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France Prepares Nationwide Police Deployment for Saturday Protests
Shopkeepers in Paris boarded up their windows on Friday, 23 October, as France braced for another Saturday of protests. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who oversees the national police, said 70,000 officers would be deployed nationwide after calls for violence and looting circulated online.
Macron Moves to Ban 'Illegitimate' Protests After Riots
Protests that began last month at a high school in Créteil, near Paris, have grown into nationwide unrest over the cost of living. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said "illegitimate" demonstrations would be banned in the coming days.
Earthquake in Remote Northern Tibet Kills at Least 16
People in northern Tibet left their homes and sheltered outside or in parked cars, state media videos showed, after an earthquake struck late at night on Thursday. The quake killed at least 16 people in the Tibet Autonomous Region of southwestern China, Al Jazeera reported on 22 October.
PHP Flaw Pushes Governments to Pull Websites Offline
Flaws that had sat in PHP for decades became public on Wednesday, and attackers moved within hours, the Guardian reported on 22 October. PHP is a programming language behind about 70 percent of the world's websites.
Strikes Hit Kyiv After Kremlin Signals Openness to Talks
Hours after the Kremlin said it was open "in principle" to new peace talks, Russian missiles and drones hit Kyiv overnight into Thursday. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said the strikes wounded 15 people in the Ukrainian capital.
PHP Flaw Found With AI Forces Websites Offline Worldwide
Governments in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Finland and Germany temporarily took websites offline as they patched a critical flaw in PHP, a programming language used by almost 70 percent of websites.
Lecornu Promises Massive Police Presence for New Protests
France was shaken on Saturday by some of its worst rioting in recent years. On Tuesday, 20 October, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the head of the French government, vowed a "massive" police presence at fresh protests called for the coming weekend, France 24 reported.
Drone strike on Abyei market kills at least 153
A fuel depot was still burning on Tuesday beside Amiet Market in Abyei, an oil-rich border region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan. A drone strike on the market on Monday killed at least 153 people, a local official told The Associated Press, according to a report published on 20 October.
Trump suspends Russia sanctions passed by Congress
Sanctions on Russia passed by the US Congress were signed into law in September and were about to take effect. On Friday night, US President Donald Trump suspended several of them, the BBC reported on 18 October.
France Imposes Night Curfews After Police Lose Control
Intelligence had predicted 200,000 demonstrators across France on Saturday, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez; more than 500,000 came, and peaceful protests against high living costs ended in rioting and looting.
Pope Leo Plans Gradual Return After Lung Cancer Surgery
Cheers filled St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sunday, October 18, when Pope Leo, head of the Roman Catholic Church, appeared at his window four days after lung cancer surgery.
Settlers Attack European Diplomats at West Bank Olive Harvest
Wearing his red, white and blue sash, French mayor Bernard Baudoux was knocked to the ground on Saturday in Taybeh, a Christian Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. Masked Israeli settlers attacked him and European diplomats at the olive harvest, injuring three people.
Bristol Old Vic Takes Free Theatre Into Classrooms
Young actors from Bristol Old Vic, a theatre in the English city of Bristol, performed a play about British identity in the hall of City Academy, a secondary school in east Bristol. The show is part of a free tour into schools by the theatre's young company.
France Faces Mass Arrests After Cost of Living Riots
Police across France arrested more than 1,800 people after protests over the cost of living turned into riots, looting and arson on Saturday. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced the figure on Sunday, as the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on 18 October.
World Bank Urges Developing Countries to Build Small AI
The World Bank, the global development lender, is urging developing nations to build "small AI": specialised artificial intelligence models that run on a mobile phone with low connectivity.