Second protest Saturday in a row, different outcome. Interior Ministry turnout: 410,000 nationwide, 110,000 in Paris — down from 550,000 last weekend. The CGT union says nearly 800,000 / 250,000 in Paris — treat both as claims, ministry vs organiser. About 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed, marches were kept to the south-east edge of Paris and banned or rerouted in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, and the Louvre and major museums stayed shut. Clashes still flared at the Paris endpoint at Porte de Vincennes (tear gas, water cannon, mortar fireworks), in Marseille and Bordeaux, and in Nice dozens of far-right activists attacked peaceful protesters (BFMTV via CNN). Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said there were no targeted attacks on town halls or police stations this time and looting was very limited compared with last weekend. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon warned of a general strike on November 5 if Macron does not respond. Sources: AP via Business Mirror · CNN · The Times.

Update on Friday's shooting, from Le Monde reporting Saturday: Kevin T., 39, arrested after the ~20-minute rampage in Trappes and La Verrière that killed a 26-year-old man and injured five people, told first responders he had avenged the shopkeepers looted on October 17 by targeting Black people and Arabs. That reported statement is a stated reason the anti-terror prosecutor (PNAT) is treating it as premeditated murder / attempted murder with a racist aggravating circumstance. The 12-year-old girl remains in critical condition, per the prosecutor Saturday. Le Monde and Le Parisien also report a copy of Mein Kampf was found at his flat — flag: that detail is press reporting, he has not been charged yet, and custody was extended 24 hours for formal questioning. No link to a political organisation had been established as of Saturday. Sources: Le Monde.

Rhetoric, not a new order — but the pairing is new. At a Friday rally in Fort Myers, Trump answered a shouted Cuba question: warships returning from Iran will pass Cuba, one will stop about 50 yards off the coast, they'll raise up their hands, and then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal (AP). Hours later Rubio posted on X urging Cubans who want change to seize this opportunity through a discrete partnership with the CIA, and the CIA shared a Spanish-language post on how to make contact. Context already in place this year: a U.S. oil blockade squeezing Cuba, sanctions, and criminal charges linked to Raúl Castro. Havana rejected the remarks as a threat. No formal military operation or policy was announced. Sources: AP via Military.com · Reuters via TBS News · USA Today.

The overnight move is the counter-filing. The DOJ suit, filed October 22, asks a federal judge to block Alaska certifying its Senate result if incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan loses narrowly and votes for a second ballot name — retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — could have swung it, pending an investigation into voter confusion. Trump said Friday I'm the one that said do it. Overnight, Mary Peltola's campaign and Democratic groups moved to intervene / challenge the bid, calling it corrupt and desperate (CNBC, USA Today); Peltola said it tells Alaskans they are not sophisticated enough to know who they voted for. Alaska courts previously kept the second Sullivan on the ballot after the state elections chief had ruled his candidacy was filed to confuse. This is a conditional, pre-election request — no result exists yet, Election Day is November 3, and Senate control could turn on this seat. Sources: Reuters · CNBC · USA Today.

Polls opened Sunday 7am local, close 8pm (1900 GMT), first indications about two hours later; official results not expected until Monday (Reuters). Snap election called in September after almost two years of student-led protests sparked by the November 2024 Novi Sad station canopy collapse that killed 16. Vučić resigned as president September 27 to head the SNS list as its prime-minister candidate. The challenger Student List — experts, doctors, artists, farmers, not a conventional party — is endorsed by several opposition parties that stood aside for it. Pre-election polling cited this week put SNS around 45% and the Student List around 42.5% — flag: the named survey behind that split is from July, so treat the gap as direction, not a live forecast. Long lines were reported in Belgrade and Novi Sad before polls opened. Sources: Reuters via Q106.

Two battlegrounds, one day, ten days out. Obama campaigned Saturday in Cleveland with Sherrod Brown (Senate, vs incumbent Jon Husted for JD Vance's old seat) and Amy Acton (governor, vs Vivek Ramaswamy), then in Detroit with Abdul El-Sayed (Senate) and Jocelyn Benson (governor) on Michigan's first day of early in-person voting. NBC's account of the pitch: Trump as an agent of chaos and cruelty, with Democrats running on gas and grocery prices. The Guardian's live coverage from Michigan carried the same rally. This is surrogate escalation, not a policy move — both parties are now flooding Ohio and Michigan in the final stretch. Sources: NBC News · The Guardian.