BBC News

In France, President Emmanuel Macron called for calm as authorities feared protests against the cost of living and rising fuel prices could lead to a violent escalation after weeks of student demonstrations. Live pictures from Saint-Denis showed crowds and police deployments in Paris, with high school and university students urged to join. The protests began in September in high schools in less affluent northern Paris suburbs over teacher absences and poor facilities and became a nationwide movement against inequality and falling standards. Hugh Schofield said the Lycée student movement had become a national phenomenon, led to clashes and injuries, and organisers planned a convergence of struggles including cost of living and petrol prices, with fears big city protests could end in violence and ultra-left elements cause problems. British teacher Kate Deegan said students were fed up with long hours, Parcoursup and building conditions, and wanted the government to notice them; she sympathised with their cause but did not condone violence. Macron was said to be in the final stretch of his term with a polarised electorate and fragmented domestic politics.

President Trump blocked new US sanctions targeting Russia's energy and defence sectors, Putin and other senior officials. The measures he signed into law a month earlier were due to take effect on Sunday to pressure Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Trump said the order was in America's best interests and came a week after a deal to buy a million tonnes of Russian diesel; Democrats accused him of capitulating to Russia and abandoning Ukraine, while a Putin envoy called the suspension historic. Bernd Debusmann said Trump put the bill on hold as his view of Zelensky soured, seeing him as an obstacle to peace and suggesting he should no longer be Ukraine's president, and had turned to Russian energy to address voter concerns about high energy prices before the midterms. Michael Bociurkiw said Ukraine had suffered another violent night with strikes on Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih, and Kyiv faced rolling blackouts and no heating; he said the move gave Putin an economic lifeline and Russia would watch whether it was welcomed back into the Western financial system or given a G20 seat in Miami. He also noted Senator Lindsey Graham had authored the bill before his death in July, and said Zelensky had no choice but to criticise Trump as Ukraine backed away from the US after paused intelligence sharing and Starlink interruptions.

White House Press Secretary Katie Zachariah left after five days; Trump said he told her to reconsider after a bruising start, following a 14-minute briefing and questions over her legal credentials. In Tirana, clashes spread to five other cities; police used tear gas and water cannon outside the Education Ministry, and Prime Minister Edi Rama resisted calls to resign as protests over education, living costs and alleged corruption continued. In the occupied West Bank, the UN said there had been nearly 200 settler attacks in two weeks as masked settlers attacked Palestinians and burned cars and olive trees during the olive harvest; Lucy Williamson reported injuries and an American journalist attacked, while Israel's prime minister said facts were unclear and under investigation. Police said a 16-year-old gunman killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, before a community member shot him dead; five died including the suspect, and hundreds mourned. A rare pink diamond went on display in France for the first time since its 1926 theft, when a hotel maid found it in an apple. Later, Paris police made 40 arrests, mostly for weapons or banned protective equipment.