From France and Albania to India and Argentina, young people have been protesting in October, demanding better-funded schools and affordable housing, opposing spending cuts and challenging government leaders.
Celebrities having birthdays during the week of Oct. 25-31 include singer Katy Perry, comedian Samantha Bee and drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers
Israel had come under heavy international criticism for the attacks. Israeli police did not identify the suspects or specify their potential roles in the attacks, which came during a spike in settler violence during the annual Palestinian olive harvest season.
Masked people are seen at the site where Belgium’s foreign minister says masked settlers attacked Palestinians, Catholic representatives and Western diplomats and officials, in Taybeh on Oct. 17, 2026, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Amit Orfali/via Reuters
On Friday, Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was beaten by a crowd of young male settlers, leaving her with several broken ribs and vertebrae in the village of Abu Falah. She also underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly severed and is recovering from what appeared to be stab wounds to her lower body, which required stitches.
Settler violence has surged in recent years, and rights groups say that attackers are rarely arrested or punished for attacks on Palestinians.
From her hospital bed Sunday, Levine said she was “shocked and insulted” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cast doubt on the attack, which was witnessed by a crowd of people, by calling it “alleged.”
The attackers targeted Palestinian villagers, setting fire to the olive trees they were harvesting
U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the attack as a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and said they should spend years in prison. Israel’s president and several opposition politicians also spoke out against the attack.
The attack on diplomats targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said afterward.
Israeli police said they have been collecting evidence and witness statements since the weekend attacks. The suspects were transferred for questioning. They said the Shin Bet internal security agency, the paramilitary border police force and the Israeli military had all participated in the investigation.
Police said Monday’s operation also targeted people suspected of violating military orders declaring a closed military zone and offenses involving illegal construction. They said they seized several vehicles and items linking suspects to alleged offenses.
Masked people are seen at the site where Belgium's foreign minister says masked settlers attacked Palestinians, Catholic representatives and Western diplomats and officials, in Taybeh on Oct. 17, 2026, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu says he has instructed prefects to impose “very limited” and “localized” curfews in cities to prevent more rioting and looting, after this weekend’s violence targeted city halls, other public buildings and hundreds of businesses across the country.
Speaking after an emergency meeting with top government officials, Lecornu said that “on Saturday, despite scenes of severe violence and extensive property damage, no one was killed, and that is a miracle” as he defended the work of police officers faced with violent groups of people.
Lecornu said details of the areas to be placed under curfew will be provided later Monday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation on Sunday, but President Emmanuel Macron refused the resignation, “given the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context,” Macron’s office said in a statement Monday.
Macron instructed Nuñez “to take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that led to the violence,” the statement said.
Macron also asked for “new policing tactics on the ground as quickly as possible” to put an end to violent events.
On Sunday evening, groups of people set fires to trash bins, bicycles and other objects in the streets and looted businesses in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities. Major violence erupted Saturday during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At least 2,400 people were arrested across the country, authorities said.
“I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening,” Nuñez said, speaking on France Inter radio. “Now, the real issue is ensuring that this doesn’t happen again. … We obviously need to be better at anticipating the kind of mobilization that is unfolding.”
Nuñez blamed violence on “hordes of troublemakers and looters” and “far-left activists” and acknowledged that police strategy needs to be adapted “in the face of extremely mobile groups.” Authorities said groups of hundreds of people sought confrontations with police and targeted public buildings, including city halls and other public offices.
Nuñez acknowledged that authorities had “lost control” in some major cities on Saturday, with hundreds of businesses looted.
“You can’t look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and say we haven’t lost control in some of these major cities. Obviously,” Nuñez said.
Flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in Limoges, in central France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.
In Marseille, the prefect banned any protest or other gathering from noon to 8 p.m. Monday.
A car hit an Australian federal independent lawmaker on Monday, critically injuring her in an apparent deliberate attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. The driver was arrested.
A car hit an Australian federal independent lawmaker on Monday, critically injuring her in an apparent deliberate attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. The driver was arrested.
Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu "has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu "has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu "has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran."
The Texans face the Jaguars in London, the Cowboys visit the Packers and the Chiefs host the Chargers in NFL Week 6. The Washington Commanders visit the San Francisco 49ers on Monday.
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over rioting and looting during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At least 1,800 people have been arrested.
“Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
He blamed “unrestrained violence” on “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals.”
Macron has earlier held an emergency meeting with senior government officials, a day after masked groups set fires and attacked public buildings, including city halls, in several cities. He said he had instructed prefects to work with mayors to protect public buildings and businesses in the coming weeks, including by banning protests when necessary.
Flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in the city of Limoges, in central France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.
Hundreds of protesters gathered again on Sunday at the Place de la République in Paris amid a heavy police presence. Officers used tear gas as tensions flared sporadically in the neighborhood, with small groups of people trying to set bicycles and trash bins on fire.
“The right to protest is a fundamental right. Deliberately and collectively sowing disorder through violence is not,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on X, citing the looting of hundreds of businesses in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.
About 550,000 people took part in protests across France, according to authorities, while organizers put the figure at about 800,000. Demonstrators answered calls from a labor union, student organizations and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest social injustice.
Mass protests in France are often marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. The arrest tally reported Sunday approached the nearly 2,000 recorded nationwide during a single day of yellow vest protests in December 2018.
One person died of a heart attack, Paris police said in a statement, without providing details. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.
Parisians deplore shattered shops and a damaged square
Dislodged cobblestones, shattered storefronts and broken glass littered the area around Paris’ Place de la République on Sunday. Looting and damage were also reported in other tourist and shopping districts.
Paris police said 855 people were arrested in the capital region. The city’s prosecutor’s office said 557 remained in police custody.
“I am actually stunned by the level of destruction and violence that was expressed,” said government employee Marie Peyreigne, 57, wondering what had led to the mayhem.
Parisians inspecting the damage photographed the partially dismantled base of the square’s central monument, a statue of Marianne, a symbol of France.
Jean Foissy, 74, said he had wanted to join the protest but encountered “a wall of riot police and fires everywhere” and returned home.
“I was very scared,” he said. “I’ve been a Parisian since I was born, so when I got here, it almost made me want to cry because I find it so bad, it hurts me.”
Margaux Eude, 26, said she supported the protest movement but “didn’t think it would escalate like this.”
“It’s the troublemakers who came, and it breaks my heart because it delegitimizes the movement,” she said.
Political leaders trade blame ahead of presidential election
Political leaders across the spectrum sought to parlay the fallout of Saturday’s riots into political capital, looking ahead to next spring’s presidential election.
Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen criticized Macron’s centrist government as “exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness,” in a video posted Sunday on social media.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of “playing with fire,” alleging that “by banking on degradation, you have only succeeded in uniting all youths and workers’ unions.”
Mélenchon, who joined the Paris march Saturday, insisted that “my message is clear: those who share our fight have no business in looting or destruction.”
U.S. President Donald Trump posted “France is burning!” on his Truth Social platform, apparently linking the unrest to “the immigration of people from an entirely different world.”
“Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!” he wrote.
French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting and have repeatedly attributed some of the violence to “radical far-left groups” and other people who joined to loot.
Hundreds of businesses looted across the country
“The scale of the damage is considerable and unprecedented,” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire wrote in an open letter. “Paris is a city of freedoms, debate and demonstrations. It must remain so. But it must also be a city where everyone can work and run a business safely.”
Police said groups of hundreds of people formed unauthorized marches across central Paris on Saturday. “By late afternoon, a new phase began with the arrival of large numbers of people whose sole aim was to steal and loot, taking advantage of the unrest,” police said.
The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the three largest cities, requested a meeting with the prime minister in the coming days “given the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation.”
In the southern port city of Marseille, some protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall and a group of people wearing hoods and masks damaged a police station. In Lyon, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.
In Limoges, a group of “radical troublemakers” broke into City Hall while there were elected officials, employees, security personnel and members of the public inside, Maurice Barate, prefect of the Haute-Vienne region, said. “Despite the presence of so many people, they deliberately set the building on fire. It is an extremely serious and unspeakable act.”
In eastern France, the Mulhouse prosecutor’s office said an investigation has been opened after a 17-year-old girl was injured during the protests and lost an eye. On Saturday, another investigation was opened after a young protester lost a hand in Saint-Etienne.
The injuries come as police have drawn sharp scrutiny over their use of grenades and other riot-control weapons during recent demonstrations.
Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties.
Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties.
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