The Rest of the World Report | October 7, 2026 — Morning Edition
The View From Everywhere Else
Weekday morning and evening editions. Saturdays once. Good news on Sundays. All sources labeled.
STUN GRENADES SUSPENDED
France has suspended police use of stun grenades against student protesters.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced it Wednesday on RTL radio. A 15-year-old lost a hand on Monday after police fired a stun grenade. Police have opened 18 internal investigations into misconduct since the protests began, Nuñez said.
A police officer was charged Tuesday over the case of a 14-year-old in northwest Paris. A tear gas grenade hit the boy in the face at close range. He lost several teeth.
The interior ministry counted about 266,000 marchers across France on Tuesday, 56,000 of them in Paris. Student organisers said 450,000, with 100,000 in Paris. Police made 488 arrests, and 43 members of the security forces were wounded. More than 6,500 people have been arrested since the movement began. Most are minors.
Students in Lille, Marseille, Lyon, Paris, Clermont-Ferrand and Rennes joined the march in large numbers. Many had only gathered inside their schools before. Many were protesting for the first time. The mood was mostly good-natured. Clashes broke out at the end of the Paris march.
Students have blocked hundreds of schools since mid-September. They cite too few teachers, harsh timetables and run-down buildings that cannot cope with summer heatwaves.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has suspended high school classes across France for the rest of the week. He has ordered ministers to answer the students’ demands by the end of October. He will address the country Wednesday on the protests and public finances, his office said.
President Donald Trump wrote Tuesday that what is happening in France is “out of control mass migration.” He said it is not about schools. He tied it to Islam.
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said open borders and unchecked immigration had helped fuel the frustration. He condemned the violence. Theo Wold, a former White House domestic policy official under Trump, said the violence is a consequence of mass immigration. Both spoke to Fox News. The same Fox report notes that Reuters and AP described a movement that began over school conditions.
In 2023, Fox paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit over false claims about the 2020 election. Fox acknowledged the court’s rulings that those claims were false. The settlement came as the trial was about to open. A second suit, from Smartmatic, seeks $2.7 billion and remains pending.
Iran summoned France’s ambassador, Pierre Cochard, on Tuesday. Tehran accused France of “violent treatment” of protesters. The two countries expelled each other’s diplomats in August. Iran’s own protests in January left more than 3,000 dead, according to Iranian authorities. Those authorities blamed the United States and Israel.
Editor’s note, from Paris: ROTWR’s editor is in Paris. In the editor’s account, the unions, students, teachers and city officials on the front lines are asking for one thing. They want better conditions for learning. That means better schools, more teachers and more resources. The immigration and Islam framing in this story comes from Trump’s post and the U.S. officials quoted above.
🌍 Translator’s Note: Le Monde opens with the marchers, not the arrests. Its report draws on correspondents in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Nîmes, Rennes, Clermont-Ferrand and Tours. It describes students from all backgrounds, joined by parents, elected officials and union activists, in a mostly good-natured march. France 24 reports from a Marais barricade as well as the suburbs. Neither frames the protests around immigration. In both, the people interviewed talk about staffing, class sizes and buildings.
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: Trump says the French protests are not about schools and ties them to Islam. The students, teachers, unions and officials in the reporting describe a protest over school conditions. France has suspended stun grenades after a 15-year-old lost a hand.
Sources: France 24 (France, state-funded public broadcaster; stun grenade suspension, 18 investigations, student and teacher accounts, school blockades); Le Monde (France, centre-left; interior ministry and organiser counts, 488 arrests, first-time marchers, mood of the march); Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; Reuters copy; class suspension, Lecornu orders and statement, Trump post); Dawn (Pakistan, editorially independent; AFP copy; wounded officers, officer charged, AFP on Trump); Arab News (Saudi Arabia, note Gulf editorial environment; AFP copy; suspension, 15-year-old, 6,500 arrests, Lecornu address); Arab News (Saudi Arabia; AFP copy; Iran summons ambassador); Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; 2023 Dominion settlement); ABC News (US; Smartmatic suit, $2.7 billion); Fox News (US, Tier 1 advocacy outlet, maximum caution; Waltz and Wold statements, Reuters and AP caveat)
OCTOBER 7, THREE YEARS ON
Three years ago today, Hamas-led fighters killed 1,221 people in Israel.
That figure comes from official Israeli tallies. The fighters took 251 hostages into Gaza. Forty-four were already dead.
Israel’s war in Gaza has since killed more than 74,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry is under Hamas authority. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
A ceasefire took effect last October. Israeli forces have killed more than 1,430 people in Gaza since, the ministry says. Israel says it controls more than 60 percent of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in tents and temporary structures.
A United Nations commission of inquiry found in September 2025 that Israel’s military operations in Gaza constitute genocide. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, chaired by Navi Pillay, found genocidal intent. It held Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog individually responsible. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the findings and called for the commission’s abolition.
The International Court of Justice has not ruled. South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is in written pleadings. Israel filed its counter-memorial in March 2026 and raised jurisdictional objections. South Africa’s reply is due November 22, 2027. Israel’s rejoinder is due May 22, 2029.
An Israeli strike in Gaza City overnight killed two people, Al-Shifa hospital reported. Gaza’s civil defence agency named one of them as Mohamed Tamous, a volunteer.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said Monday that Israeli operations damaged an estimated 82 percent of all buildings in Gaza between late 2023 and June 2026. It counted 201,290 buildings targeted and 134,422 destroyed. It said about 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure was damaged. About 90 percent of the 2.1 million residents have been displaced.
Defense Minister Israel Katz put the military on high alert Tuesday. He cited intelligence that Hamas intends to attack troops in Gaza on the anniversary. He warned Hamas and Gaza’s civilians would pay a price if troops were harmed. At Monday’s state memorial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no Hamas rule in Gaza. He vowed to keep targeting anyone involved in the attack or who held hostages.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday, “It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent.” He said the ceasefire has yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery. Israel refuses to withdraw its troops until Hamas disarmament is verified. Hamas favors gradual disarmament.
In the West Bank, the olive harvest has begun under attack. On Tuesday Palestinians said a settler opened fire on people harvesting near Aqraba. Several were wounded and others were beaten. Among the wounded was AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh. The Israeli military did not immediately respond. No arrests were made.
In the Hebron Hills, a Palestinian family says settlers have besieged their home since Monday and set up a tent blocking the only road to it. In Burqa, near Ramallah, a house was burned overnight. Arrests for settler violence are highly rare and convictions less common.
Netanyahu has described the settler violence as the work of a small number of delinquents. Shin Bet chief David Zini told a cabinet meeting Sunday that he may reinstate administrative detention for violent Jewish extremists.
More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry. The Israeli military says the vast majority were gunmen, rioters or attackers. Sixty-seven civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in attacks in Israel and the West Bank in the same period.
On Tuesday, Israeli bulldozers demolished a five-story building in East Jerusalem’s At-Tur neighborhood. About 70 people lived there. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir oversaw the demolition and said the building had no permit. “I love hearing this noise. We demolish what is illegal,” he said in a video. The Jerusalem Governorate, a Palestinian local authority, called it forcible transfer.
Israel votes October 27.
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: Israel puts its dead at 1,221 and Gaza’s health ministry puts Gaza’s at more than 74,200. A ceasefire began last October, and the ministry says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,430 people in Gaza since. In the West Bank, Israeli reporting says arrests for settler attacks are rare.
Sources: Malay Mail (Malaysia; AFP copy; 1,221, hostages, Gaza ministry figures, Katz alert, Netanyahu); Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; September 2025 commission finding, individual responsibility, Israel’s response); Government of South Africa (South Africa, Presidency statement, party to the case; May 2026 ICJ order, filing deadlines); Arab News (Saudi Arabia, note Gulf editorial environment; AFP copy; Guterres statement, disarmament positions); Arab News (Saudi Arabia; AFP copy; Gaza City strike); Arab News (Saudi Arabia; Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics figures); ElectionGuide (US, IFES election database; Knesset election date); The Times of Israel (Israel, right-centre; West Bank deaths and Israeli casualties since October 7, IDF characterization, Netanyahu); The Times of Israel (Israel, right-centre; Aqraba, Hebron Hills, Burqa, At-Tur demolition, Zini, Katz warning)
TRUMP’S LOS ANGELES REMARK
President Donald Trump said Monday, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
He was speaking at a midterm rally in Grand Island, Nebraska. He had told the crowd that Americans should accept sacrifices to deny Iran a nuclear weapon. He called the cost very small and said the war would be over soon.
The remark seemed to refer to the war’s knock-on effects, including rising fuel and fertiliser prices.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump was saying U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran had not been stopped. He called the criticism a “media freakout.” The White House rapid response account said Trump was saying the United States is fighting to stop Iran from being able to take out the two cities with a nuclear weapon.
California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump deranged and dangerous. He cited the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles last year. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the nuclear annihilation of an American city is no laughing matter.
Jim Desmond, a Republican running for a House seat near San Diego, said he vehemently disagreed and that no American city is expendable. Representative Kevin Kiley, an independent who caucuses with Republicans, called the remarks “unhelpful.”
Los Angeles County has the largest Iranian-American community in the United States. The 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey counts 86,430 people of Iranian ancestry there. San Diego County has 17,138. The Migration Policy Institute found that 29 percent of Iranian immigrants in the United States lived in Los Angeles County in 2015 to 2019.
California has 52 House seats, the most of any state. The war began February 28 and is in its eighth month. No lasting ceasefire has been reached, and polls show the war is widely unpopular in the United States.
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: The president said Monday that Iran could take out two California cities. The White House says he meant a nuclear Iran would threaten them. Democrats and some Republicans criticized the remark.
Sources: Al Jazeera (Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent; Reuters copy; Trump remarks, reading of the remark, White House response, Newsom, Desmond, Kiley, rally location); Social Explorer (US, data provider; 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey ancestry counts for Los Angeles and San Diego counties); Migration Policy Institute (US, nonpartisan research institute, analyst orientation noted; Iranian immigrant share in Los Angeles County, 2015 to 2019 census data); Al-Monitor (US-based, Middle East specialist, centrist; AFP copy; Cheung, rapid response account, Jeffries)
THE HORMUZ FOOD WARNING
The International Chamber of Commerce warns that cereal prices may rise by as much as 80 percent if there is no progress on unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
John Denton, the group’s secretary-general, said available fertilizer capacity has fallen by nearly 40 percent since the strait was disrupted. That removed 2.7 million tons from the market. About one-third of global fertilizer shipments pass through the strait.
Developing and emerging economies will feel the hit first. The Philippines imports roughly 90 percent of its fertilizer.
Denton sits on the U.N. Task Force for the Strait of Hormuz. The task force has worked with U.N. agencies and the International Maritime Organization on a framework that would temporarily hand governance of the waterway to the U.N. Secretary-General. It was proposed in July. It would set up monitoring, inspections, maritime insurance and protocols for safe transit.
Denton said the mechanism is stalled by the gridlock between the United States and Iran. It cannot be deployed without a political agreement between them, he said.
Recurring Black Sea disruptions add to the pressure. So does severe El Niño weather, which is expected to disrupt harvests and drive up consumer inflation.
The war began February 28, when the United States and Israel struck Iran.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization measures prices as they stand. Its food price index rose 1.5 percent in September to 136.0. That is the highest reading since November 2022. The index remains 15.1 percent below its March 2022 peak.
The cereal index rose 5.1 percent on the month and 17.2 percent on the year. The agency tied the wheat rise largely to Black Sea shipping constraints and dry weather in North America. It said uncertainty over shipping through Hormuz kept concerns about fuel, fertilizer and freight costs elevated.
FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said that if the pressures are sustained, they will soon pass through to consumer food prices, especially in countries that depend on imported food and energy.
President Donald Trump told a rally in Nebraska on Monday that high gas prices from the war are “a small price to pay.”
🇺🇸 What American readers need to know: The International Chamber of Commerce says cereal prices may rise up to 80 percent if there is no progress on the strait. A U.N. plan to govern the waterway is stalled until the United States and Iran agree. The UN food agency’s cereal index is already up 17.2 percent on the year, with Black Sea disruption and weather also cited. The president has called high gas prices from the war a small price to pay.
Sources: Democracy Now! (US, independent nonprofit; relays the Wall Street Journal interview with Denton; Trump rally remark); The Wall Street Journal (US, centre-right, Tier 2 label; Kimberley Kao interview with Denton; 80 percent cereal estimate, fertilizer capacity down nearly 40 percent, 2.7 million tons removed, one-third of global fertilizer shipments, Philippines, U.N. task force and stalled mechanism, Black Sea, El Niño); Food and Agriculture Organization (UN agency, primary; September index, cereal index, causes cited); Reuters (wire, via bdnews24, Bangladesh; Torero statement, highest since November 2022)
NUMBERS AT PUBLICATION
🇮🇷 Iran: 3,684 killed
🇱🇧 Lebanon: 4,386 killed, 12,413 wounded
🇮🇱 Israel: 1,200+ killed, ~5,400 wounded
🇺🇸 US military: 23 killed, 861 wounded
🇵🇸 Gaza: 74,372+ killed, 5,060+ wounded (since ceasefire)
🇵🇸 West Bank: 322 killed (incl. 74 children), 5,927 wounded (incl. 946 children) since January 2025
🛢️ Brent crude: $101.80/barrel
⛽ US gas: $4.37/gallon
Sources: Lebanon MOPH; gazacasualties.org (Gaza total).
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789