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BBC News with Fiona MacDonald.
The authorities in France say they made nearly a thousand arrests during a day of nationwide protests over the cost of living. Clashes broke out in Paris and other cities after hundreds of thousands took to the streets, with police using tear gas and protesters throwing fireworks and other objects. Our correspondent in Paris, Hugh Schofield, gave us this analysis. In ordinary circumstances, you'd be saying, well what's the point of all this given that we have elections in a few months. I think it all bespeaks something much more deep in the French situation, a state which is powerless really, which is a vacuum of authority at the top of France because Macron is leaving, he has no majority in parliament, he can't do anything, and there's this general sense that power is there to be taken. So I think this is all encouraging, this sense that it's time to get out and show yourself and make your presence felt. Cost of living protests have also been held across Italy. There were clashes in various cities including Milan, Turin, Bologna and Rome. Italian police say they detained nearly 400 people nationwide. In Belgium, police used tear gas and pepper spray as they clashed with demonstrators calling for better conditions in the education system. Campaigning is intensifying in the United States ahead of the mid-term congressional elections on November 3. President Trump voted early in his home state of Florida before heading to a Republican rally in Georgia. The former president, Barack Obama, has addressed Democratic Party rallies in Ohio and Michigan. This is what he told the crowd in Michigan. "When you've campaigned in as many elections as I have, I can tell you when an election comes along that just feels a little bit different. An election where people are so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired, that everywhere you go it feels like change is in the air." Supporters of Brazil's President Lula and his conservative challenger Flávio Bolsonaro have held rallies in a final push for support ahead of Sunday's run-off election. Electronic voting machines have been delivered to polling stations ahead of the vote, with opinion polls showing the two men neck and neck. Our correspondent Ione Wells is in Rio de Janeiro. Many of Flávio Bolsonaro's supporters here are optimistic that he is going to win on Sunday because he won the first round of voting earlier this month. But in the last couple of days, the polls have been really tightening, suggesting this could be a very, very close race. And earlier today, in another part of town on Copacabana beach, there was also an enormous rally of President Lula's supporters trying to mobilize his fans to get the vote out on Sunday. World news from the BBC. Israel's defense minister has said that around 2,000 Palestinians have been displaced during a military operation in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Israel Katz said they would not be allowed to return until the IDF had finished dealing with what he called "the Hamas issues." Nigerian police say they've recovered 10 bodies following an attack on a village in the state of Taraba. They said unidentified gunmen invaded the community of Binnari after Friday's Muslim prayers, looting shops and setting homes on fire, but fled before police arrived. It's emerged that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, sent a letter to her father last year telling him she knew he had abused young girls and that she would never allow him to meet his grandchildren. Meghan also made it clear that she would never contact her father again. Mr. Markle has denied allegations made by his son that he possessed child sex abuse images at his home in the Philippines. Here's our senior royal correspondent, Daniela Ralph. The letter sent from the Duchess of Sussex to Thomas Markle appears to be the end of what has been a troubled relationship between father and daughter. Sources close to Meghan say she warned her father that both she and the authorities knew he'd abused young girls. It's understood details of the letter first reported in The Sun on Sunday include Meghan telling Thomas Markle that he would never meet his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, with Meghan making it clear she would never contact her father again. Thomas Markle denies the allegations of abuse made against him. The Catholic Church in the U.S. state of New York has reached an agreement to pay more than $800 million to 1,300 people who say they were sexually abused by its clergy. The alleged offenses stretch back nearly a quarter of a century. The settlement's expected to be signed early next month. Church leaders were often accused of covering up the cases. BBC News. |