Reuters World News - France unrest, Canada military base, Pope Leo and Siberian bears
Episode Date: October 18, 2026Clashes broke out between demonstrators and police across France as more than half a million people took to the streets to denounce the rising cost of living. People have been killed and injured... in a serious incident that resulted in a fire on one of Canada's busiest military bases. Pope Leo has his first appearance since surgery for lung cancer. And Siberian hunters declare open season on bears after spate of deadly attacks. Podcasts, breaking news, and video analysis from the source. Download the Reuters app here. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast here. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hi, I'm Tara Oaks in London.
It's Sunday, October 18th.
Today, a serious incident causes a major fire at a Canadian military base.
Mass protests in France spiral into the worst violence in years.
And in Yemen's besieged Thais, families take shelter as Houthis close in.
This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines
in 10 minutes, seven days a week.
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First of some developing news from Canada,
where people have been killed and injured in a serious incident
that resulted in a fire on one of Canada's busiest military bases.
Defense Minister David McGinty has confirmed the incident in Alberta
but did not say how many people were killed or injured
or what caused the situation at the base
where a major fire is still burning at the time of recording.
Stay acrossroiter's.com and the Reuters app for the latest on what we know so far.
It's like a war zone here.
That's Dutch tourist Tijer de Boer in Paris,
saying protests forced him and his.
family to evacuate their hotel. Clashes broke out between demonstrators and police across
fronts on Saturday, as more than half a million people took to the streets to denounce the
rising cost of living. While hundreds of thousands protested peacefully, violent fringe groups targeted
public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets and attacked police vehicles and offices.
In limoge, workers assessed the damage to the 143-year-old City Hall,
which was partially destroyed in an arson attack.
The unrest has increased pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government,
with the presidential election due next year.
Prime Minister Sebastian Nekornu says the government will not be intimidated by violence
and blamed the unrest on what he calls the ultra-left.
and criminals. Reuters Lili Farudy was on the streets of Paris.
The student protest started in the poor suburbs of Paris but has now become a national movement
that is even going beyond the demands around education. People here have been talking
about generally asking for more money to be invested in the public service and contesting
the rising cost of living. Lili says allegations of police violence have become a lightning rod
for public anger after a number of demonstrators were injured.
One teenager lost his hand after picking up a stun grenade.
Many protesters here today have come to denounce the police violence
and the repression that the student movement has been met with over the last few weeks.
There has been more than 8,000 arrests and many injuries of students, some of them irreversible.
French authorities say more than 900 police officers have also been injured in the protests.
Crowds cheering there at the Vatican as Pope Leo appeared,
his first public event since undergoing surgery for lung cancer earlier this week.
He thanked people for their prayers and says he will resume his normal schedule.
Now to Yemen, where, in the city of Taiz, Reuters met 42-year-old Ali Hassan
at his school where displaced families are sheltering.
He says his father.
The family has fled multiple times as front lines shifted across the province.
Now, they're living under a stairwell.
Taiz is once again at the centre of a country's civil war.
Houthi forces are tightening their siege around the city.
Aid agencies say more than 120,000 people have been displaced in Taiz alone.
And the World Health Organization warns,
Some hospitals have just days of fuel left.
Middle East lead writer Angus McDowell
says the city is rapidly emerging
as the most important battlefront in Yemen's civil war.
Strategically, it's absolutely crucial.
It's the last major urban stronghold
held by pro-government forces
in the southern part of Yemen's highlands.
And that's an area which commands the heights
over the Red Sea coastal plain running down to the Babel Mandas Strait,
which is itself crucial for global oil supplies,
and the Indian Ocean coastal plain,
which is where the city of Arden is located.
Age groups also warn if Ahuthis take the city,
it could make an already dire humanitarian crisis even worse.
But for families like Hassans,
the question isn't where the fighting goes next,
it's where they'll sleep.
night.
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President Trump is preparing for another week of campaigning for congressional Republicans,
trying to win over both battleground states and states traditionally considered safe red states.
This time next week, he'll be.
in Michigan, where our correspondent Eric Cox has been talking to locals about what's top of mind,
heading to November 3rd. Michigan is a key battleground for November's midterm elections. Democrat,
Abdul Al-Sayed, and Republican Mike Rogers are fighting for a Senate seat that can help determine
the direction of Washington. I've spoken to a lot of voters here in Michigan, and one issue
rises above the rest. There is no middle class anymore when you look at it. You've got to
the rich and you got the poll.
That's 80-year-old Lenin McLaughlin, who says he's worried about the economic divide in his community.
President Trump's influence looms large over this race.
While Rogers largely aligns with the president's agenda, he breaks ranks by calling for an
end to the tariff war and the conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, El-Sayyed is pushing a progressive platform
that includes Medicare for All and curbing corporate power, the war in Gaza, and America's support for
for Israel another flashpoint.
El-Sayyad opposes U.S. military aid to Israel,
while Roger supports continued assistance.
With stark differences on the economy, Trump,
and the war in Gaza, these candidates are offering voters
competing visions for the country.
And with control of the Senate at stake,
Michigan could not only decide who represents their state,
but what comes next for America as a whole.
In China, the push to boosts to boosts.
food security and rely less on foreign exports has forced companies to invest in new technology.
And now they're producing more than the country can consume.
The solution?
And loading it abroad.
But the surge in cheap Chinese protein is drawing scrutiny from Western producers and regulators.
It signals fresh trade friction.
Daphne Jung and Lewis Jackson have been knocking into it.
It's a pattern similar to what we've seen in autos, solar,
and steel. Huge overcapacity at home has forced these companies to go abroad to look for new markets,
and now they're undercutting rivals in Asia and Europe. For consumers in the Middle East,
Southeast Asia, Africa, it's kind of like a benefit to them because they are increasingly
going to have cheaper products. It's at a price point that a lot of Western producers can't match.
So they like it. But the competitors, you know, at the same time, they're complaining about
The inconsistent quality, the reputation of Chinese products certainly has improved in the last 10 years.
But of course, it still lingers in a lot of buyers' mind about, you know, the food safety issues and like that.
But at the same time, producers told us, when your chicken products is the $1,000 cheaper per tonne compared with Brazil and Thai chicken, you know, those buyers, those dealers in Middle Eastern countries, they'll come to you.
It's a very interesting dynamic at this time.
In a Siberian snow forest, hunters stalk a brown bear
before shooting and killing it.
Russia's brown bear population has spiraled out of control.
At least 22 people have been killed in attacks since spring,
according to state media.
Several of them were in the Krasnoyask region,
where local hunters have decided to take action.
It's a very tough way of the medvedes,
the eustilius
out of the medvede.
Mikhail Kondakov is one of them.
He's crouching in the grass,
cradling his rifle and feeling the
fur of a dead bear in front of him.
There are now over
300,000 brown bears in Russia,
more than doubled the population 30 years ago.
Experts cited in Russian media,
say an early dry spring
meant fewer berries for them to eat
and they were forced to eat,
to look further afield for food.
Potisovo resident Yulia Markova says people initially felt sorry for the bears,
but after the killings, that changed.
We've already two months, live in strachie.
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