Several social media accounts associated with sharing anti-immigrant views claim French Muslims were responsible for burning five churches on October 17 – the day the nation was rocked by en masse protests. But both this number and story are fictitious. The French government agency that monitors religious heritage sites confirmed only one fire in a church occured in recent days; its cause unknown.

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, divisions within the MAGA camp are becoming increasingly visible. From the war in Iran and rising fuel prices to the Epstein files, several of Trump’s decisions are fuelling divisions among his most loyal supporters. Once united by a shared vision of America, MAGA now brings together factions that increasingly disagree over foreign policy, the economy and what “America First” should actually mean. Yet Trump remains the central figure holding this political coalition together – and he is fighting to keep it that way. Why are some of the president’s longtime allies distancing themselves from him? Can MAGA remain united despite these disagreements? And can Trump still mobilise his base ahead of the midterms? 🔍 Our journalist Stella Elgersma breaks down the divisions within the MAGA movement and Donald Trump’s strategy to rally his supporters, once again.

Catherine Viette is pleased to welcome Jens Schumacher, Field Coordinator in Mykolaiv and Kherson with Solidarity International. Just a few kilometers separate the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson from Russian-occupied Oleshky. For civilians caught between military occupation, disrupted essential services and uncertain evacuation arrangements, geographical proximity offers little guarantee of access to life-saving assistance. Schumacher examines the humanitarian implications of a temporary ceasefire around Oleshky, where approximately 2,000 civilians were reported to remain. Although the cessation of attacks has created a limited opportunity for humanitarian operations, the geographical scope of the agreement, the prospects for evacuation and the possibility of sustained humanitarian access remain uncertain.

Russia’s most renowned independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, announced on Friday that it was ceasing publication after more than three decades. Known for its courageous investigative journalism, the flagship newspaper said the Kremlin’s crackdown and ban on the media outlet had made it impossible to continue its work.

We speak to the influential and long-serving president of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Koen Lenaerts. The court is the EU's supreme judicial authority, responsible for ensuring that European law is interpreted and applied across all 27 member states.

Some residents of Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine ravaged by food and medicine shortages, left on Friday during a rare ceasefire brokered by the United States – due to end on Sunday evening. Ukrainian and Russian officials visited the town together on Friday, delivering aid and marshalling those who wanted to leave.

Russian made an unprecedented combative move this month as one of its military satellites, the Cosmos-2612, encroached upon the orbit of Ukrainian commercial satellite, Iceye-X36, in behaviour deemed "threatening" by the US State Department. Norbert Pouzin, an orbital analyst at French space tech firm, Aldoria, described the mercenary manoeuvre as the first of its kind.

From the EU's perspective, the second Trump presidency has felt even more destabilising than the first. From making the false claim that the EU was set up to "screw" the United States, to slapping tariffs on European goods, to making territorial claims on Greenland, to doing a diesel deal with Vladimir Putin and telling Ukraine to get a new president, Donald Trump has more than ruffled feathers on this side of the ocean. He has shaken the very foundations of the historical transatlantic relationship.

Carys Garland is pleased to welcome Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics ECARES at Lancaster University. An international dockworkers’ strike brings into focus the relationship between organized labor, technological change and Europe’s expanding military investment. Foucart argues that port workers’ strategic position in global supply chains gives them exceptional leverage: “They know how powerful they are.” While questioning their ability to redirect military policy, he expects that leverage to secure concessions on automation and working conditions: “They can get those concessions. And I think they will get them.”

Starving and exhausted residents of Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine, were being evacuated on Friday, October 30, as part of a joint relief operation involving the opposing sides – the first operation of its kind in four years and eight months of war. FRANCE 24’s Ukraine correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze reports.

In France, thousands were protesting in the Paris suburb of La Verrière on Friday, a week after a racist terrorist attack killed one person and injured five others. The suspect, identified as Kevin T., admitted he was targeting people based on their appearance or religion and has been transferred to a Paris court. FRANCE 24's Morgan Ayre reports.

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance has been targeted by a record-breaking $6.3 billion cyber heist, with blockchain intelligence firms linking the attack to North Korea. By Thursday night in the US, a coordinated effort by major crypto platforms successfully froze roughly $3 billion of the stolen assets during a high-stakes race to track and secure the digital funds.

A second day of mourning is underway in Spain, with some families still waiting for news about missing loved ones, following Wednesday's high speed train crash that killed 69 people. Some have flooded social media with desperate appeals for information, posting photos or describing the clothes their relatives were wearing when they boarded the trains.

According to one poll, 82 per cent of white evangelical Protestants voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election. That makes pastor Caleb Campbell a significant outlier – he has been one of the few outspoken evangelical critics of the Trump administration, dating back to the president’s first term when he felt compelled to speak out against Trump’s plans to put “kids in cages” as part of an immigration crackdown. “I was told that I was possessed by a demon,” Campbell remembers. Now, as the midterms approach, he fears US politics and the current administration have become more distant than ever from the Bible’s teachings.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "did not win" this week's election in Israel but "lost dramatically", and that his rival Gadi Eisenkot should ally with Arab parties. Barak also suggested that claims of Qatari funding for an Arab party aimed to distract from an ongoing corruption scandal, and warned that Netanyahu was ready to strike Iran to stay in power.

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike said she remains in constant pain after surviving a botched lethal injection in September, in her first public statement since the failed execution. She expressed gratitude for those who saved her life while urging compassion for her victim's family.

Israel's wartime election appeared deadlocked on Tuesday, exit polls showed, ​with Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc running neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp, leaving neither side with a clear path to power. The projections pointed to a setback for Netanyahu's coalition and potentially weeks of political wrangling to form a government. FRANCE 24's Jerusalem correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky has more.

France's interior minister on Thursday warned of a "very high risk of public disorder" and announced the deployment of around 70,000 police officers for a new wave of protests this weekend. France has been rocked by widespread anger over the rising cost of living and inequality, with nationwide demonstrations on October 17 degenerating into some of the country's worst rioting in years. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Rochelle Ferguson Bouyahi tells us more.

A Greek container ship has sunk after being struck by three drones, potentially of Russian origin, in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast on Wednesday, October 28. This incident highlights growing concerns for commercial shipping as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia persists.

In this edition of arts24, "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" returns to French cinemas in a contemporary reinterpretation starring Deva Cassel and Romain Duris. We take a closer look.