From a church massacre in Jordan to a terror probe in Paris, a deadly earthquake in Tibet, cluster warheads over Kyiv and a parliament brawl in Albania, Friday brought some of the heaviest news of the week. Here are the day's biggest global developments, with the latest reported figures and what happens next.
France: 70,000 officers deployed for Saturday's protests
France is bracing for what could be a volatile weekend. Around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes — with helicopters, armored vehicles, water cannons and elite units guarding public buildings in a "highly mobile" operation — will deploy nationwide on Saturday, October 24 for cost-of-living marches joined by students, the CGT union and "yellow vest" activists, per AP and The Hindu. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez cited social-media calls by radical far-left groups for violence, vandalism and looting, promising a "very firm approach to making arrests."
The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Picasso museum and Grand Palais will all be closed Saturday, the Culture Ministry said, and Art Basel Paris canceled its weekend program. Last weekend's unrest — fires, looting, stormed buildings — was France's most violent in years. Meanwhile President Macron met student organizations on Friday, and the PSG–Lyon football match was postponed from Sunday to Monday evening.
Jordan: 7 killed at church funeral, manhunt under way
Seven people were killed and 27 wounded when two masked gunmen opened fire during a funeral at the Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud village, Karak governorate, on Friday, according to the Public Security Directorate chief Obaidullah Al-Maaytah (Al Jazeera). An explosion was heard as the procession began; the attackers — one with a pistol, one with a rifle — fired for several minutes at the 150–200 mourners, most aged 50–70, then fled.
No arrests, no identities, no claim of responsibility. Security forces are still pursuing the two suspects, and it is unclear whether specific individuals or the gathering itself was targeted. King Abdullah II called it a "terrorist act" and vowed authorities will confront it "with the harshest penalties": "we will strike with an iron fist against anyone who overreaches against this country." Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya called the attack "unprecedented," committed by a group with "no relationship to humanity."
Paris suburbs: 1 dead, 4 hurt in suspected racist terror attack
One person was killed and four wounded — including a 12-year-old girl shot eight times — after a gunman fired an automatic weapon from his vehicle at three locations in Trappes and La Verrière, west of Paris, on Friday morning. The suspect, Kevin T., 39, was arrested 16 minutes after the first alert; France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) is investigating it as terrorism with a possible racist motive, after the suspect reportedly told officers he wanted to "kill foreigners."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called the case "very serious," mobilizing all security forces and judicial authorities. Read our full report on the Trappes shooting.
Tibet: 16 dead in 7.0 earthquake, race against -9°C cold
The strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024 struck Baqen County, Nagqu City, Tibet at 10:33 pm local time Thursday — a magnitude 7.0 quake (USGS; depth 18 km). Latest verified figures: 16 killed, 65–76 injured (11 seriously), with 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed, per Hindustan Times and Tribune India.
12,489 residents have been evacuated as more than 1,600 personnel deploy; 3,239 tents, 1,000 prefabricated housing units and thousands of beds and quilts have been delivered. President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out search and rescue. Trains on the Qinghai-Xizang Railway resumed at reduced speed, power is back for 1,937 households — but National Highway 317 is partially closed, and temperatures forecast at -9°C with snowfall Saturday are complicating the rescue.
Ukraine: Russia fires cluster-warhead missiles at Kyiv after Witkoff visit
Overnight October 21–22, Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves plus 210 drones (181 intercepted). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using three ballistic missiles with cluster warheads — detonating in the air and scattering submunitions over a ~400-meter diameter. Presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov identified Iskander-M missiles with K5 cluster warheads (58 submunitions each). Toll: 1 killed, 24 wounded (4 children) in Kyiv; nationally 4 killed, 34 injured (5 children) across 12 regions (Times Now, Kyiv Independent).
The timing is pointed: the barrage came hours after US envoy Steve Witkoff's three-hour meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg — where the Kremlin said Putin was "in principle" ready for trilateral talks around November 10, likely Abu Dhabi — and Russia's release of 74-year-old American prisoner Stephen Hubbard. Zelenskyy: "Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack." Defense gap: none of the 21 ballistic missiles was intercepted; Ukraine is critically short on Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said deliveries are unchanged, citing stocks depleted by eight months of the Iran conflict.
West Bank: lockdown ordered after checkpoint attack, 4 days before Israel's election
Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint north of Hebron on Friday morning, wounding 5 Israelis, 2 critically (all in their 20s), before being shot dead in a prolonged exchange. Palestinian media named the attackers as Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba, 27, from Hebron; a large ammunition stockpile was found in their vehicle, and the IDF said they planned a "large-scale" attack. Hamas praised it as a "heroic operation" without claiming it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an immediate cordon around Hebron and preparations for a full lockdown of the entire West Bank, effective today, canceling all Likud political meetings — four days before Israel's October 27 election. "We will implement the successful, offensive model we employed in the refugee camps, this time within the cities," Netanyahu said. "The [army] will enter the neighbourhoods… evacuate the residents, go house-to-house and dismantle the terror infrastructure."
Sudan: Geneva talks end with no ceasefire
The sixth Consultative Meeting on Sudan ended October 21 in Geneva with no ceasefire agreement and no binding timetable, with both the SAF and RSF absent; 27 countries were represented. Outcomes: a call for a humanitarian truce, an end to foreign interference (mercenaries, financial backing, military hardware), and backing for an inclusive Sudanese-led process — plus floated "trust-building" measures like prisoner exchanges, a seventh meeting and a technical task force (ChimpReports).
Trump's senior adviser Massad Boulos: "There is no military solution to the civil war in Sudan." The humanitarian scale is staggering: ~34 million needing support, 8 million children out of school, ~13 million displaced (UN/OCHA/UNICEF). A drone strike this week killed 4 and injured 14 in Chad's Wadi-Fira province near the Sudanese border.
Albania: parliament brawls, students prepare Saturday rally
Albania's parliament erupted into a brawl on Thursday as opposition MPs clashed with the ruling Socialists over the government's crackdown on more than 10 days of student protests — 300+ injured, dozens detained — while Prime Minister Edi Rama threatened travel restrictions for protesters and accused them of bringing "the terror of ANTIFA" to Tirana. A national rally is planned for Saturday, October 24. Read our full report on the Albania parliament brawl.
What to watch next
Saturday, October 24 is the day to watch: France's protest mobilization and Albania's national rally will both test whether governments hold the line — or whether the unrest deepens. Also ahead: Jordan's manhunt for the church attackers, rescue operations in Tibet under freezing skies, and Israel's October 27 election in the shadow of a West Bank lockdown.
Sources: Al Jazeera, AP, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Tribune India, Times Now, Kyiv Independent, The National, Gulf News, NDTV, ChimpReports, Euronews, Reuters.