reported 87 fatalities and 10 injuries."

IRAN INSTALLS NEW WAR CHIEFS AS TEHRAN SIGNALS ‘PROLONGED CONFRONTATION,’ EXPERT WARNS

The Baloch coalition stunned the regime on Oct. 14 with the assassinations of women members of the Basij paramilitaries, including a commander and a police officer in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The Basij has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. government because it falls under the American-classified terrorist movement Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Just days before the attack on the female Basij commander, Iranian regime-controlled media reported that Nosrat Eftekhari, deputy for Cultural and Social Affairs of the Provincial Law Enforcement Command, was killed by a roadside bomb in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchistan provinces.

Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital that "There have been periodic cycles of unrest in Sistan and Baluchistan Province over the years. What we are now witnessing is an uptick in such activity. The current commander of the IRGC’s Ground Forces, Mohammad Karami used to be governor of the province and commanded IRGC forces there. His experience in the province was one of the reasons Karami was elevated to the post in 2025 given the sensitive security situation in the country."

Brodsky continued that "I don’t see any imminent threat in terms of such a seizure of control, but a red line for Iranians, especially in the opposition, is preserving the territorial integrity of Iran. That needs to be understood in Western capitals."

MOTORCYCLE PATROLS SWARM IRANIAN CITIES, CHECKPOINTS RISE AS REGIME BRACES FOR UNREST

Khalilullah Balochi, who is a Baluch activist and journalist, told Iran International that "The activities of these groups are not new; what is new is the intensification of attacks." 

JMM’s devastating attacks targeting the brutal Iranian regime have generated attention from Iranian dissidents and experts.

Navid Mohebbi, who worked as a Persian media analyst for the State Department's Public Affairs Bureau, told Fox News Digital "The newly formed popular Fighters Front has carried out a series of relatively successful attacks against mid-level regime officials and security personnel in Sistan and Baluchistan province in recent months, drawing a degree of public attention. At a time when the regime is executing protesters on a daily basis, the killing of certain mid-ranking security and military operatives has been met with some satisfaction among segments of Iranian society."

He warned, however, that "Nevertheless, the Iranian public remains deeply cautious and largely distrustful of such groups. Two major concerns underpin this distrust: the possibility of separatist ambitions and the influence of radical Islamism, which is fundamentally at odds with the increasingly secular outlook of Iranian society."

AFTER 6 MONTHS OF WAR, US MUST PREPARE FOR A FUTURE AFTER IRAN’S GOVERNMENT FALLS

Mohebbi sees encouraging signs from the JMM, including "the coalition’s recent statements, unlike the rhetoric traditionally associated with similar groups, contain no explicit references to Baluch separatism. Instead, the coalition has identified its primary objective as dismantling the system of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) and liberating the country from its oppression. It has explicitly declared that it seeks ‘an Iran for all Iranians."’

He continued that "The reality is that these groups lack the capacity to confront the regime in conventional warfare. Through guerrilla operations, however, they can inflict significant psychological blows on the regime and its security establishment. Whether their activities can gain traction beyond Sistan and Baluchistan will depend largely on their ability to sustain what appears to be an effort to earn broader public trust."

Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel, told Fox News Digital the coalition has "a lot of guns" and created an "armed rebellion" against the Iranian regime in the provinces. He said, however, the armed upheaval is limited to the region Baluchistan.

Sabti, who was born in Tehran, said the clerical regime in the capital Tehran does not exercise solid control over the provinces, which resembles parts of South America where some governments lost sovereignty to militias.

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He said that there are no reporters in the restive region. As a result, it is difficult to secure accurate news. Sabti said the "IRGC has a headquarters there to fight against these Baluchis." The JMM coalition "can only continue to harm the soldiers and, from time to time, kill a commander. There are a lot of these local commanders in Iran. It is not like an air force commander."

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Global 'Chaos Inc' grows to 101 groups with plans for new rounds of demonstrations

The political theater of "Chaos Inc." is preparing for a "rebellion...sweeping Europe."

Two days after an estimated 500,000 demonstrators poured into streets across France and clashes left parts of Paris and other cities burning, French activists are calling supporters back into the streets Saturday, Oct. 24, for a new protest billed as "Acte II," with 212 "mobilizations" currently planned, according to a digital map of the plans.

And a growing number of communist, socialist and hard-leftist organizations are answering another call for a coordinated European youth strike on Friday, Nov. 20.

VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT FRANCE PROTESTS AS MACRON WARNS UNREST IS BEING EXPLOITED

A Fox News Digital investigation has now identified 101 organizations across 9 countries – including the U.S. – that are coordinating, organizing or amplifying protests in Europe in an expanding protest ecosystem, up from 54 organizations identified on Monday.

Most of the groups are adult-led, with just 33 organizations – or one in three – led by students or youth. They represent a nexus of the "red-green" alliance, merging Islamist organizations that are symbolized by the color green, and far-left, communist and socialist groups represented by the color red.

FRENCH SCHOOL RIOTS DEEPEN AS EXPERTS POINT TO FAR-LEFT ALLIANCE FUELING ‘BROADER CONFRONTATION’

The network also include groups that proudly use the "Antifa" moniker, like "Action AntiFa16," an organization that describes itself in the Angoulême, France, Acte II announcement.

Across the Atlantic, leaders in the U.S. franchise of "Chaos Inc." are amplifying the protests. University of California at Berkeley academic Hatem Bazian, founder of anti-Israel Palestinian organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine, shared videos from the protests.

FRANCE IS DEVOURING ITSELF AS SCHOOL RIOTS REVEAL A CRISIS FAR BIGGER THAN BROKEN CLASSROOMS

Revealing the complex threads of the "red-green" alliance, Bazian drew connections between this year's Oct. 17 riots in Paris, explosions at the Al Alhi Hospital in Gaza on Oct. 17, 2023, and protests on Oct. 17, 1961, in Paris by Algerian demonstrators , which led to a bloody and deadly confrontation with police. Hamas officials blamed Israel for the hospital deaths, while Israel attributed the blast to a failed, errant rocket launched from within Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Bazian didn't respond to a request for comment.

The European unrest is also receiving sympathetic amplification from a network of pro-communist organizations, including BreakThrough News, CodePink and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, funded and supported by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon who lives in Shanghai and has expressed support for "new world order" of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

BBC CALLS FRANCE PROTESTS 'MOSTLY PEACEFUL' AS FOOTAGE SHOWS RIOTERS TORCHING CARS, BATTLING POLICE

On Tuesday afternoon, BreakThrough News is planning an online discussion with a headline that captures how the outlet is framing the unrest: "Europe's Youth Uprising."

"A rebellion is sweeping Europe," BreakThrough News declares.

FURIOUS CROWDS PROTEST SKY-HIGH HOUSING COSTS AND MASS TOURISM IN MAJOR CITY

"From student barricades in France, to Spain's housing encampments, to Albanians marching to save their coastline from Jared Kushner, Gen Z is rising up against austerity, soaring rents, and governments pouring money into weapons and war instead of their future," the outlet said.

BreakThrough News said protests had spread "from Paris and Madrid to Lisbon and Tirana" and announced that France-based journalist Rafael Karoubi would join hosts Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra to explain "what's driving the uprising."

FRANCE'S MASSIVE INTEL FAILURE SPARKS RESIGNATION OFFERS AMID DAYS OF RIOTING

In France, organizers are using the website 17octobregiletjaune.net to organize logistics, communication and people for their protests. The domain was registered on Sept. 15 by an anonymous user, according to online records. In the face of curfews and security measures against their protests by French President Emmanuel Macron, website organizers have a new demand: "Macron must leave and make way for the people!"

PHOTOS SHOW AFTERMATH OF RIOTS AS MASKED GROUPS CLASH WITH POLICE ACROSS FRANCE

Leaders are coordinating their efforts in a Telegram messaging channel, where they are sharing logistical details and polished, ready-made graphics.

After "Acte II," they have planned another action on Oct. 31, "Acte III," featuring "yellow vests, demonstrations and roundabouts, all over France," and there are other actions planned on Nov. 5 and Nov. 14.

THOUSANDS FLOOD BRUSSELS STREETS AS ANTI-AUSTERITY PROTESTS ERUPT INTO CLASHES WITH POLICE

There are activities even listed for April 3, 2027, ("Noisy spring") and May 29, 2027, ("Day against agrochemistry"). The locations listed: "Everywhere in France."

For the Nov. 20 action, another set of far-left groups are promoting their "International Youth Strike" on a website, calling for coordinated "demonstrations," "walkouts," "assemblies," "actions," "blockades and occupations."

Their manifesto declares that "the exploitation of workers, climate breakdown and war are not failures of the system but the essence of capitalism." In a press release, it says the struggle against "militarisation, rearmament, austerity and imperialism" is inseparable from the economic system supporting it and calls for "radical system change."

The British organization "Socialist Students," which describes itself as building the student fightback for "socialist change," says it will participate in the Nov. 20 strike, "in coordination with 30 other European youth and student groups.

A Socialist Students appeal urges young people to join "a movement for socialist change," while another campaign statement declares: "Our fight for socialism is based on Marxism" and argues that "workers and young people must actively fight and organise."

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An unidentified person registered the youthstrike.org domain on Aug. 2, according to online records.

WHO'S WHO IN THE EXPANDING 'GLOBAL CHAOS INC.' NETWORK (101)

ACTE II, OCT. 24 – NEW (14)

  1. Coordination régionale Bloquons tout Île-de-France — Île-de-France Regional "Block Everything" Coordination – PROTEST COORDINATION: Regional "Block Everything" organization behind the platform promoting "Acte II."
  2. Peuple RÉVOLTÉ – People in Revolt — PROTEST COLLECTIVE: Organization helping operate the "Acte II" platform.
  3. Maintenant! – Now! — PROTEST MOVEMENT: Civic movement participating in the "Acte II" platform.
  4. Indignons-nous, Bloquons tout – Let’s Get Indignant, Block Everything — DIRECT ACTION: Protest collective promoting "Acte II."
  5. Coordination nationale lycéenne – National High School Students’ Coordination — STUDENT/YOUTH: New national high-school coordination calling students into the streets Oct. 24 for "Acte II."

Angoulême, France

  1. NPA Charente – New Anticapitalist Party–Charente (NPA 16) — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: Local NPA chapter mobilizing for Acte II.
  2. Action Antifasciste 16 — ANTIFASCIST: Collaborator on the Angoulême Acte II announcement.
  3. Maison des Peuples et de la Paix – House of Peoples and Peace — ACTIVIST: Angoulême organization collaborating on the Acte II call.
  4. Fanfare en lutte d'Angoulême – Angoulême Marching Band in Struggle — ACTIVIST: Local activist collective collaborating on Acte II.
  5. Révolution Permanente Angoulême — Permanent Revolution–Angoulême – REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: Local chapter of Révolution Permanente, collaborating on the Oct. 24 mobilization.
  6. Organisation de Solidarité Trans (OST) Angoulême — Trans Solidarity Organization–Angoulême – ACTIVIST / SOLIDARITY: Local organization listed as an Acte II collaborator.

Caen, France

  1. Caen Antifa Squad — ANTIFASCIST: Collaborator on an "ACTE II — 24 OCTOBRE" announcement.
  2. Caen en Lutte — Caen in Struggle – PROTEST COLLECTIVE: Local organization collaborating on Acte II.

Solidarité Étudiante 14 — Student Solidarity 14 – STUDENT: Calvados student organization collaborating on the Oct. 24 mobilization.

NOV. 20 INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

Belgium (3)

  1. Comac — MARXIST/SOCIALIST YOUTH: Belgian youth organization associated with the Workers' Party.
  2. RedFox — SOCIALIST YOUTH: Belgian socialist youth organization.
  3. Vrede — ANTI-WAR: Belgian organization publishing and promoting the International Youth Strike manifesto.

France (1)

  1. Mouvement National Lycéen — STUDENT/YOUTH: French high-school organization identified in the European Nov. 20 coalition.

Germany (6)

  1. Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht — STUDENT/"ANTI-CONSCRIPTION": German school-strike network mobilizing for Nov. 20.
  2. Die Falken — SOCIALIST YOUTH: German socialist youth organization involved in the international organizing process.
  3. Linksjugend ['solid] — SOCIALIST YOUTH: Youth organization associated with Die Linke.
  4. DIE LINKE.SDS — SOCIALIST STUDENT: German socialist university organization.
  5. Socialist German Workers Youth, (SDAJ) — COMMUNIST YOUTH: Socialist German Workers Youth.
  6. Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität — SOCIALIST: German socialist organization mobilizing around Nov. 20.

Ireland (1)

  1. Militant Left — SOCIALIST: Irish socialist organization promoting the international mobilization.

Italy (4)

  1. Rete della Conoscenza — LEFT-WING STUDENT: Italian student network helping build the international strike.
  2. Unione degli Studenti — STUDENT: Italian high-school student organization promoting Nov. 20.
  3. LINK – Coordinamento Universitario — STUDENT: Italian university network promoting the strike.
  4. CGIL — LABOR: Italian labor confederation whose Nov. 20 general strike converges with the student mobilization.

Spain (1)

  1. Sindicato de Estudiantes — SOCIALIST STUDENT: Spanish student organization identified in the international network.

United Kingdom (9)

  1. Counterfire — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST / ANTI-WAR: Promoting the Nov. 20 international strike.
  2. Left Unity — SOCIALIST: Promoting the wider European mobilization.
  3. International Youth Strike — INTERNATIONAL YOUTH / ANTI-CAPITALIST COALITION: The coordinating coalition behind the Nov. 20 strike says student and youth organizations across Europe are organizing demonstrations, walkouts, assemblies, blockades and occupations. Its manifesto says exploitation, climate breakdown and war are the "essence of capitalism," calls NATO an instrument of "imperial interests" that "should be dissolved," and demands "radical system change."
  4. North West Pensioners Association — ACTIVIST: Organizational supporter of the Nov. 20 actions.
  5. Socialist Party — TROTSKYIST: Socialist party promoting the international strike.
  6. Socialist Students — SOCIALIST STUDENT: British organizer advocating a "socialist future."
  7. Stop the War Coalition — ANTI-WAR: Promoting Nov. 20 student mobilization.
  8. Universities and Colleges Union @ucunion — The largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers & academic-related staff in UK "Further Education" and "Higher Education."
  9. Young Greens — YOUTH / GREEN: British youth organization identified among supporters.

Amplifiers (8)

  1. CODEPINK — U.S. ANTI-WAR / ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION: The U.S. organization has explicitly connected the French protests to its own planned Washington mobilization. "From France to the United States, the message is clear," CODEPINK said, before promoting its Nov. 10-12 "Taxpayer Uprising" demanding that federal spending go toward education, healthcare and housing rather than the military.
  2. Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) — TROTSKYIST / SOCIALIST: An international socialist organization whose national affiliates include Britain's Socialist Party and Ireland's Militant Left. Its international website is promoting the Nov. 20 youth walkout under the campaign slogan "Fight for our future not their wars."
  3. International Socialist Alternative (ISA) — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: The international socialist organization says "Capitalism means war" and that it "wholeheartedly" supports the Nov. 20 strike. ISA says its members have helped organize Germany's anti-conscription school strikes and describes imperialism as the "highest stage of capitalism."
  4. Party for Socialism and Liberation–Houston — MARXIST-LENINIST / U.S. CHAPTER: The Houston chapter of the U.S. Party for Socialism and Liberation is amplifying the French protest movement.
  5. Progressive International — TRANSNATIONAL LEFT NETWORK: The international organization explicitly grouped the current protests in France, Spain, India and Albania in an Oct. 16 briefing and asked how the "new rebellions" could acquire organized political power. Most significantly, it said: "These are the forces that the Progressive International is working to support and connect."
  6. Stop ReArm Europe — ANTI-WAR / ANTI-MILITARIZATION COALITION: A European coalition calling for demonstrations and actions around Nov. 20 under the slogan "Welfare, not Warfare." It says it supports students "refusing" militarization and calls on social movements, unions, civil-society groups, political organizations and parliamentarians to mobilize around the student strike.
  7. teleSUR English — INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AMPLIFIER: The international media outlet amplified the French demonstrations with Oct. 17 coverage of clashes, fires and arrests in Paris, Lyon and other cities. This is evidence of international amplification.
  8. World BEYOND War — INTERNATIONAL ANTI-WAR: A global organization that describes itself as a movement to "end war" and says it is part of the Stop ReArm Europe campaign. It is explicitly promoting the Nov. 20 International Youth Strike and urging supporters to "join this resistance."

FRANCE — ORIGINAL NETWORK (54)

  1. Organisation communiste révolutionnaire — REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST: Communist organization involved in protests.
  2. Parti communiste français — COMMUNIST: French Communist Party whose leaders and activists joined the demonstrations.
  3. Parti des Indigènes de la République — DECOLONIAL: Political organization that defends the student revolt.
  4. Parti de l'égalité socialiste — TROTSKYIST: Socialist organization advocating workers' action committees.
  5. Revolutionary Communist Group — COMMUNIST: British organization that connects the French protests to capitalism, imperialism and Palestine.
  6. Révolution Permanente — TROTSKYIST: Revolutionary socialist organization promoting student-worker mobilization.
  7. World Socialist Web Site — TROTSKYIST MEDIA: Socialist outlet framing the French protests around capitalism, austerity and militarization.

Palestine-solidarity organizations

  1. Union juive française pour la paix — PALESTINE SOLIDARITY: French Jewish organization that publicizes support for the protesting students.
  2. Urgence Palestine — PALESTINE SOLIDARITY: French Palestine organization that amplified protest-related material.

Labor and professional organizations

  1. CGT Éduc'action — LABOR: CGT's education-sector organization.
  2. CFDT Éducation Formation Recherche Publiques — LABOR: Education and research union supporting the student movement.
  3. CGT — LABOR: Major French labor confederation involved in the October mobilizations.
  4. CNT — ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST: Revolutionary-syndicalist union that declared students were "right to revolt."
  5. Confédération paysanne — FARMERS' UNION: Called agricultural workers into the Oct. 17 mobilization.
  6. FSU — LABOR: Education and public-sector union federation.
  7. FNEC FP-FO — LABOR: Force Ouvrière's education federation.
  8. Force Ouvrière — LABOR: National labor confederation.
  9. SUD éducation — LABOR: Left-wing education union.
  10. SNES-FSU — LABOR: Secondary-school personnel union.
  11. Union syndicale Solidaires — LABOR: Left-wing labor federation.
  12. UNSA — LABOR: National autonomous trade-union federation.

Advocacy, environmental and protest organizations

  1. Amnesty International France — HUMAN RIGHTS: Reported on police treatment of minors during the demonstrations.
  2. ATTAC France — ECONOMIC JUSTICE: Connected the mobilization to austerity and economic policy.
  3. Coordination nationale du mouvement du 26 septembre — PROTEST NETWORK: Mobilization network that encouraged participation in Oct. 17.
  4. Extinction Rebellion — ENVIRONMENTAL: Environmental direct-action movement appearing in the protest ecosystem.
  5. FCPE — PARENTS: National parents' federation that called members to demonstrate.
  6. Gilets jaunes — Yellow Vests: Decentralized protest movement whose Oct. 17 mobilization converged with the students.
  7. Intersyndicale nationale VTC — PROFESSIONAL / LABOR: Private-hire drivers' coalition promoting participation.
  8. Les Soulèvements de la Terre — RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL: Movement that celebrated the student revolt and called for antifascist mobilization.
  9. Ligue des droits de l'Homme — HUMAN RIGHTS: Supported students and criticized police repression.
  10. Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP) — ANTIRACIST: Antiracism organization involved in the wider coalition.
  11. SOS Racisme — ANTIRACIST: Antiracism organization involved in supporting the movement.

International amplifiers

  1. BreakThrough News — SINGHAM NETWORK / MEDIA: New York-based nonprofit amplifying the French protests internationally.
  2. Indian Alliance Paris — INTERNATIONAL / DIASPORA: France-based organization connecting French and Indian protest messaging. Partnered with the People's Forum in Manhattan.

  •  

WHO'S WHO: Inside France's 'Chaos Inc' franchise of communist groups, labor unions and global activists

As France's fiery student protests merged with a nationwide revolt on Saturday, a communist leader and academic, Vijay Prashad, celebrated the unrest with a message linking protests across three continents.

"Paris-New Delhi-Buenos Aires," Prashad posted on X, borrowing a line from the British punk band The Clash: "Let fury have the hour, anger can be power."

Prashad was important not only for what he said, but for who he is: executive director of Tricontinental Ltd., a nonprofit funded by an American-born Marxist tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai.

The message captured how France's riots have become part of a wider international narrative of rebellion — a kind of "Chaos Inc." — amplified by a transnational network of communist and socialist organizations stretching from Europe to Asia, Australia, Africa and South America and North America.

FRANCE IS DEVOURING ITSELF AS SCHOOL RIOTS REVEAL A CRISIS FAR BIGGER THAN BROKEN CLASSROOMS

A Fox News Digital investigation has identified 54 organizations and movements in France's October student protests and their wider network of supporters and international amplifiers, including communist parties, revolutionary socialist groups, labor unions, environmental activists, Muslim student advocates, Palestinian-solidarity organizations and international media outlets.

Of the 54 organizations identified in the October protest ecosystem, 16 — or only about one in three — are student or youth organizations, including communist youth groups and a Muslim student association. The remaining 38 include adult-led communist groups, labor unions, political parties, revolutionary-left organizations, advocacy groups and international propaganda outlets.

They include Gilets jaunes, or "Yellow Vests," a radical far-left group that led protests with other groups this weekend, and far-left socialist political party La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed.

From the outset, far-left socialist and communist organizations helped organize and amplify France’s student revolt, using grievances over school conditions as a pretext to mobilize a broader political struggle against capitalism, government austerity, policing and military spending.

HOUSE PANEL WARNS SINGHAM-LINKED NONPROFITS: COMPLY WITH SUBPOENAS OR FACE CONGRESS

In a sign of unrest to come, France is inspiring an expansion of Chaos Inc.

Fox News Digital has learned an international coalition of 28 communist and socialist youth and organizations are galvanizing students and youth for a coordinated strike across 12 countries in Europe under the slogan "Fight for Our Future, Not Their Wars!" They are calling for walkouts, demonstrations, assemblies, blockades and occupations.

Among the international amplifiers for this mayhem are organizations within the Singham network, including Tricontinental, named for a communist convention in Havana, Cuba, in 1966, CodePink and BreakThrough News, a New York-based media outlet, which promoted coverage of the weekend's mayhem in France with the headline: "ANTI-MACRON PROTESTS ROCK FRANCE." 

It shared a montage of chaotic scenes from Montpellier, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Saint-Étienne, showing activists engulfed in smoke, Palestinian flags flapping above the crowds, black smoke billowing over flames and police hitting demonstrators with clubs. Its editors added a soundtrack of dramatic music. Its videos include politicians from the far-left socialist political party La France Insoumise (LFI).

In an interview with BreakThrough News, Jodie Evans, Singham's wife and co-founder of a far-left group he funded, CodePink, promoted a planned November campaign in Washington opposing U.S. military spending.

She explicitly invoked youth demonstrations abroad, including France, Spain and India, while urging Americans to participate in CodePink's campaign.

"I want people to look at France, Spain and India," Evans said, urging Americans to take to the streets.

Fox News Digital has prepared a "Who's Who Guide to Chaos Inc. in France," identifying the 54 organizations in the international network promoting the riots and protests in France, from direct organizing to participation, public solidarity and media amplification.

FRENCH SCHOOL RIOTS DEEPEN AS EXPERTS POINT TO FAR-LEFT ALLIANCE FUELING ‘BROADER CONFRONTATION’

WHO'S WHO IN FRANCE'S 'CHAOS INC.' NETWORK

STUDENT UNIONS AND YOUTH GROUPS (16)

COMMUNIST AND SOCIALIST STUDENT AND YOUTH GROUPS

  1. Communist Youth of Greece — COMMUNIST: A Greek communist youth organization that has publicly supported French students, connecting their education demands to opposition to military spending and government austerity. It has also supported communist protesters in Madrid, Spain, and Greece.
  2. La Jeunesse Communists — COMMUNIST: A group coordinating communist youth activism visible in the French demonstrations, including hammer-and-sickle flags and banners calling for "Class War!"
  3. Le Poing Levé — The Raised Fist — REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST: A revolutionary student and youth organization associated with Révolution Permanente that works to connect high-school and university protests.
  4. Union de la Jeunesse Communiste (UJC) — Communist Youth Union — COMMUNIST: A French communist youth organization that called on supporters to join and amplify the student struggle.

STUDENT AND YOUTH GROUPS

  1. AFGES – Les étudiant·e·s d'Alsace — The Students of Alsace: A Strasbourg-based student federation affiliated with FAGE that posted about the early October mobilization while describing itself as politically independent. It coordinated protests in Strasbourg on Oct. 17 with an Instagram post that said, "MOBILISER," which means "MOBILIZE." Another post invited activists onto the streets with the message, "LE COMBAT CONTINUE," or "THE FIGHT CONTINUES."
  2. Étudiants Musulmans de France (EMF) — Muslim Students of France: A Muslim student association involved in student representation and campus solidarity whose social-media activity appears in the protest research; its exact Oct. 17 role remains unconfirmed.
  3. Fédération des associations générales étudiantes (FAGE) — Federation of General Student Associations: A national student federation that joined calls for student mobilization against the "extremely violent repression" of youth. It shared footage of its members marching on Oct. 17, with the hashtags #manifestation #genz #17octobre.
  4. Fédération Syndicale Étudiante (FSE) — Student Trade Union Federation: A left-wing student organization whose activists appeared in demonstrations and announced "Democratic and Antifascist Vigilance Committees," linking high-school grievances to the treatment of anti-Israel activists and union members. On Saturday, it posted videos with its trademark solid red flags. One message read: "In Bordeaux, protesters invade the house of the mayor! On October 17, the whole country is on a standstill. Everyone is mobilizing for better living conditions, and against cutting the budget for public service! In Bordeaux, we hear echoing in the protest: Only one solution, the Revolution! The mobilization of the 17 continues: let's block everywhere in France!"
  5. Interfac Île-de-France — Regional Student Coordination: A student coordination organization among Oct. 17 organizers involved in discussions over demonstration routes in Paris.
  6. Les Lycéens! — The High School Students!: A high-school student organization active in the early school blockades.
  7. Renouveau lycéen — High School Renewal: A high-school student organization identified in coverage of the October school mobilization.
  8. Rassemblement pour l'égalité et la démocratie Jeunes — Youth for Equality and Democracy: A youth civic and political organization associated with organizing support for students in Seine-Saint-Denis; its specific Oct. 17 role has not been independently established.
  9. Solidaires Étudiant·e·s — Solidaires Students: A left-wing student union that supported the high-school movement and helped connect university students with the October demonstrations.
  10. Union Étudiante — Student Union: A national university student union that helped mobilize students for the Oct. 6 demonstrations and encouraged participation in the broader movement.
  11. Union nationale des étudiants de France (UNEF) — National Union of Students of France: One of France's established student unions, it was among the organizers of the Oct. 6 nationwide demonstrations.
  12. Union syndicale lycéenne (USL) — High School Students' Union: A French high-school student union that helped organize the initial school blockades and October demonstrations before publicly supporting students joining the Oct. 17 Yellow Vest mobilization.

COMMUNIST, MARXIST, TROTSKYIST AND REVOLUTIONARY-SOCIALIST ORGANIZATIONS (11)

  1. International Communist League — TROTSKYIST: An international communist organization whose French publication Le Bolchévik called on labor unions to mobilize in support of the school protests.
  2. Jeunesse du Monde — COMMUNIST PUBLICATION: A communist publication associated with the Organisation Communiste de France; separate organizational participation in the October 17 protests has not been established.
  3. La France insoumise (LFI) — France Unbowed — LEFT-POPULIST / SOCIALIST: A political movement whose elected officials supported student blockades, including lawmaker Louis Boyard, who waved a Palestinian flag alongside students at Paris-Est-Créteil University.
  4. Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste – L'Anticapitaliste (NPA) — New Anticapitalist Party — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: A revolutionary anti-capitalist party that urged continued mobilization after the Oct. 6 protests.
  5. Organisation communiste révolutionnaire — REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST: A communist organization identified in the wider research whose precise legal identity and direct October protest activities require additional verification.
  6. Parti communiste français (PCF) — French Communist Party — COMMUNIST: Party leader Fabien Roussel publicly supported student demonstrators in Paris alongside communist elected officials and activists as demonstrators carried party flags.
  7. Parti des Indigènes de la République (PIR) — Party of the Indigenous of the Republic — DECOLONIAL POLITICAL MOVEMENT: A political organization that defended the student revolt and circulated imagery of protesters outside Lycée Paul Éluard holding a Palestinian flag.
  8. Parti de l'égalité socialiste — Socialist Equality Party — TROTSKYIST: A French socialist organization that called for workers' action committees and broader mobilization in support of the student movement.
  9. Revolutionary Communist Group — COMMUNIST: A British revolutionary communist organization that published an article connecting the French student revolt to opposition to capitalism, imperialism and support for Palestine.
  10. Révolution Permanente — Permanent Revolution — TROTSKYIST: A revolutionary socialist organization and publication that reported on university blockades and encouraged solidarity between high-school and university students.
  11. World Socialist Web Site — TROTSKYIST MEDIA: An international socialist publication that covered the French school blockades and placed them within a broader argument about austerity, militarization and capitalism.

MUSLIM STUDENT AND PRO-PALESTINE ORGANIZATIONS (2)

  1. Union juive française pour la paix (UJFP) — French Jewish Union for Peace: A Jewish peace and Palestine-solidarity organization that publicized "support for high school students" who joined protests in early October.
  2. Urgence Palestine — Palestine Emergency: A French Palestine-solidarity organization whose protest-related social-media activity appears in the research, although direct organization of the October 17 demonstrations is not established.

LABOR UNIONS, TEACHERS' FEDERATIONS AND FARMERS (12)

  1. CGT Éduc'action — CGT Education: The education-sector organization of the General Confederation of Labour that joined union mobilization calls.
  2. CFDT Éducation Formation Recherche Publiques — CFDT Public Education, Training and Research: A public education and research union that joined education-sector statements supporting the school movement.
  3. Confédération générale du travail (CGT) — General Confederation of Labour: One of France's major national labor confederations that supported the October school mobilizations and joined the Oct. 17 cost-of-living protests.
  4. Confédération nationale du travail (CNT) — National Confederation of Labour — ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST TRADITION: A revolutionary-syndicalist labor organization that endorsed the student movement, declaring that students were right to revolt.
  5. Confédération paysanne — Peasant Confederation: A farmers' union that called on agricultural workers to join Oct. 17 protests, linking rural economic grievances with the national mobilization.
  6. Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU) — Unitary Trade Union Federation: A major education and public-sector union federation that supported the school mobilization.
  7. FNEC FP-FO — National Federation of Education, Culture and Vocational Training–Workers' Force: Force Ouvrière's education federation, which joined calls supporting high-school demonstrations.
  8. Force Ouvrière (FO) — Workers' Force: A national labor confederation whose education affiliates joined calls supporting high-school students.
  9. SUD éducation — SUD Education: A left-wing education union that joined mobilization calls involving students and education workers.
  10. Syndicat national des enseignements de second degré (SNES-FSU) — National Union of Secondary Education: A major secondary-school personnel union that supported strikes and demonstrations in solidarity with students.
  11. Union syndicale Solidaires — Solidaires Trade Union: A left-wing labor federation whose regional branches promoted Oct. 17 demonstrations and strikes after earlier student solidarity mobilizations.
  12. Union nationale des syndicats autonomes (UNSA) — National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions: A national trade-union federation whose education organizations supported the school movement.

HUMAN-RIGHTS, PARENTS', ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC-JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS (11)

  1. Amnesty International France: The French section of Amnesty International that reported on police treatment of minors during the school protests.
  2. ATTAC France — Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizen Action: An economic-justice organization that linked protest grievances with opposition to austerity and restrictions on civil liberties.
  3. Coordination nationale du mouvement du 26 septembre — September 26 Movement Coordination: A climate-mobilization network that encouraged participation in Oct. 17 protests and connected environmental concerns with household economic pressures.
  4. Extinction Rebellion: An international environmental activist movement whose imagery appeared in photographic coverage of the French demonstrations.
  5. Fédération des conseils de parents d'élèves (FCPE) — Federation of Parents' Councils: A national parents' federation that called on members to demonstrate and announced participation by its national board in Paris.
  6. Gilets jaunes — Yellow Vests: A radical far-left French protest group revived around fuel prices and the cost of living whose Oct. 17 demonstrations converged with the student mobilization.
  7. Intersyndicale nationale VTC — National Private-Hire Drivers' Union Coalition: A professional drivers' coalition that promoted participation in the Oct. 17 mobilization, including a gathering at Place de la Bastille.
  8. Les Soulèvements de la Terre — Earth Uprisings: A radical environmental movement that celebrated the student revolt and called for an antifascist uprising.
  9. Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH) — Human Rights League: A French civil-liberties organization that publicized support for students and criticism of police repression.
  10. Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) — Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples: An antiracism organization identified in earlier coalition activity around the student demonstrations.
  11. SOS Racisme — SOS Racism: A French antiracism organization included in coalition activity supporting the school movement.

INTERNATIONAL AMPLIFIERS AND ADDITIONAL OCT. 17 ORGANIZERS (2)

  1. BreakThrough News — COMMUNIST SINGHAM NETWORK: A New York-based outlet that reported on French student demonstrations and previewed their participation in the October 17 cost-of-living mobilization.
  2. Indian Alliance Paris — COMMUNIST SINGHAM NETWORK: A France-based Indian diaspora organization that connected French and Indian youth protests through its social-media messaging. It has partnered with the SIngham network's People's Forum for an event.

THE NEXT MOBILIZATION: NOV. 20 EUROPEAN YOUTH STRIKE

  1. Counterfire — United Kingdom — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST / ANTI-WAR: A British socialist organization that advertised the Nov. 20 strike and connected opposition to war with campaigns involving universities and Palestine.
  2. International Socialist Alternative — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: An international socialist organization that endorsed the Nov. 20 action and connected opposition to militarization with criticism of capitalism.
  3. International Youth Strike coalition: The international organizing coalition announced plans in August for coordinated Nov. 20 student walkouts and demonstrations across Europe under the slogan "Fight for Our Future, Not Their Wars!"
  4. Socialist Party — United Kingdom — TROTSKYIST: A British socialist party whose October commentary linked France's student revolt with wider European mobilization and the forthcoming strike.
  5. Socialist Students — United Kingdom — SOCIALIST: A British socialist student organization that promoted the Nov. 20 strike and sought to connect student opposition to military spending with wider socialist campaigns.
  6. Stop the War Coalition — United Kingdom — ANTI-WAR: A British anti-war organization that promoted the youth strike and encouraged demonstrations opposing military spending.

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  •  

Strait of Hormuz crisis traps 6,000 sailors as attacks on ships mount, UN maritime chief says

Thousands of sailors remain stranded near the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating attacks on commercial ships, the United Nations' top maritime official warned Sunday after Iran accused the U.S. military of using an international emergency radio channel to threaten civilian crews.

The warning also came amid reports that 24 ships had been attacked on the waterway over roughly two weeks, underscoring growing concerns about maritime safety in the region, according to Financial Times.

"The situation continues to be severe and critical when it comes to international shipping," International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Fox News Digital.

"There is a double blockade and too many vessels have been attacked, particularly in recent days.

'VAST MAJORITY' OF IRAN'S ATTEMPTED ATTACKS ON STRAIT OF HORMUZ ARE UNSUCCESSFUL, CENTCOM SPOKESMAN SAYS

"Seafarers have continued to perish in these attacks and around 6,000 seafarers remain trapped since the beginning of the conflict," he warned, adding that his message was not to transit the Strait of Hormuz or put seafarers at risk "until we have guarantees."

Dominguez's warning followed an Oct. 9 letter to the IMO in which Iran alleged that the U.S. military used VHF Channel 16, an internationally designated maritime distress and safety channel, to intimidate Iranian crews in the Persian Gulf.

"VHF Channel 16 has been repeatedly occupied for prolonged periods by the United States military forces operating in the Persian Gulf," the letter stated.

TRUMP OPENS HORMUZ UNDER FIRE WITH ‘PROJECT FREEDOM’ AS IRAN WARNS OF ATTACKS

"During such transmissions, Iranian seafarers have been addressed in Persian with threatening, abusive and provocative language and in certain instances urged to abandon their vessels."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, U.S. Central Command defended its enforcement of the naval blockade of Iranian ports.

"The U.S. naval blockade has been in place for months and is professionally communicated to all international mariners," CENTCOM said.

"Vessels that refuse to comply with blockade enforcement receive multiple warnings, with ample opportunity to comply.

"American forces remain highly vigilant, focused and professional while fully enforcing the naval blockade against Iran."

Iran's complaint was submitted by Seyed Ali Mousavi and its ambassador to the IMO and circulated to member states on Oct. 9, according to a copy reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Tehran also accused American forces of turning the maritime safety channel into an "instrument of military intimidation and psychological pressure against civilian crews."

The letter cited commercial vessels, shipping companies and maritime operators but provided no recordings, transcripts or specific details of the alleged exchanges. Fox News Digital could not independently verify the accusations.

IRAN THREATENS TO HALT RED SEA TRAFFIC IN RESPONSE TO US MILITARY BLOCKADE OF PORTS

"Seafarers are not trained for combat, and they are not guilty of any conflicts that are happening around the world," Dominguez said.

"And we have seen this in several parts of the world where Channel 16, that should not be used for this kind of communication, starts receiving messages that may be perceived as actually threatening or that are outside the remit of why it was created."

Iran also asked the IMO to raise its allegations with member states and relevant international organizations, potentially including the International Telecommunication Union.

Dominguez said the IMO could review its regulations and procedures to determine whether stronger safeguards are needed, though he did not announce a formal investigation.

"Our role here at IMO is that when those situations take place, we will then look into any technical measures or any operational aspects that we may need to clarify further within our regulatory framework," he said, stressing that member states have equal rights to raise concerns, regardless of the conflict.

"We have a responsibility, and I have a duty as well, to circulate letters and notes that the countries actually put forward when they're also being affected."

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ RIGHT NOW? HERE'S WHAT THE SHIP TRAFFIC ACTUALLY SHOWS

"We take all that information, meet at the level of different meetings of the organization and have the discussions," Dominguez added.

"If it's demonstrated that we probably need to improve our rules in order to avoid communications issues, or that we need to enhance the knowledge of how these channels should be used, that is a role for us."

The IMO had recorded 100 confirmed maritime incidents across the region as of Oct. 9, with 24 seafarers killed since the conflict began Feb. 28. Dominguez also warned that fraudulent ship registrations and false flags have become major contributors to the danger.

"What we've also seen right now is an increase in fraudulent registries with false flags that are taking the risk and acting as shuttle tankers in order to bring goods in and out," he said. "That's one of the reasons that we're seeing an escalation.

"And it's the irresponsible shipowners that are taking the risk in order to actually be able to trade and move some of the goods and the cargoes."

WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON IRAN-OMAN HORMUZ PLAN TEHRAN SAYS WOULD BAN US WARSHIPS

"For me, any single case, any vessel that is attacked, any life of a seafarer that is lost, is a critical situation for me, because they are all relevant, they are all important."

Despite the confrontation, Dominguez said diplomatic channels with Iran remain open, though he has no direct contact with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"I have communications with all the member states of IMO, and that includes the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

"Of course, that's through the diplomatic channels. I don't have direct contact with the IRGC.

"I have conversations with them and they respond to my messages. You know, the information flows. What is difficult is to get final decisions because of the conflict that is ongoing."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Iranian Embassy for comment.

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Saudi Arabia on edge: Iconic Kingdom Centre sends workers home amid Houthi attacks

One of Saudi Arabia’s most iconic skyscrapers ordered office workers to stay home Sunday as escalating attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels rattled the capital of Riyadh amid fears of a widening Middle East conflict.

The move came after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two drones in the Riyadh area, a third over the Eastern Province and two ballistic missiles in southern Saudi Arabia overnight, after authorities had earlier issued a threat alert in the capital, also shared on X.

Management at the 99-story Kingdom Centre, a landmark on Riyadh's skyline, ordered office employees to work remotely until further notice, according to reporting by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The directive affects a building whose tenants include major international financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, consulting giant McKinsey & Company and the International Monetary Fund.

THE HOUTHIS AREN'T SOMEBODY ELSE'S PROBLEM. AMERICA CAN'T AFFORD TO LOOK AWAY

"Please be advised that remote working arrangements are mandatory for all office employees at Kingdom Centre, effective immediately and until further notice," building management said in an email obtained by AFP.

Employees were instructed not to report back to their offices. The shopping mall at the base of the tower, however, remained open to the public.

Management did not specify a reason for the directive, but it came as repeated missile and drone attacks by Yemen's Houthis disrupted the Saudi capital.

The security concerns also follow a deadly Oct. 10 attack on King Khalid International Airport that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300 others.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, another strike the following day killed one person and injured 11.

Airport operations have been severely disrupted, while schools in Riyadh have extended remote learning measures amid continued security threats.

SAUDI ARABIA FACING 'BIGGEST THREAT' EVER TO OIL PRODUCTION AS IRAN-PROXY HOUTHIS LAUNCH ATTACKS, EXPERT SAYS

The mounting crisis comes as Saudi Arabia's military reported two deaths in a helicopter crash near its southern border with Yemen.

Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, said Sunday that an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Najran region because of a technical malfunction, killing both crew members.

Saudi civil defense authorities also reported Sunday that six people were injured when a hostile projectile struck a residential neighborhood in Najran, damaging three homes and three vehicles.

Meanwhile, Egypt moved toward potentially providing military assistance to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom confronts the growing Houthi threat.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi requested an emergency parliamentary session to authorize defensive military support for Saudi Arabia if requested by Riyadh, Reuters reported.

Lawmakers were expected to continue discussions Monday.

NEW RISK FOR US CONSUMERS AS IRAN-BACKED ATTACKS THREATEN A SECOND MAJOR OIL CHOKEPOINT

The Egyptian presidency said Cairo was prepared to provide Saudi Arabia with necessary support to defend its security, stability, territorial integrity and Islamic holy sites.

The statement followed a meeting of Egypt's National Defense Council chaired by el-Sissi and attended by senior government and military officials.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty also spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan about regional developments and the importance of de-escalation, according to a post on X.

The potential involvement of Egypt, which has one of the Arab world's largest militaries, could significantly expand the regional response to the Houthis.

The Iran-backed group now controls Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north.

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Fighting with the Saudi-led coalition, which supports Yemen's internationally recognized government, has intensified amid the broader U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

  •  

4 Canadian soldiers killed, dozens injured after fast-moving fire erupts at military base

Canadian officials said Sunday that four service members were killed and dozens more injured after a fast-moving fire swept through soldiers conducting live-fire training at a military base in Alberta.

The deadly fire erupted Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, where a sudden shift in powerful winds sent flames sweeping toward troops training in the area, according to The Associated Press.

Officials said 39 people were hospitalized, including 19 in critical condition. Eight others were listed as stable, while 12 were being treated for less serious injuries.

Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland, commander of the Edmonton-based 1st Canadian Division, said military officials had been aware of the fire for hours but believed it was contained enough for training to continue, AP reported.

AT LEAST 1 KILLED, 34 FIREFIGHTERS AND EMS WORKERS INJURED IN 'MAJOR' STATEN ISLAND SHIPYARD EXPLOSION: FDNY

"The fire was a kilometer away when the wind shifted. That is not normal for a fire to move a kilometer in 36 seconds," Rutland said.

Investigators have not yet determined what sparked the fire.

Those killed were identified by the military as Sgt. Morgan Wong and Privates Shaun Farrell, Aidan Goulding and Hayden Lykkemark, AP reported.

Wong was a member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, while the three others belonged to the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. All four were serving with the Edmonton-based battalion.

Prime Minister Mark Carney called the blaze one of the worst peacetime tragedies to strike Canada's armed forces on home soil, according to Reuters.

WATCH: VIRGINIA COPS CRAWL THROUGH BURNING HOUSE TO SAVE MAN TRAPPED IN FIRE

"I cannot recall such an incident in my short time for sure as a minister, but I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory," Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty told reporters.

The 39 injured people were being treated at hospitals in Wainwright, Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary.

Air ambulances from Edmonton and Saskatoon were also sent to the base Saturday to help transport patients.

Several hospitals across Alberta activated a "Code Orange," an emergency designation used for mass-casualty incidents, as medical personnel prepared to treat the wounded.

Military and civilian firefighters battled the flames through the night as intense winds fueled the fire.

MARINE CORPS OSPREY CATCHES FIRE DURING EXERCISE IN NORTH CAROLINA; 4 INJURED

The fire crossed the base perimeter into the surrounding area, but officials said no evacuation orders were issued. By Sunday, local authorities said the blaze was not expected to spread beyond its existing boundaries.

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Carney announced that flags would fly at half-staff on federal buildings nationwide in honor of those killed and injured. 

He also praised emergency crews who battled the flames through the night.

Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Priest killed by falling crucifix during livestreamed Mass as worshippers rush to help

A priest preparing Communion was fatally struck by a falling crucifix during a livestreamed Mass in Ecuador, turning a moment of worship into a frantic rush to save him.

Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari was standing at the altar of Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro Church in Guayaquil on Saturday when the large wooden crucifix behind him suddenly fell forward and struck him.

Video of the service captures screams erupting inside the church as worshippers ran to his side and called for help.

HISTORIC NYC CHURCH ENGULFED IN 5-ALARM BLAZE; 6 FIREFIGHTERS INJURED BATTLING STUBBORN FLAMES

The Archdiocese of Guayaquil confirmed his death in a Facebook statement, identifying him as the parish priest of Perpetuo Socorro Church in its Central Vicariate.

"Our dear Fr. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari … has departed to the Father’s House to enjoy His presence and His glory," the archdiocese wrote in Spanish.

"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen," the statement concluded in Latin.

The tragedy unfolded just one day after the archdiocese congratulated Sánchez Molinari on the anniversary of his ordination, Ecuadorian news outlet Primicias reported.

MASKED MAN CAUGHT ON CAMERA SMASHING VIRGIN MARY STATUE WITH A HAMMER OUTSIDE NYC CHURCH

The Mass was being livestreamed on social media when the crucifix fell, recording both the fatal incident and the desperate response from those inside the church.

"Father, Father … call an ambulance," a woman can be heard shouting in the video.

Sánchez Molinari belonged to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly known as the Redemptorists. Before serving in Guayaquil, he spent several years as parish priest at San Lorenzo in Vinces, in Ecuador’s Los Ríos province, according to Primicias.

His former parish mourned his death in a social media tribute, remembering the dedication and pastoral love he brought to its community, El Universo reported.

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What caused the crucifix to fall remained unclear Sunday. Church officials had not publicly provided an explanation for the collapse.

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French newspaper rips Macron after riots erupt across France: ‘Indelible stain’

A prominent French newspaper delivered a blistering critique of the country’s leadership after nationwide protests descended into riots, looting and arson.

The article, written by Vincent Trémolet de Villers for the conservative newspaper Le Figaro and published Sunday afternoon local time, blamed years of political failures for contributing to the unrest and took particular aim at President Emmanuel Macron.

It criticized what it described as a justice system that is "lenient toward criminals," accused far-left groups of carrying out violence with little consequence and took aim at France’s immigration and security policies.

"A judiciary that is lenient toward criminals but unrelenting toward decent citizens. The incomprehensible privilege of these far-left militias, who destroy, set fires, and kill with impunity," the article stated, according to a translation.

"An uncontrolled immigration, in which a portion of the immigrants rebels against the country that took them in."

WHERE'S MACRON? FRENCH LEADER BLASTED FOR ATTENDING CONCERT AS RIOTS ESCALATED

The article also took aim at Macron over his past calls for police to show greater empathy.

"Emmanuel Macron’s reprimands toward a police force he deemed insufficiently 'empathetic' — directed at officers under attack by bolts, cobblestones, and mortar fireworks — will remain an indelible stain," it stated.

The author argued that the unrest reflected deeper failures by France’s political establishment.

"If the far-left, criminals, and looters can turn France upside down in a matter of hours, it is primarily because a technocratic monarchy — intoxicated by its own self-importance — has methodically dismantled all the moral, security, cultural, and economic safeguards that allow a society to remain standing."

The scathing assessment followed a day of violence across France, where masked groups clashed with police, looted businesses, set fires and attacked public buildings, according to The Associated Press.

Macron addressed the nation Sunday, condemning the violence and vowing that those responsible would be held accountable.

PHOTOS SHOW AFTERMATH OF RIOTS AS MASKED GROUPS CLASH WITH POLICE ACROSS FRANCE

"Nothing will excuse their actions. We all tonight feel angry. We feel shame as well," Macron said, according to a translation of his televised remarks.

"There needs to be a response. Those people who looted need to pay for their crimes," he added.

The French president also acknowledged concerns raised by the youth about their economic prospects and futures.

"The youth of our nation are expressing great anguish and concern about the future, the conditions of where their careers will take them, what role they will be able to play in society," Macron said. "… I hear what they are saying, for the past ten years I've been fighting for them, so we need to pay heed to what they are saying."

Macron said he ordered officials to increase security around public buildings and businesses, with protests potentially restricted in some areas.

At least 2,400 people were arrested nationwide, including 855 in the Paris region, according to the AP.

More than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, the AP reported, citing Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

LIMOGES TOWN HALL 'LARGELY LOST' AFTER FAR-LEFT RIOTERS SET HISTORIC BUILDING ON FIRE AMID FRENCH UNREST

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Authorities estimated roughly 550,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstrations, while organizers put turnout at 800,000, according to the AP. 

Hundreds of businesses were looted nationwide, and unrest continued Sunday in Paris, where police used tear gas as tensions flared around Place de la République.

The criticism also comes as Macron faces scrutiny over his decision to attend a Celine Dion concert with his wife, Brigitte, on Friday night, on the eve of the nationwide demonstrations.

The protests, fueled in part by anger over rising living costs, school conditions and public services, erupted into violence Saturday.

Macron's office and Le Figaro could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.

Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Where's Macron? French leader blasted for attending concert as riots escalated

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing criticism over his decision to attend a Celine Dion concert Friday night, on the eve of nationwide demonstrations that descended into violence, leaving hundreds of emergency personnel injured and nearly 1,800 people arrested.

Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were spotted at Dion’s concert at the Plenitude Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, according to French media reports. The couple reportedly arrived and left discreetly and were among roughly 35,000 spectators at the performance.

The concert came after Macron spent Thursday and Friday in Brussels attending a European Council meeting. During a news conference in Brussels on Friday, he called for "calm and respect" ahead of Saturday’s planned demonstrations, saying the right to protest must be exercised with respect for people and property. 

By Saturday, demonstrations over rising living costs, school conditions and declining public services had escalated into clashes with police, fires, looting and attacks on public buildings in several cities.

VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT FRANCE PROTESTS AS MACRON WARNS UNREST IS BEING EXPLOITED

French authorities said Sunday that nearly 1,800 people had been arrested nationwide, including 855 in the Paris region. More than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. One protester died after suffering cardiac arrest during demonstrations in Paris, authorities said.

In Limoges, a fire that authorities said was deliberately set at the city hall caused significant damage to the historic building. Shops were looted in Paris, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and other cities, while public buildings were vandalized or targeted by fires.

Authorities estimated that more than 550,000 people participated in demonstrations across France. Organizers put the figure at roughly 800,000.

Macron condemned the destruction Saturday evening, writing on X that those responsible for damaging property, attacking public buildings and looting businesses would face prosecution and punishment. He also expressed support for law enforcement and warned against efforts to undermine French institutions.

His statement came after violence had spread through several major cities, raising questions about the government's preparations for the demonstrations and its ability to contain the unrest.

The hostilities began as a month-long student movement over school conditions and teacher shortages in working-class suburbs before broadening into a larger protest movement against inequality, public spending cuts and the rising cost of living.

LIMOGES TOWN HALL ‘LARGELY LOST’ AFTER FAR-LEFT RIOTERS SET HISTORIC BUILDING ON FIRE AMID FRENCH UNREST

Government officials have blamed violent groups and looters for the destruction. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu attributed the unrest to the "ultra-left" and criminals, while opposition leaders criticized the government's handling of the violence ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Right-wing leader Marine Le Pen condemned the looting and destruction, while left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon defended the protesters’ broader grievances and criticized the government’s handling of the demonstrations. Mélenchon accused Lecornu of "playing with fire," according to reports.

The violence also left businesses facing extensive damage and mounting financial losses. Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard told French television that 50 of the retailer’s stores were damaged, including 20 that were looted, with losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros, according to Reuters.

The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon have requested a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the damage. Local officials in Marseille and Bordeaux have announced or proposed emergency assistance for affected businesses.

Macron is scheduled to address the nation at 8 p.m. local time Sunday, or 2 p.m. Eastern, after meeting with senior government officials. His speech will come as France begins a nationwide cleanup effort and authorities prepare prosecutions for those arrested.

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The address will mark a critical test for Macron as his government faces mounting pressure over the scale of the destruction, the police response and the economic grievances that fueled the demonstrations.

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