Emmanuel Macron told France he feels “anger and shame” after riots that ended in nearly 2,400 arrests; Canada named the four soldiers killed in the Wainwright fire on the eve of Alberta’s referendum; and Donald Trump endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israel votes. Ten stories as of Sunday evening, October 18.
1. Paris / France. In a televised address from the Élysée on Sunday evening, Macron called for “calm and order,” said “nothing justifies” the “unbridled” violence and told the country, “We all feel anger and shame,” BBC News reported. He drew a line between protesters with “legitimate demands” and “those who destroyed, smashed and looted,” promised “full transparency” over how police handled the day, and said local prefects can ban some street gatherings if needed, per The Guardian. He stopped short of a state of emergency or curfew but announced a crisis unit for urgent aid, Al Jazeera reported. The interior ministry says nearly 2,400 people were arrested and about 1,000 police and gendarmes hurt on Saturday, seven seriously; traders’ unions count more than 1,500 shops ransacked. Clashes flared again Sunday at Place de la République in Paris, with tear gas and stun grenades. A 17-year-old lost his right hand to a crowd-control grenade in Saint-Étienne, and a 17-year-old girl lost an eye in Mulhouse. The far right’s Jordan Bardella called the speech “lamentable” and “cowardly,” and Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the government was “solely responsible” for failing to keep order. Macron posted the address on X:
2. Wainwright / Alberta, Canada. Four soldiers died and 39 people are in hospital, at least 19 of them critical, after a grass fire swept through Canadian Forces Base Wainwright during live-fire training on Saturday, Premier Danielle Smith said Sunday evening, BBC News reported. The military named the dead as Sgt Morgan Wong of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and Privates Shaun Farrell, Aidan Goulding and Hayden Lykkemark of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland said the fire started about a kilometre away and winds of up to 96 km/h suddenly turned it toward soldiers on an attack range: “That is not normal for a fire to move a kilometre in 36 seconds,” per The Guardian. The cause is under investigation and the military says there’s no sign of terrorism or of oil and gas infrastructure being involved. Prime Minister Mark Carney, addressing the nation from Ottawa, called it “one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime” and ordered flags at half-mast. Albertans vote Monday on whether to start down the road to a binding independence referendum; polls point to a loss for the separatists, Al Jazeera noted.
3. Washington / United States, and Kyiv / Ukraine. Trump said his suspension of new Russia sanctions is meant to keep Moscow talking: “I am in the process of negotiating Peace,” he wrote on Truth Social, adding he didn’t want to “drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” and claimed Volodymyr Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” BBC News reported. Zelenskyy told NBC’s Meet the Press that U.S. intelligence warnings on Russian ballistic missiles, cut off for three days, had been “deblocked… We are very thankful,” but said the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine was “a message from [the] American government… technically, SpaceX did it,” per The Guardian. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called that charge “very reckless.” Zelenskyy also warned that siding with Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake.” On the ground, two people were killed and at least 17 hurt as both sides kept hitting each other’s power grids.
4. Jerusalem / Israel. Trump gave Netanyahu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” ahead of the October 27 election, calling him a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” and writing, “If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” ABC News (Australia) reported. Netanyahu answered: “A friend of Israel wants Netanyahu to win.” Trump had declined to endorse him earlier this month in an interview with Time, per Al Jazeera. Hours before the post, Netanyahu warned that “in two years, a President, man or woman, could come to power who is very hostile to Israel,” and called for new alliances with India and Latin America, The Hindu reported. Separately, Austrian Airlines flight OS82 from Tel Aviv to Vienna diverted to Sofia after a bomb threat, escorted by a Bulgarian MiG-29; all 51 passengers and six crew got off, Al Jazeera reported.
5. Manama / Bahrain, and Riyadh / Saudi Arabia. Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers meeting in Manama condemned the Houthis’ repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia and said an attack on any of the six members affects them all, invoking their joint defence agreement, Al Jazeera reported. They urged tighter enforcement of the UN arms embargo and asked countries to designate the group a terrorist organisation. The Saudi-led coalition said it shot down drones near Riyadh and over the Eastern Province early Sunday, and fighting across Yemen has now displaced more than 233,000 people. In Riyadh, the 99-storey Kingdom Centre told tenants, including the International Monetary Fund, to work from home “until further notice,” and schools in the capital are online for a second week with King Khalid International Airport still shut, DW reported, citing AFP.
6. Nairobi / Kenya, and North Ubangi / DR Congo. Kenya confirmed its eighth Ebola case, a 49-year-old patient attendant who cleaned utensils and linens and was likely exposed to the country’s first case; one of 38 people tested Sunday came back positive, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Citizen TV, Al Jazeera reported. He developed symptoms Saturday and was quarantined. That follows four cases confirmed Saturday, three of them health workers. Congo, where this Bundibugyo-strain outbreak began in May, has recorded at least 9,400 cases and more than 4,500 deaths, and said Sunday the virus has reached an eighth province, North Ubangi. There’s no vaccine or specific treatment for this strain.
7. Taipei / Taiwan. Taiwan’s coastguard said it confronted and drove off 16 Chinese coastguard, research and fishing vessels in coordinated “maritime harassment” operations around the main island and the Pratas islands, calling it “hybrid warfare,” Al Jazeera reported. Some ships reportedly entered restricted waters, and Taipei accused Beijing of “attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo” in the Taiwan Strait. China, which claims Taiwan, deployed a record 244 coastguard, research and other ships around the island in July, according to Taiwanese data, up from 58 a year earlier.
8. Hagåtña / Guam, Aitutaki / Cook Islands, and Jalisco / Mexico. Trump approved emergency declarations for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands after Super Typhoon Champi passed about 10 miles south of Guam; by 4 p.m. Sunday local time it was 170 miles west of the island with 150 mph winds, moving away, RNZ Pacific reported. In the Cook Islands, Category 2 Cyclone Wati was forecast to pass over Aitutaki on Sunday local time before tracking over Mauke and Mangaia, with storm-force winds of 100 to 141 km/h possible. “It feels like she’s gonna come directly over the top of us,” Aitutaki mayor Nick Henry told RNZ. Off Mexico, the government dropped all warnings as Hurricane Trudy, at 100 mph (155 km/h) and 105 miles southwest of Cabo Corrientes at 2 p.m. MST, pulled away; it’s expected to weaken rapidly tonight, though another 1 to 4 inches of rain could fall in Jalisco, the National Hurricane Center said. And in Papua New Guinea, villagers on Lou Island in Manus say drought-fuelled wildfires have burned through about a third of the island, RNZ Pacific reported.
9. São Paulo / Brazil. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro traded insults in their first debate on Sunday night, a week before the October 25 runoff, AFP via CNA reported. Lula called his rival “a habitual liar, a thug” and said “he’s even worse than his father”; Bolsonaro shot back that “Brazil is going to retire you” and called Lula a “clown.” They clashed over crime, the economy, health and relations with the United States, per g1; Bolsonaro said he would classify the PCC and Comando Vermelho gangs as “narcoterrorist” organisations. On his father’s handling of Covid, Bolsonaro offered a “mea culpa.” He led the first round 47% to 45%.
10. Caracas / Venezuela. Venezuela’s main opposition alliance, the Unitary Democratic Platform, met in Caracas and agreed to “recognise and support the leadership” of exiled Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, Al Jazeera reported. It renewed its demand for free elections and set out 14 proposals for a democratic transition, including the release of all political prisoners and a safe return for exiles. “The will of the Venezuelans must once again govern the destiny of our nation,” former candidate Edmundo González wrote. No date has been set for a new presidential vote; interim President Delcy Rodríguez has led the country since January 3 with White House backing.
Coming Up
Confirmed dates on The Watch: October 19, Alberta’s referendum on whether to move toward a binding independence vote. October 25, Brazil’s presidential runoff (Flávio Bolsonaro vs Lula). October 27, Israel’s election for the 26th Knesset, and the Fed’s two-day meeting opens in Washington (October 27–28). Full board at the link.
