'Five churches set on fire by Muslims?' Fake news by Islamophobic social media accounts

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.


Issued on: 30/10/2026 

By: Nathan GALLO/

The FRANCE 24 Observers

At left: A post by Alex Jones on X making the false claim that Muslims in France had burned down five churches in a single day. Other social media accounts shared the photo on the right. They falsely claimed it showed these recent fires, when it actually shows a fire in the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris back in 2019. © France 24 Observers


The fake claim that groups of Muslims are responsible for setting fire to five churches in France over the course of a single day has been circulating online. The acts supposedly took place on October 17 when violence erupted across several French cities, marring a series of planned peaceful demonstrations.

The claim has mainly been propagated by accounts known for anti-immigrant and islamophobic rhetoric, some of which have exploited footage of previous protests, taking them out of context.
'Muslims want to destroy Christianity'

American conspiracy theorist and podcaster Alex Jones made the claim originally via a post on X on October 25. It included a video purporting to be of one of the churches on fire, but the FRANCE 24 Observers team was able to geolocate the video to confirm in reality it actually showed a rubbish bin on fire in front of an apartment building in Lyon. In early October, Jones also made the unsubstanciated allegation that Catholic priests had been set alight during the protest led by French high schoolers.

The images above are screengrabs of the video shared by Alex Jones, which he claimed show one of the five French churches burned by Muslims in a single day. It turns out, however, that this video was filmed in Lyon (check out the screengrab from Google Street View below) and depicts a rubbish bin on fire in front of an apartment building, not a church. Geocoordinates: 45.75102032331061, 4.844504657577997. © Photo montage by the FRANCE 24 Observers

"European heritage and history will soon be nothing but ashes without Remigration", read a post by a pro-Trump account, MAGA Nation 47, on X. The post featured a video of the Saint-Michel Church in Bordeaux, appearing to be on fire. But this post also used out-of-context images to deceive viewers. The video was actually filmed back in July and it shows a fire that started at a homeless encampment – which did not reach the church. Several media outlets misreported the false claims.

And such stories haven’t just come from the American far-right. The FRANCE 24 Observers team found one of the most widely shared posts to derive from an Italy-based account. In a Facebook post from October 23, a social media user claiming to be Catholic and with a history of Islamophobic posts – Mauro D. – declared five churches had been set on fire the day prior “by Muslims who want to destroy Christianity”. While he didn't specify details around the location of the churches, his post was shared nearly 10,000 times.

His post featured an image of a fire at the Parisian church of Saint-Sulpice. But the photo dates from 2019 when its door caught fire. Media coverage and early findings by the police laboratory indicated possible arson.

Our team contacted the author of the post but he did not respond.

At left is the post by Mauro D., an Italian social media user who claimed, based on a photo of an unrelated fire at Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris, that five churches in France were torched on October 2026. The image he shared was taken in 2019 (as shown in reporting by Huffington Post, on the right). © Photo montage by the FRANCE 24 Observers team

One church fire, cause unknown

In reality, there have been no fires from October 17 attributed to anyone of Muslim faith, Vice President of the Observatory for Religious Heritage, Maxime Cumunel told FRANCE 24 Observers.

The association – which records any damage to religious structures – only recorded a single fire around this period: at Saint-Médard in Fenouillet, a village near Toulouse.

In a statement published on October 21 by the city council and picked up by a number of media outlets, it has not been possible to determine the exact cause of the fire.
Fires affect 20 to 30 churches a year

It isn’t the first time that false information about church fires has circulated in France. Back in July, the FRANCE 24 Observers team looked into misinformation about a fire at a disused church. At the time, the fake news story was shared by far-right Spanish accounts claiming the fire was linked to “mass immigration.”

Maxime Cumunel told our team that there are many causes for church fires – most often to do with disrepair.

"We are talking about numbers that remain relatively low, with only about 20 to 30 structures affected by fire each year,” he shared.

The Observatory for Religious Heritage published a letter on October 21 denouncing several acts of church vandalism that took place amid the general violence on the periphery of the October 17 protests, including “hateful graffiti” left on the Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine des Chartreux in Marseille.

In 2025, a total of 843 anti-Christian acts were recorded in France, representing 34% of all recorded anti-religious acts, according to data published by the Ministry of the Interior that cited the Observatory. This represents a 9% increase on 2024. In 87% of such cases, acts involve damage to property (including graffiti, damage, desecration and theft of sacred objects).

"We are seeing an increase in damage to cultural buildings because we are in a period of crisis. Notably, we are seeing the theft of objects made of precious metal, like chalices, because they have market value,” Hadrien Lacoste, vice president of the Observatory told our team.

Israeli election: 'Netanyahu did not win, he lost dramatically,' former PM Barak says

Cover image: TÊTE À TÊTE © FRANCE 24

Issued on: 30/10/2026 
Play (12:13 min)From the show

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.


Speaking to FRANCE 24 from Tel Aviv, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak said that, counting the Arab parties, Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents won 67 seats, against 53 for his right-wing and far-right coalition.

"Netanyahu did not win. He lost dramatically," Barak said.

Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and his allies have ruled out a coalition with Arab parties, but Barak believes they "can change their mind", as Netanyahu would no doubt do in their place.

"If Netanyahu had a similar problem, he would immediately invite Mansour Abbas" (leader of the Arab party Raam) and "give him the role of a minister of interior," Barak said.

Netanyahu piles pressure on Arab parties with claims of foreign funding to 'steal' election

Netanyahu's camp says the election was rigged, citing alleged Qatari funding of an Arab party, which Doha denies. Barak suggested the claim aimed to divert attention from "Qatargate", the investigation into alleged ties between two of Netanyahu's close aides and Qatar.

"The real suspect should be Netanyahu's own closest aides and government," he said.

Finally, Barak warned that Netanyahu was "ready" to strike Iran, possibly after the US midterm elections, in order to "remain in power until the next (Israeli) election".

"It has nothing to do with the national interest of Israel," he said, dismissing Netanyahu's claims that Iran was "planning something" as "fake news".

BY:

Marc Perelman

Sophian Aubin

The Solution Staring Israel in the Face

What is needed from the opposition leaders? Nothing beyond decency. The government that ousts Netanyahu is the one that accepts the votes of Arab citizens.


Dozens of demonstrators gather in front of the residence of Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar Party, to demand the resignation of the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the establishment of an Arab-Jewish coalition government in the Herzliya district of Tel Aviv, Israel on October 29, 2026.
(Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Jeffrey D. Sachs
Oct 30, 2026

Common Dreams

Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich decisively lost Israel’s election on October 27. The governing coalition of Likud, the far right, and the ultra-Orthodox parties fell from 64 seats in 2022 to 53, eight short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The other 67 seats went to parties that campaigned to replace the government: 48 to the Jewish-led opposition headed by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff, and 19 to the two Arab parties. Turnout was 77.9 percent, the highest since 1999, and Arab citizens, who make up about one-fifth of Israel’s population, voted at an estimated rate of about 80 percent, up from 53 percent in 2022. The results make it clear: Israeli voters chose to end the Netanyahu government. The solution to Israel’s political crisis is in plain view. The only thing standing in the way of ousting the government is racism: the refusal of Israel’s Jewish opposition leaders to treat Arab citizens as part of the political community.

The racism is not hidden. On election night Netanyahu claimed a “decisive majority among the Zionist and Jewish public,” a formula that simply subtracts the votes of one citizen in five. His Likud party then viciously and absurdly declared that the election had been “stolen” by the Arab parties and demanded investigations by the police and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service. The purpose, of course, is to brand Arab votes as illegitimate, so that no government resting on them can be accepted.

The tragedy is that the opposition leaders have adopted the same premise. Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister, has said that the Arab parties “are not Zionist, and therefore we will not rely on them.” Avigdor Liberman has ruled out any government that depends on Arab votes, even a temporary one. Eisenkot has said that Ra’am’s leader “won’t be part of my next government,” and that he does not “see any Arab or Haredi parties who accept” his conditions for partnership. These leaders do not object to anything the Arab parties would do in government. With good will, they could easily negotiate a governing arrangement.

The consequences of the racism are predictable. If the opposition leaders hold to their refusal, only two outcomes remain. Israel will go to another election, with the current murderous government remaining for many more months, or the opposition will join a unity government in which Netanyahu stays in power. Netanyahu has ruled out abandoning his far-right partners. Either way, the opposition leaders would hand Netanyahu and his murderous colleagues the victory that the voters denied him.

There are no real policy obstacles to cooperation. Ra’am, the United Arab List, has already served in an Israeli government. In 2021 it joined the coalition led by Bennett and Yair Lapid, the first independent Arab party ever to do so. The other Arab party, the Joint List, has said it would vote with an Eisenkot-led government to establish an official inquiry into the failures of October 7, which is the opposition’s own first priority. Israel’s voters appear to be ahead of their leaders. A Hebrew University survey on election night found that more than 61 percent of opposition voters want Eisenkot to form a government with Ra’am, while only 20 percent prefer new elections. Arab and Jewish opposition voters want the same thing, which is to oust Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich.

A practical plan should follow directly from the arithmetic. First, when the new Knesset convenes, the 67 members opposed to the Netanyahu government should elect a new Speaker, giving the new majority control of the parliamentary agenda even before a government is formed. Second, Eisenkot should form a true coalition in which Ra’am sits as a full partner with ministerial posts, giving 56 seats, with the Joint List supporting the government from outside to reach 67.

The program of such a government would not be hard to negotiate, because the parties that would be in it already share most of it. The government would establish an official inquiry into the failures of October 7. It would adopt an emergency plan against the crime and violence that have devastated Arab towns, and it would invest in housing and services for Arab communities, including the unrecognized Bedouin villages of the Negev. It would restore the independence of the courts and the attorney general.

The government might last a year. Questions of borders and the Palestinian territories would not be settled by this government, but a non-racist coalition government now would move Israel toward a lasting peaceful solution, perhaps toward a binational democratic state or toward the two-state solution of the long-standing Arab Peace Initiative. In the meantime, and crucially, Netanyahu and the other war criminals would be ousted.

Israel’s leaders should also understand what is at stake beyond Israel’s borders. Israel’s racism and murderous campaign in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have profoundly alienated people all over the world. A Pew Research Center survey of 36 countries this spring found that a median of 67 percent of respondents view Israel unfavorably, including 60 percent of Americans. In Pew’s surveys this year, Israel was viewed more negatively than any other country it asked about. More Americans now sympathize with the Palestinians than with the Israelis. The alienation extends to Jews all over the world. If the politicians double down on their racism now, they will confirm the world’s harshest judgments of Israel.

What is needed from the opposition leaders? Nothing beyond decency. The government that ousts Netanyahu is the one that accepts the votes of Arab citizens. Israel’s president has asked the party leaders to come to his consultations with an open mind. The majority to remove Netanyahu exists, provided that the leaders drop their racism

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Jeffrey D. Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of "A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism" (2020). Other books include: "Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable" (2017) and "The Age of Sustainable Development," (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.
Full Bio >

Canada’s EU deal opens doors, and these companies could cash in

By Amy Legate-Wolfe
October 30th 2026

 Special Report: Business Solutions

NATIONAL  OBSERVER




A De Havilland Canadair 515 (DHC-515) water bomber at work. At the Canada-EU summit in Montreal, Ottawa announced up to $2.5 billion in financing to expand De Havilland’s water bomber production, with EU member states to take up to 24 planes. Photo courtesy: De Havilland

At the Grand Quay of the Port of Montreal, media and politicians packed in like sardines to a room that, coincidentally, felt like a fishbowl.

Yet the only people truly on display were the heads of the Canadian government and European Commission.

The “Alliance for the Future” launched Friday, pairing a signing ceremony with a joint statement promising closer ties in trade, technology, energy, and defence.

For Canadian companies, the potential payoff reaches from Alberta’s water bomber factories to European wind turbines, military equipment, and artificial intelligence.

Some businesses already have orders made before the summit, while others have at least a clearer route to customers and capital, albeit with important terms still to settle.

“It’s jobs, first and foremost, good jobs,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.

More money, less problems

The existing relationship is substantial. Canada–EU trade reached approximately C$178 billion in 2025, and Friday’s announcements aim to deepen those ties while Canada seeks more dependable markets beyond the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney (centre) announces the Canada-EU "Alliance for the Future" flanked by European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photo by Darius Snieckus / Canada's National Observer

Prime Minister Mark Carney, von der Leyen, and European Council President António Costa also set a timetable for defining a closer association.

Canada’s federal cabinet and the European Commission’s College are to meet in March. Carney aims to conclude the negotiations and discussions during a European Council visit in June.

“We have developed the framework. We have to fill it with life now,” von der Leyen said.

For suppliers, the appeal is scale. More customers can support larger production runs and give subcontractors demand they can plan around. So, which companies could benefit from the new agreement?

Aircraft

Let’s start in the skies. Ottawa announced up to $2.5 billion in financing to expand De Havilland’s water bomber production.

“We are backstopping a significant increase in water bomber production,” Carney said, announcing a second production line in Wheatland County, Alta.

The joint statement points to 24 DHC-515 water bombers for EU member states, announced at the previous summit.

For De Havilland and its suppliers, Europe’s need to fight increasingly destructive wildfires creates demand for Canadian manufacturing and maintenance.

The scale of the destruction is clear. Wildfires burned 692,419 hectares across the EU by Oct. 7, 2026, nearly twice the 2006–2025 average for the same period, according to the European Commission’s wildfire monitoring system⁠.

Defence

Defence offers another tangible example. Montreal-based Galvion secured a contract worth more than $44 million to supply military helmets to Latvia through SAFE, the EU initiative supporting defence procurement.

That follows an earlier award to Montreal’s Marconi Technologies for radios for Poland’s Cyber Command.

Carney also highlighted Saab’s GlobalEye partnership using Bombardier aircraft. Ottawa had already projected 3,000 Canadian jobs around the proposed procurement in its May announcement.

Critical minerals

If the Toronto summit was about artificial intelligence, Montreal was about critical minerals.

For Canadian critical-minerals developers, the agreement could open a new source of financing.

A worker holds a rare earth magnet at the Narva magnet factory opened last month in Estonia by Toronto-based Neo Performance Materials. Photo courtesy: Neo Performance Materials)

The European Investment Bank’s new framework agreement establishes a basis for financing Canadian projects, with critical raw materials an early focus. Individual investments still require the bank’s appraisal and approval.

“Europe and Canada have what each other needs,” EIB vice-president Nicola Beer said in the bank’s announcement.

A government official said the agreement still needed to go through parliamentary review and Canada’s formal treaty process before it could take effect.

Toronto-based Neo Performance Materials shows what a transatlantic industrial project can involve. Before the summit, it was selected to prepare an agreement for an EU grant of up to €126 million (C$196 million), toward an estimated €400 million (C$622 million) rare-earth and magnet project in Estonia.

“This funding would help us further scale magnet production for European customers in wind energy, electro mobility and industrial automation,” Neo chief executive Rahim Suleman said in the company’s announcement.

The proposed grant would cover 31.5 per cent of that estimate, leaving approximately €274 million (C$426 million) for other financing sources.

A final grant agreement and investment decisions are still required. The grant-signing timetable targets March 23, 2027.

Its planned magnet expansion would serve wind turbines, electric vehicles and industry. That makes Neo a company to watch as European supply chains develop.

Ksi Lisims LNG is based around a floating export facility exporting some 12 million tonnes a year of the super-chilled gas. Image courtesy: Ksi Lisims

Energy

Energy companies have customers to pursue, too. Ksi Lisims LNG’s earlier agreement with Germany’s Uniper covers two million tonnes annually for up to 20 years, with deliveries expected from 2032.

Canada and the EU agreed to study whether increased Canadian LNG exports to Europe would be commercially viable, examining market conditions and the infrastructure required. A government official said no timetable had been set.

The joint statement also covers grids, storage and nuclear cooperation. Cameco, a Saskatoon-based uranium miner, already has European business, including a Slovak nuclear-fuel supply agreement extending to 2036. So it too could be one to watch for future announcements.
Tech

Technology offers a potentially quicker benefit: access to European supercomputers.

Canadian researchers and businesses could begin applying for computing time on European supercomputers to train AI models and conduct research, a government official said.

“Today people could start writing requests,” the official said, estimating access in days or weeks. The official did not explain how applications would be prioritized.

That could help researchers and startups train models. The digital trade agreement, concluded Friday, is intended to make cross-border online business easier.

Prime Minister Mark Carney (centre) announces an investment of up to $1.6 billion in AI company Cohere, Oct. 29, 2026. Photo : Mark Carney Facebook page

Cohere illustrates the wider opportunity. Thursday’s separate announcement included planned federal investment of up to $1.6 billion, alongside investors including Bell, and a commitment to at least $1.7 billion in Canadian computing infrastructure by 2030.

The opportunity extends to computing and power infrastructure as well as software. More processing capacity also increases electricity demand.

Cooperation on Galileo, IRIS² and subsea cables could create further business. That said, suppliers and contracts still need to be established. Talks on linking payment systems are at an earlier stage, according to the government official.
To be continued

For exporters, access rules could determine the payoff. Von der Leyen said the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act would include Canada through CETA.

“Of course, now the proposal is in the co-legislative process,” she said.

Canada and the EU have not yet agreed how Canadian carbon-pricing payments will be recognized under Europe’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, a government official said. The mechanism applies a carbon charge to selected imports, including steel and aluminum.

EU rules allow a deduction for carbon prices already paid in the country of production. Officials are still working out how Canadian federal and provincial systems will be treated, which affects the cost of selling Canadian products in Europe.

“It’s not resolved,” the official told reporters, despite statements by Carney to the contrary.

The carbon border mechanism covers selected goods, including steel and aluminum. How Canadian carbon payments are recognized can affect their European customers’ costs and the products’ competitiveness.

Furthermore, no overall cost for expanded Canadian participation in EU programs was provided at the briefing.

Instead, Costa put delivery at the centre of the alliance’s ambitions.

“And for that, we must live up to our commitments,” he said.

March and June now provide checkpoints for turning the partnership into clearer rules, financing, and orders.

Canadians will need to see where the investment lands, what work it creates, and of course, which costs they are being asked to carry.

October 30th 2026

Amy Legate-Wolfe
Financial Analyst

Canada and EU seek to 'withstand shocks together' through closer alliance

Canada and the European Union on Friday held talks to deepen cooperation on areas spanning critical minerals, artificial intelligence and trade; to better navigate global tensions and reduce reliance on the United States and China.


Issued on: 30/10/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

The EU and Canada have sought to move closer together since US President Donald Trump's return to the White House upended relations with Washington's traditional allies. © Christopher Katsarov, AFP


European Union (EU) chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa held talks with Canada's Mark Carney in Montreal on Friday to finalise a new partnership in a world dominated by the United States and China.

The two parties are set to unveil a series of deals – from critical minerals to artificial intelligence – and lay the groundwork for a broader alliance, also open to other democracies seeking to better navigate global trade tensions.

READ MORECanada and EU drop associate membership plan in bid to deepen ties

"It means affordability, more competition, more choice, easier access. It means opportunity," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said of closer cooperation with the EU, as he arrived at the talks.

"And it means, at its base: sovereignty, greater resilience, ability to withstand shocks together."

Already sharing a free trade agreement, Canada and the EU have sought to move closer together since US President Donald Trump's return to the White House upended relations with Washington's traditional allies.

Both Canada and the EU have been hit with US tariffs and territorial threats.
‘Stronger together’: Canada’s Carney welcomes EU ‘associate member’ proposal

Cover image: ‘Stronger together’: Canada’s Carney welcomes EU ‘associate member’ proposal © Reuters
01:14

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said Canada could not become a "full-fledged" EU member due to its geographical location, but said the bloc wanted to bring it "as close as possible".

A senior EU official explained the new relationship would be unique to Canada.

It entails aligning policies – such as on climate and artificial intelligence – Canada joining some EU programmes, and creating a stable governance framework, the official said.

The partners are expected to kick off with a series of deals on Friday.

Critical minerals are a key focus of the two-day summit which officially began Thursday evening.

They are needed for green technologies such as batteries and wind turbines that Europe sources mostly from China but are also in plentiful stock in Canada.

But Canada needs massive infrastructure investment to jump-start its mining industry.

An agreement allowing the European Investment Bank to back Canadian critical mineral projects is expected to be unveiled at the summit.

'Alliance for the Future'

Brussels and Ottawa also want to collaborate on AI, a field where they are playing catch-up with the United States and China.

Europe is ready to open its supercomputing infrastructure to Canadian researchers, industry and start-ups, von der Leyen said.

On Thursday, Ottawa announced a CAN$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) investment in Canadian AI firm, Cohere. The company has recently partnered with Germany's Aleph Alpha in a move that Carney said was an example of what Europe and Canada could do together.

"We are not waiting for the future of AI to be decided somewhere else by those we don't know or by those we don't trust," Carney said.

A digital trade deal allowing faster and cheaper online transactions is also in the offering.

The two parties should also work towards Canada's participation in EU initiatives like the Erasmus programme, which allows university students to spend a semester abroad, and the Galileo satellite programme – an alternative to the American Global Positioning System (GPS).

The summit will additionally establish the basis for a larger "Alliance for the Future" open to other "trusted partners" such as Japan, South Korea or Australia, the senior EU official said.

This idea is to form a "common space for economic prosperity" and better coordinate trade policies such as tariffs to avoid mutual harm, the official said.

"There is always a risk that inadvertently you hit one of your partners with your economic measures," the official noted.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Canada and EU drop associate membership plan in bid to deepen ties

Canada and the European Union will pursue closer ties but have dropped a proposal for associate EU membership, according to a joint declaration ahead of Thursday’s summit in Montreal. Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking to reduce Canada’s reliance on the US, despite warnings from Donald Trump.


Issued on: 29/10/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on September 17, 2026. © Pascal Bastien, AP


Canada and the European Union (EU) agreed to "ever closer association" but dropped the contentious idea of associate EU membership in a joint declaration seen by Reuters ahead of a Montreal summit hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney starting on Thursday.

The declaration, which officials plan to make public on Friday, said work to define the Canada-EU relationship would continue until another summit next year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's suggestion of associate membership six weeks ago had been a divisive issue in negotiations among EU countries on the summit declaration, with Germany leading a group that argued they could not sign up to a concept that had no legal status and had not been fleshed out, diplomats said.

Deeper ties to Europe are an important part of Carney's strategy to reduce Canada’s economic and security reliance on America since US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods. Still, Canada's efforts to draw closer to the EU risk angering Trump as trade talks between Canada and the US continue.



There is no precedent or legal definition for an EU “associate member”.

Cover image: TALKING EUROPE © FRANCE 24
12:34

Trump previously called the EU’s proposal to make Canada an associate member “laughable” and said if he interpreted the move as a “hostile act,” the US might stop trading with Europe “on many things”.

Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the summit this week is the launch of further formal negotiations that will take another year.

“The good news is it doesn’t matter about specific names or nomenclature,” Carney said. “What matters is the difference it will make to the lives of Canadians.”

A previous draft statement had included at least two references to Canada as an associate member, including an acknowledgement that defining the term would take another year.

The statement includes a joint initiative to improve international connectivity between Europe, Canada and Asia through "new subsea cable infrastructure". It also proposes conducting a joint feasibility study on Canadian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe and enabling young Canadians and Europeans to work across the Atlantic.

Cover image: PEOPLE & PROFIT © FRANCE 24
13:19

Julian Karaguesian, a former adviser at Canada’s Finance Ministry, described the summit as “a bit of a show”. “Canada’s effort to be closer friends with the EU is very ill-defined,” he said, adding that increased collaboration with the EU would not necessarily address Carney’s drive to diversify the country's relationships. Canada ships nearly 70% of its exports to the US while the EU accounts for about 9% of Canada’s total trade.

Carney's office declined to comment.

'Highly provocative' statement

The statement says European and Canadian leaders pledge to reaffirm their commitment to a rules-based international order and that they “deeply regret” the sanctions the US imposed on the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court.

“All that talk of multilateralism and support for international law is basically like sticking a finger into President Trump’s eye,” said Barry Appleton, an international trade lawyer and fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario.

Appleton said Canada and the EU agreeing to work closely on economic security measures might anger the US. He added that the statement commits Canada to making its AI and digital rules work alongside Europe’s, when Washington considers EU-style digital regulation a trade barrier.

“This is a highly provocative statement from the EU and Canada,” Appleton said.

The White House said in response to a request for comment that US and Canadian trade officials are talking.

EU officials said at a briefing Tuesday that the summit was a “historic milestone”, saying it was about renewing their commitment to Canada and shaping an ambitious new chapter in the partnership. They said all member states support the closest possible relationship with Canada.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)

Canada Edges Closer To EU Associate Membership

October 31, 2026
 Rapporteur
By Nelly Moussu

Key Takeaways:

The EU and Canada agreed at their Friday summit to define by 2027 an “ever-closer association short of full membership,” with Prime Minister Mark Carney saying Canada could become the EU’s first associate member.

Ursula von der Leyen has championed the idea, but Germany and others oppose the term, which lacks legal meaning and is absent from the joint statement; the sides instead launched an Alliance for the Future on AI, energy, critical minerals and quantum.

Practical cooperation on investment, computing, satellites and digital trade advanced, with the association’s substance to be negotiated ahead of the 2027 summit.

(Rapporteur) — The words have been spoken, but the deal has yet to be struck. Canada could become the European Union’s first associate member, although hurdles remain.

At their summit on Friday, the EU and Canada agreed to define what an “ever-closer association short of full membership” would entail by their next summit in 2027.


“In the coming months, we will determine the full substance, scale, and scope of this new form of membership”, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has championed the idea of Canadian associate membership, but Germany and several other EU countries have opposed the term, which has no legal meaning and does not appear in the summit’s final joint statement.Advertisement

“To be crystal clear, this is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength”, von der Leyen said.

“The Alliance will focus on increasing our collective sovereignty and resilience in areas such as AI, energy, critical minerals, quantum, and beyond”, Carney said, announcing a new Alliance for the Future between Canada and the EU.

“We are working towards the deepest possible partnership, short of accession because of our geography, with Canada becoming the European Union’s first associate member”, he added.


“We can build a partnership that comes closer to membership than anything we’ve done before”, von der Leyen said.

“It means fewer barriers to trade, more investments and closer cooperation on critical raw materials”, European Council President António Costa said.

The aim is to create new opportunities for citizens, boost economic prosperity and strengthen security. Von der Leyen also highlighted closer cooperation on climate and energy policy, as well as artificial intelligence.

The summit also laid the groundwork for practical cooperation in several areas, including investment, high-performance computing, satellite communications and digital trade. The European Investment Bank, the EU’s IRIS² satellite programme and Galileo navigation system were among the initiatives discussed.

The two sides are now expected to hammer out the substance and scope of their proposed association ahead of their 2027 summit, with further discussions expected between EU officials and Canadian ministers in the coming months.


About Rapporteur
Rapporteur, formerly EurActiv, is Europe’s expert media organisation for policy and politics. Through deeply reported journalism, trusted expertise and a commitment to engagement with our audiences, we aim to help the people shaping Europe’s future make better decisions.
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‘Scared of crossing the border’: The Arizona farmers who rely on Mexican workers

From our correspondent in Arizona – The vast produce farms of Yuma County, Arizona, rely heavily on foreign workers who cross the border every day from Mexico. John Boelts, a farmer and staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump, praises the administration’s strict border controls – though he says that competing Republican factions have complicated efforts to hire foreign labourers.


Issued on: 30/10/2026
FRANCE24
By: Barbara GABEL

Farm workers tend to fields of lettuce in Yuma County, Arizona. 

© Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24


A melon in one hand and a machete in the other, John Boelts squints at the fruit, carves off a hunk and pops it in his mouth. Out in his sprawling fields in Yuma, Arizona, he knows how to spot a ripe cantaloupe. Even in early October, the temperature still reaches 43°C (109°F) in the region after having soared to a scorching 47°C at the start of September – well above the seasonal average. The harvest begins next week.

“The melons are starting to pull sugar, they are getting ready,” he said, dressed in jeans and a pristine checkered shirt.

“Once they're ready to harvest, you typically have about two days to get the melons harvested and off the vine.”

Last spring, this race against the clock took a heavy toll. Even as the produce stood ripe in the fields, the Mexican labourers he had hired to bring in the crop still hadn’t received their working visas. They finally arrived, six days late.

Midterms 2026: The farmers calling for more migrant workers

Cover image: Midterms 2026: The farmers calling for more migrant workers © Barbara Gabel / France 24
03:44

They lost most of two or three fields, he said, adding that it could have cost him as much as $100,000.

“Those fields were the fields we probably could have made the most money off of during the spring season this year – we were super frustrated.”

Boelts, 49, is one of the main figures of this agricultural sector that depends so deeply on foreign labour. He sits at the head of Desert Premium Farms, an agricultural operation he set up with his wife Alicia and another couple. He also presides over the Arizona Farm Bureau.

Farmer John Boelts inspects a melon in his fields in Wellton, Arizona, October 15, 2026. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24

North America's 'winter salad bowl'

To get to the Boelts’ farm, you first have to go through Wellton, a small town in the middle of the Sonora Desert. The roads cut straight between the fields, bordered by clay-coloured mountains. Here, there are no hedges or trees, just vast fields in brown and green, dotted with tractors and workers tending row after row of lettuce, covered head to toe to shield them from the sun.

Standing in the arid landscape, it’s hard to imagine that this region grows between 70 to 90 percent of all the leafy greens and vegetables consumed by the US and Canada during the long winter stretch between November and April.

Irrigation channels bring water from the Colorado River to nourish sweeping fields of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and melon – the fields of Yuma bring forth these greens on a massive scale, earning southwest Arizona its reputation as North America’s “winter salad bowl”.

These farms rely heavily on foreign workers – many of whom live on the other side of the border in San Luis Rio Colorado, in Mexico. In the high season, around 15,000 farm labourers cross the border every day to work in American fields, according to the Arizona Farm Bureau.

The hardline immigration policies put into place by US President Donald Trump, including the mass detention and deportation of suspected undocumented migrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, have only complicated the flow of workers.

‘People are scared’

One man spoke to FRANCE 24 near an irrigation canal while helping his coworkers shift heavy pipes, explaining in Spanish that some labourers have become more reluctant to cross the border since Trump returned to power.

“They’re not comfortable with the laws, they think they won’t come anymore because of the problems linked to immigration,” said Alan, who has worked these fields for five years. “It’s not as easy as it was before – things have really become more complicated under Trump. People are scared of crossing the border, because they can get sent off to other places.”

In another field, Ana said that she now has to anticipate long lines at the border crossing. She said she regularly gets there at 1am to avoid missing the bus that brings workers from the border to the fields.

“Sometimes we wait one or two hours in line,” she said.

Alan and his coworkers set up an irrigation system on a farm in Wellton, Arizona, October 15, 2026. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24

Ana said that she had, however, noticed a recent reduction in the wait time, which she attributes to the renovation and expansion of the border crossing. “It’s really modern, and a little bit faster,” she said.

Once in the fields, Ana works beneath the pounding sun, skin hidden behind long sleeves, gloves, and a black cap and mask. Around her, colleagues work to the sound of music. It’s tiring work, she said, but she appreciates the solidarity she feels with her fellow workers.

“We know each other really well,” she said. “We support each other, and we make a good team. And in any case it’s very pleasant to work in the fields, in the open air."

The work continues until midday.

Ana, a farm worker hired to work the fields in Wellton, Arizona. 

© Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24

No one comes around looking for work

To work his fields, Boelts directly employs between 30 to 50 workers and puts out calls for teams of between 30 to 100 temporary workers every day. Almost all of them are Mexican.

“We're short of workers in American agriculture,” he said. “Each year, for the last 20 years, we've been more in need of people. No one hardly ever comes around looking for work – it's pretty rare to have somebody come asking if they can work for us.”

Workers on his farm are paid above the minimum wage, and sometimes more than $20 an hour depending on the technical skills required for different tasks, he said.

“We'd be glad to hire folks that are here in the country, a legal workforce here in the country,” he said. “But we don't have it.”

Of the more than 415,000 job listings in agriculture posted over the 2025 fiscal year, just 182 received domestic applications. For Boelts, the conclusions are simple enough to draw – there just aren’t enough willing US workers to meet the industry’s needs.

Farming is about more than just picking fruit, he said. Bringing in a harvest requires specific skills, and not every worker is suited to each position.

“The federal government wrongly thinks that people who work in agriculture are unskilled workers,” he said. “It’s absolutely not the case.”
Bringing in ‘guest workers’

To hire foreign workers legally, farmers can apply through the H-2A visa programme set up in 1986. It only allows employers to hire foreign workers temporarily if they are unable to find US citizens to fill the posts.

Employers are first required to establish that they have tried to recruit locally, as well as to respect basic obligations around salaries, accommodation and transport.

While Boelts considers the programme essential to his business, he complained that navigating the system often felt like running an obstacle course.

“If the programme was easier to work with, streamlined and simpler to use – if you didn't have to hire a professional HR team and lawyers to be able to work with the federal government, to have to work with four or five federal agencies, wait nine months, plan nine months in advance for the workers you need ... the whole idea is crazy, really,” he said.

John Boelts is the director of Desert Premium Farms. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24

The sight of melons wasting in their fields shows how costly this system can be. Boelts is calling for the scheme to be reformed, as called for by Republican Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, who has been arguing for the programme’s modernisation in Congress.

Boelts credits the Trump administration for trying to streamline the programme, while at the same time slamming the political obstacles that he said are holding up the reforms.

“It's getting derailed by folks that are telling all kinds of lies, that talk about the H-2A programme like it's an immigration programme,” he said. “It's not. It's a guest worker programme.”

For Boelts, the distinction is fundamental: bringing in foreign workers on a temporary basis to meet specific needs has nothing to do with opening up the US southern border.
‘Tired of being a political football’

He is not shy about his support for the current administration.

“I think President Trump and [Agriculture Secretary Brooke] Rollins are doing an amazing job,” he said, though he suggested that the president could sometimes let himself be steered in the wrong direction.

He called on Trump to publicly defend the H-2A visa programme reforms.

“Farmers are tired of being a political football,” he said. “We're tired of being left with certain administrations making things more difficult.” He added that he hoped the Republicans would be able to work together on agriculture after the upcoming midterm elections.

For Boelts, the priority is securing the border while still ensuring there are legal pathways for the foreign workers that the US economy needs.

He said that one of his employees was struck in the head by a “drug trafficker” while watering the fields at night in an apparent attempt to steal his vehicle. The attacker fled over the border to Mexico, he said, with his haul in tow.

“That's the sort of crap we have to put up with here,” he said. “Our border regions can be safe places of legal commerce, and they don't have to be places where there's contraband and human smuggling going on.”

A team of workers install irrigation equipment on a farm in Wellton, Arizona on October 15, 2026. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24

Boelts said he doesn't see workers getting more worried about crossing the border – but not everyone agrees.

“We live in a community here where 15,000 people cross the border each morning from November until sometime in March, when the season starts to wind down,” he said. “Those people aren't afraid to come to work ... I have not seen them act in fear. People that have a legal right to work, they go to work. That's it.”

In the fields, the day’s work goes on. The labourers will soon be able to take a short lunch break before returning to the fields for a few more hours’ work. Later in the afternoon, once their work is done, they will get back in the buses that will take them across the border to San Luis.

Behind the difficulties of recruiting, another anxiety is weighing more and more heavily on the minds of Arizona’s farmers: the growing scarcity of water, a crucial issue in the midterms.

So far, priority water rights have spared Yuma’s farms from the restrictions imposed on the Colorado River by the Trump administration since August.

But Boelts worries that this protection may soon not be enough.

“The only reason the system hasn't run dry is agriculture typically isn't using its full allocation,” he said. “We're worried we're going to be up against it in the next year or two.”

This article has been adapted from the original in French.

How will the women's vote shape the US midterms?

Cover image: THE 51 PERCENT © FRANCE 24


Issued on: 30/10/2026 - 
12:28 min From the show


With the US midterms approaching, we examine the power of the women's vote in an election that will shape the balance of power in Washington during Donald Trump’s final two years in office. Annette Young talks to Annie Karni, congressional correspondent for The New York Times and Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research at the Centre for American Women and Politics.

Ireland becomes refuge for anti-Trump Americans

Cover image: REPORTERS © FRANCE 24


Issued on: 29/10/2026 -
12:50 min  From the show

They have left everything behind to get away from US President Donald Trump's America. Entrepreneurs, academics, scientists and students: tens of thousands of US citizens have moved to Ireland in recent years. Last year alone, some 10,000 Americans settled there and nearly 100 even applied for asylum – citing political, racial or gender persecution.


For some US citizens, moving to Ireland feels like coming home. Around one in 10 Americans claims to have Irish roots, with ancestors who fled famine and hardship in the 19th century onwards, and applications for Irish passports have never been higher.

Emma Hensley is a postgraduate student at Trinity College Dublin. For her, Trump's America no longer guarantees women's rights. In County Cork, southern Ireland, Daniel Rothman has just arrived from Alaska, where he lost his job at NOAA, the US agency for oceans, fisheries and climate policies, after budget cuts imposed by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Finally, Ophelia and her wife Zahra, a transgender couple, describe the increasingly dangerous discrimination faced by transgender people.

Ireland is welcoming these new arrivals from the US, but they could upset a fragile diplomatic balance. Dublin is a long-standing ally of Washington and one that relies on US investment to sustain its growth.

FRANCE 24's Chloé Domat, Sophie Guignon and Merlin Ferret report.

 

Slovenia’s Triglav Glacier disappears after record-breaking summer

The glacier beneath Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak and a national symbol, shrank dramatically over the past two centuries as temperatures rose.Facebook

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By bne IntelliNews October 29, 2026

Slovenia’s Triglav Glacier, one of the country’s most recognisable natural landmarks, has lost its remaining ice following this year’s exceptionally hot summer, with the last patches disappearing at the end of the melting season in September, The Guardian reported. 

The glacier beneath Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak and a national symbol, shrank dramatically over the past two centuries as temperatures rose.

It covered around 40 hectares in the mid-19th century, but its area had fallen to 14 hectares by the mid-20th century. Between 1983 and 2003, it lost 93% of its surface area, eventually surviving only as scattered patches of ice.

Researchers from the Anton Melik Geographical Institute at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts have monitored the glacier since 1946. In August, they warned that the remaining ice was likely to disappear by the end of the 2026 melting season.

The melting season generally runs from early May to the end of October, when average monthly temperatures at the nearby Kredarica weather station, at 2,513 metres above sea level, are above freezing.

The remains of the Skuta Glacier, another small Slovenian glacier protected by its shaded location, could survive for several more years, according to the Guardian.

The disappearance of the Triglav Glacier highlights the effects of rising temperatures on mountain environments across Europe and beyond. Glacier loss threatens fragile alpine ecosystems and can affect water availability, as meltwater helps sustain rivers during summer.

The trend is also evident in other mountain regions, including the Himalayas, where retreating glaciers and related hazards pose growing risks to communities and infrastructure.

UN nature summit approves two key agreements after marathon negotiations

Almost 200 nations approved two agreements on Friday to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, following almost two weeks of negotiations that ran into extra time on the final day.


Issued on: 30/10/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

Inger Andersen, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Hambardzum Matevosyan, Armenia's Minister of Environment and COP17 President, and Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, attend a session of the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17), in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on October 27, 2026. © Stringer, AFP


Nearly 200 nations on Friday adopted hard-fought agreements at a UN biodiversity summit aimed at putting the world back on track in efforts to halt nature's destruction by 2030.

Delegates cheered as the crucial texts were approved in overtime following two weeks of tense negotiations at the COP17 conference in Armenia's capital Yerevan.

"And that's it. Perfect", said COP17 president Hambardzum Matevosyan to applause as he brought down the gavel on the documents, the final versions of which were not made immediately available to the public.

The world adopted a historic pact in 2022 setting ambitious targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2030.

But ahead of the summit, the UN warned that countries would fail to meet the goal unless they urgently corrected course.

Most of the objectives are falling short, including targets to protect 30 percent of Earth's land and oceans, tackle pollution, and provide poorer countries with greater conservation finance.A draft COP17 text earlier called on countries to "accelerate" efforts to keep the pact alive and stressed "increased action" was needed to tackle the root drivers of nature loss.

El Nino to intensify with peak in December, UN warns

Cover image: © France 24
01:29

Highlighting the disagreements that dogged the talks, the document proposed various options to achieve the 2030 goal. It was not immediately clear which of those options made the cut.

During negotiations, countries wrangled over reforming subsidies and other incentives that encourage activities harmful to nature, such as fossil fuels, intensive agriculture and overfishing.

A separate row revolved around finding new cash sources to fund conservation efforts around the globe – a hot-button issue with public budgets under strain amid an energy crisis and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

To restore degraded ecosystems, save endangered species and conserve forests, wetlands and other vital natural habitats, the world needs an estimated $700 billion more every year than it currently spends.

Climate change: Glacier loss and dry rivers threaten water security

Cover image: © France 24
01:53

The European Union led a charge for wealthy emerging economies such as China to join in paying for global conservation efforts – a contentious issue at COP17.

In a sign that a compromise was in the offing, another draft text that circulated earlier Friday invited countries outside the list of developed country donors to voluntarily join the group.

Science under attack

Efforts to refine the lacklustre Cali Fund – a UN mechanism for sharing profits from corporations that use genetic data from plants and other organisms – also proved difficult.

The fund set out to raise $1 billion a year for conservation in developing countries when it launched in early 2025. So far, it has attracted around $10,000.

Nations have also feuded over key scientific reports, with a small handful of countries accused of stonewalling efforts to accept the benchmark findings of a UN-backed biodiversity body.

"The attacks on science have bothered me a lot," French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut said.

Around 70 ministers joined the negotiations this week in an effort to nudge things along, while indigenous leaders and civil society activists appealed to nations to act with greater urgency.

At the last biodiversity summit in Colombia in 2024, talks ran overtime as nations haggled over conservation finance and ended without a deal. Negotiations resumed in Rome in 2025 where an agreement was reached.

The COP17 summit was also expected to decide on Friday whether Panama or Ecuador will host the next biodiversity summit in 2028.

(FRANCE24 with AFP)