FRANCE - France is seeing its worst riots in decades — violence clearly aimed not simply at the ruling party, but at France itself — and the left-liberal establishment is still trying to blame a few bad apples. That’s true not just of President Emmanuel Macron, but of global media that claim it’s mainly about student grievances over budget cuts — at least one BBC article actually used the phrase “mostly peaceful protests.”

FRANCE - The French are revolting. It’s a tradition with them. Riots are as French as croissants, adultery and the 35-hour work week. France’s current riots may, however, presage the fall of the Fifth Republic. Mobs of students in the streets. Schools going up in flames. Police using tear gas and flash-ball guns. Hundreds of injuries and thousands of arrests. The spark for the disorder was strikes by left-wing teachers and other public-sector workers, including firemen. The students besieged their schools at once.

EUROPE - Elsewhere in Europe, copycat protests also took hold on the streets of Italy and Belgium. A rally against the cost of living took place in Milan, Italy, which saw numerous clashes with police. Italian police fired tear gas at Italian protesters in the square in front of Milan's Gothic cathedral, after rioters allegedly threw stones at officers, France 24 reported. Protesters in Milan also gathered in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - a luxury shopping centre. Shop owners put down their shutters and tourists appeared to flee the central area as the clashes turned violent, with the central Duomo metro station being temporarily closed. Several people were reported to be injured and a number of arrests were made, according to Italian media. Meanwhile, in Brussels, demonstrators were seen standing on an overturned car during a students' protest in Belgium, inspired by the demonstrations in France.

ALBANIA - Thousands of young Albanians gathered outside the Education Ministry in ​the center of the capital Tirana on Saturday on the fifth day of a growing student-led movement ‌to force Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. The protest turned violent when a group of young people wearing masks hurled rocks at riot police, who responded with stun grenades, tear gas and a water cannon. Demonstrations over corruption and a lack ​of jobs have begun spreading throughout Albania. In Tirana this week, protesters smashed windows, set alight ​government buildings and clashed with police.

USA - 17th October: US President Donald Trump has declined to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid for reelection, even as the campaign for the upcoming Knesset elections intensifies. In a Thursday interview with Newsmax, Trump acknowledged pressure to take a public stance but stopped short of any commitment.

USA - 19th October: Axios points out, "This is the first time in the history of the US–Israel relations that a US president explicitly and publicly endorsed a candidate in the Israeli elections."

USA - A string of major earthquakes along the Pacific Ocean's 'Ring of Fire' has triggered a chain reaction that may soon result in a historic disaster along America's West Coast. Geophysicist Stefan Burns told the Daily Mail that there were clear warning signs that the same megaquakes which have struck Asia in recent years are shifting along the Pacific Plate as the gigantic tectonic structure attempts to balance itself.

UK - Four in five jobs created over the past decade have been taken by migrants. Of the 3.7 million new roles recorded under the PAYE system since 2014, just 734,000 were taken by UK nationals, a think-tank has found. EU citizens accounted for 408,000 jobs, while the vast majority – 2.5 million – went to migrants from the rest of the world, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said, with most of the surge coming since the pandemic.

FRANCE - Islamo-Marxist Rioters Threaten Macron’s Palace as Historic Buildings Burn to the Ground, Police Run For Their Lives, and Stores Get Looted. Now, one of the most historic structures in the entire country, the 143-year-old Limoges town hall, has now burned to the ground as the police continue to sit on their hands.

USA - Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, is frantically trying to cap rates. France may be about to trigger a fresh eurozone crisis. And here in Britain, John Healey, the new Chancellor, is facing what his predecessor would no doubt have described as a “black hole” in the public finances. As bond yields – the cost of borrowing – rise relentlessly, so far all the attention has focused on the effect on hugely indebted governments. But the crisis is about to ripple out into the real economy – and, unfortunately, that will prove a lot more serious. That will hurt in three main ways. To start with, mortgage rates are starting to rise. The average five-year fixed rate hit 6 percent in Britain this week, and is still climbing. In reality, we may soon face a steep downturn in the property market, a collapse in bank lending, and plenty of over-indebted companies running into trouble, with some even forced to close. Worst of all, that will reduce tax revenues even further, forcing the Government to increase borrowing, which will push rates even higher. The economy will be trapped in a vicious cycle from which there will be no easy escape.