Welcome back to the Morning Brief——brought to you by one of America’s largest independent newspapers—The Epoch Times. 

It’s Monday October 19th, and I’m Keegan Billings.

Let’s jump right in.

Now let’s take a quick look at some of our stories for todays morning brief 

• France was left surveying the wreckage after Saturday’s nationwide protests against the cost of living, it collapsed into the worst rioting the country has seen in years,

• Even as President Trump and Chinese leader Xi exchanged visits in a cordial manner recently, a major move by the Pentagon has made one thing clear: that Washington’s high-stakes technology war with Beijing is running on a track entirely separate from that of high-level diplomacy.

• Next Trump defended his decision to waive Russia sanctions, arguing that it’s essential to keeping Moscow at the negotiating table in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

• The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned election officials and the public that cyber actors could use artificial intelligence to steal sensitive data ahead of the midterm elections.

• And for our Health section: Greater daytime light exposure may improve energy levels and sleep quality in older adults, according

to a recent study.  

NOW, BACK TO OUR TOP STORY:

Macron Vows Rioters ‘Must Pay’ as France Surveys Wreckage of Worst Unrest in Years

PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the violence and destruction wrought as nationwide protests descended into the worst rioting the country has seen in years. which led to nearly 2,400 arrests.

in a televised address on the evening of Oct. 18, Macron said

“Those who destroyed must pay, those who looted must repay, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will have to answer for it,” 

Speaking of “a moment of extreme gravity,” Macron blamed the destruction on “seditious elements from ultra-left splinter groups, joined by many criminals,” and singled out the burning of the 19th-century City Hall in central France’s Limoges.

He promised that shopkeepers “will not be left alone,”and  said prefects could ban “certain gatherings,” and warned that “the country needs order, not escalation.”

‘They [Smashed] Everything’

Hours earlier, spent tear-gas cartridges still littered Plass de la République, where crews swept up glass around the Marianne monument, its stone base torn apart from projectiles.

Nearby, Yoni, who gave only his first name, found the display pieces of his marble showroom, Pierres Exclusives, smashed.

 he told The Epoch Times. 

“We expected this kind of thing and had done everything we could to protect the shop,”“But here there was nothing to steal, only things to break.” A marble table worth 25,000 euros ($28,000) lay in pieces.

he said. “This morning, when we arrived, there were still people inside the store,” 

pharmacist Fabien Carême stood amid the remains of his shop.

he told The Epoch Time

“I don’t understand why anyone would ransack a pharmacy, which is, after all, a first point of care,” he said the lost stock alone was close to 150,000 euros (about $168,000). He said“They’ve cut off my little business, and for a long time.” (More)

By the afternoon of Oct. 18 the Paris police prefecture had counted four more stores looted and 25 arrests, describing those detained as “essentially young people from the suburbs looking for looting opportunities.”

The Oct. 17 march capped a month of unrest that began with far-left high school students protesting dilapidated buildings and teacher shortages in the immigrant suburbs. The anger soon spread to rising prices and government spending cuts, and calls went around online to bring back the Yellow Vest movement of 2018 that protested the high cost of living.

The Interior Ministry put the turnout at 550,000 nationwide. Organizers, the General Confederation of Labour union among them, said 800,000 had marched.

Police said that 110,000 people peacefully marched in Paris, while several thousand others participated in the rioting.

Paris police said the violent contingents were far larger than usual, numbering between 500 and more than 1,000. When the march broke up, small groups dressed in black pried open shop shutters between République and Bastille, and others went in behind them to loot.

The most shocking images came from Lee-moge, in central France, where the 1883 town hall, a listed monument, was set ablaze while elected officials and staff were still inside, the prefecture said; its bell tower collapsed into the flames.

The Mayor of Limoges told reporters on Oct. 18 that about 700 hooded, “overtrained, armed” far-left militants had infiltrated a march of 5,000 and that police holding them on the boulevards “had no more ammunition” by 3:30 p.m. He said the intruders told elected officials, “We’re going to kill all of you.”

“he said. It was a premeditated arson,” he said. “An attempted murder of the Republic’s elected officials.” About 7,000 people marched through Limoges on Oct. 18.

In Marseille, protesters forced the doors of city hall; knocked a bust of Marianne, the national personification of the French Republic, to the floor; and tried to set fire to a municipal police station. The police prefecture said it counted more than 30,000 “looters” at the height of the disorder, 8,000 of them classed as rioters; 118 officers were injured, and 4,000 tear-gas grenades were fired.

In Bordeaux, rioters ransacked the prefect’s residence and looted up to 100 stores, the mayor said; Lille’s city hall was briefly invaded.

‘Extremely Firm’ Response

By the evening of Oct. 18, the Interior Ministry counted 2,397 arrests and 997 police officers, and firefighters injured, seven of them seriously. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said groups of rioters had formed “at the very clear instigation of the ultra-left,” joined in the afternoon by looters and “opportunistic criminals.”

“Demonstrating is a fundamental right,” he wrote on X. “Sowing disorder with violence and in a concerted manner is not.”

• Trump defended his decision to waive Russia sanctions, arguing that it’s essential to keeping Moscow at the negotiating table in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

he posted on Truth Social saying

“I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” 

“Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations! 

Trump issued an executive order on Oct. 16 waiving new sanctions against Russia, stating that the move would serve the U.S. national interest.

Legislation championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and signed into law by Trump on Sept. 18 would have imposed sanctions on the top five countries that purchase oil and gas from Russia over its war against Ukraine.

In an interview with Meet the Press, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Trump’s decision to waive Russia sanctions a “historic mistake” and “big support” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions waiver came days after Trump reached a deal with Moscow to supply diesel to the global market, including the United States, to lower fuel prices.

According to the deal, Russia had agreed to immediately release more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the global market. An additional 500,000 tons of diesel will be shipped out in November, followed by an additional million tons in December, Trump said in a Truth Social post on Oct. 9.

Another 3 million tons of diesel could be delivered depending on the condition of Russia’s refineries, Trump added.

Trump defended the sanctions waiver after growing criticism that he is helping Moscow continue its war against Ukraine.

He added in his Oct. 18 post that Moscow “is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

 he added.

“I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way,”

He continued his criticism of Zelenskyy, echoing remarks he had made in recent days.

he wrote.

“Zelenskyy is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.”

Trump also said that the Ukrainian leader appeared indifferent to his warnings, accusing him of not wanting to end the war.

He also reiterated that Zelenskyy missed an opportunity to negotiate a more favorable agreement to end the war two years ago.

“His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead,” Trump wrote.

• Even as President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping exchanged visits in a cordial manner, a major move by the Pentagon made one thing clear: Washington’s high-stakes technology war with Beijing is running on a track entirely separate from that of high-level diplomacy.

In June, the War Department  expanded what’s known as the Section 1260H list—a roster of companies the U.S. government considers to be tied to China’s military. By adding 65 new firms while removing 10 whose U.S. presence had ended, the Pentagon expanded the total count to 188 entities.

The expansion moves far beyond traditional defense contractors to target household commercial giants such as Alibaba and Baidu, electric vehicle (EV) makers BYD and NIO, and pharmaceutical leader WuXi AppTec.

several experts told The Epoch Times

This shift signals that in Washington’s eyes, the line between civilian and military technology has effectively vanished, especially when dealing with communist China. Officials increasingly view commercial innovations in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, EV batteries, and biotechnology as dual-use assets feeding Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy.

The timing—after Trump’s China visit and before Xi’s trip to Washington—demonstrates that economic handshakes and national security policy now proceed independently. Even as the White House pursues bilateral trade stabilization, standing defense mandates continue to tighten regulatory pressure on Chinese technology.

Carl Schuster, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center said 

“The President wants to improve relations but he does not want to sacrifice security to achieve it,”

he told The Epoch Times. 

While security prerogatives strain U.S.–China relations, “bilateral friction is better than a security breach,” 

Inclusion on the 1260H list does not impose general commercial trade bans or freeze consumer assets, but it has substantial impact, as it triggers mandatory procurement bans for the U.S. military and forces defense contractors to review their global supply chains. Additionally, it paves the way for broader legislative and capital-market restrictions.

The designation could also affect ordinary investors. A provision in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act requires the president to review whether companies on the Pentagon’s 1260H list should be added to a Treasury Department investment blacklist. Placement on that list is not automatic, but if it happens, U.S. investors could be barred from buying or holding the company’s publicly traded shares.

The Pentagon says the list is intended to address China’s strategy of military-civil fusion. In plain English, U.S. officials say Beijing has built a system that enables the People’s Liberation Army to systematically benefit from technology, research, and expertise developed by China’s private companies, universities, and other ostensibly civilian institutions.

That does not mean that every product made by a listed entity is a military product. It means the Pentagon believes that the company’s capabilities, relationships, or technology could support China’s military and its modernization.

• The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned election officials and the public that cyber actors could use artificial intelligence to steal sensitive data ahead of the midterm elections.

In a public service announcement, the agencies warned that hackers could use phishing and smishing tactics to disrupt the elections, which involve sending deceptive emails, text messages, audio, and videos to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links.

it states “Election officials, candidates, and their political organizations are attractive targets to malicious cyber criminals due to their access to voter registration data, current government officials, or sensitive campaign information,” 

According to the statement, AI technology allows cybercriminals to craft text messages or emails that closely resemble legitimate communications, making it difficult for recipients to identify fraudulent messages.

It also warned that cyber actors could use AI-generated deepfake videos and audio recordings to create new identities, impersonate real people, and bolster phishing schemes.

• September marked the first-ever fiscal year with zero border releases, alongside the lowest annual illegal immigrant encounters in American history, according to Customs and Border Protection.

September also marked the 17th straight month of zero border releases, the CBP said in an Oct. 16 statement.

Border Patrol agents apprehended about 98,700 illegal immigrants along the southwest border in fiscal year 2026, which was 95 percent lower than an average year under the Biden administration, at about 1.8 million apprehensions.

CBP said.

“These results reflect sustained enforcement and the deterrent effect of a secure border. Illegal aliens have received a clear message: don’t try to enter the country illegally, or you will be apprehended, detained, and deported,” 

The agency hit a major border infrastructure milestone this year by building 250 miles of new barriers along the southwest border, a process that began at the start of the second Trump administration.

The agency credited the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump, for speeding up the construction of smart walls.

A smart wall includes a steel bollard wall, together with roads, cameras, lighting, detection technology, and sometimes a secondary wall. Between September 2025 and September 2026, CBP obligated more than $34 billion to support smart border wall projects in all states along the southwest border, the agency stated.

• MORNING READ: How a Center in Tucson Helps Dogs With Mobility Challenges Stay Active

Half Moon is a frisky senior Chihuahua mix who moves easily on his front legs and a couple of wheels for support.

At 13, he serves as a “mobility instructor”, thats at A Loyal Companion Canine Mobility and Swim Center in Tucson, Arizona, there he helps other dogs learn to steer their specialized carts.

Joey and Andy, both poodle mixes who came from an animal shelter, are among his fellow trainees and companions. Joey also uses a custom wheelchair, while Andy needs only a support harness.

All three dogs darted around the exercise room, eager for treats and full of energy. Custom wheelchairs, braces, and other devices help dogs with mobility problems run, explore, and stay active, said Kate Titus, the center’s owner and founder.

Titus, a pet mobility specialist, founded the business more than a decade ago to help canines stay active despite illness, injury, or age-related conditions.

Watching her beloved dog Harley decline in his later years inspired Titus to find better ways to help pets. She said it took a nudge from the universe to turn that experience into a mission.

Titus told The Epoch Times.

“At the end of the day, we’re a quality of life company. We’re really here to make sure that the owners understand how to make the dog’s life as great as possible, whatever their mobility challenge,” 

The center is one of several pet orthotics and prosthetics specialists in Arizona that help animals of all breeds and sizes stay active in the face of injury, illness, or infirmity. Together, they are part of a growing national effort to improve mobility and quality of life for animals.

A herniated disk weakened Half Moon’s hind legs, but his two-wheel mobility cart allows him to move freely, Titus said.

Advances in materials and techniques have opened new possibilities for disabled dogs and other pets. Much of the technology grew out of braces and prosthetics developed for wounded veterans during the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Titus said.

The new film “Heart of the Beast” has brought the subject further into the spotlight. It features the canine character Odin, a highly trained military combat dog with a prosthetic leg and titanium teeth.

Dozens of canine braces and prosthetics line the wall of the Tucson center’s training room, each custom-made to fit its wearer. One was designed for a Saint Bernard battling bone cancer.

while one was for a very small Cairn Terrier,” then Titus said, pointing to another device said “This one is a knee brace made for probably one of the biggest mastiffs I’ve ever seen. The dog was 187 pounds.”

• The United States has resumed its sharing of important intelligence with Ukraine to help defend the country against Russia, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday that the United States has “unique intelligence” to alert Ukraine of ballistic attacks and Ukraine didn’t get that intelligence for three days.

Zelenskyy said.  “We are very thankful for this,” “Now it works.”

Separately, Zelenskyy also said in the interview that a restriction on Starlink satellite internet that disrupted Ukrainian combat missions and threatened defenses against Russian drones was a “message” from America’s government.

Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said on Oct. 14 that the restrictions affected terminals using the Starshield military service package when traveling faster than 100 mph.

Ukraine’s defense forces received no advance notice, he said, and several missions were disrupted.

Starlink supports battlefield communications and drones used to attack Russian targets. Beskrestnov said the restrictions also affected frontline logistics and interceptor drones that Ukraine uses against fast-moving, jet-powered Russian Shahed drones.

He described those interceptors as the most effective available means of countering the aircraft and warned that the restrictions undermined Ukraine’s air defenses.

Beskrestnov alleged that the change was politically motivated but provided no evidence and didn’t identify who might have requested it.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski challenged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X, asking whether the restrictions were intended to exert political pressure on Ukraine. Poland has previously said it pays for Ukraine’s Starlink subscription.

Alexander Beglov, the governor of St. Petersburg, reported on Sunday that his region was hit by Ukrainian drones that killed one and injured five. Beglov said 12 apartment buildings and two private homes were damaged and the Petersburg Oil Terminal, the Ruchyi oil depot, and industrial warehouses in the Kolpino district were also attacked. There were fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal.

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has asked Israel to prosecute the masked attackers who seriously injured a Jewish American photojournalist in the West Bank.

Heidi Levine, 63, a freelance photojournalist for The Washington Post documenting the Israel–Hamas war and other issues in the region, said in a video interview from the hospital that she was “brutally attacked” by a group of masked men while she was with several Palestinian olive farmers reporting on the harvest in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah in the West Bank.

Levine said.

“We saw in the distance, in the hilltop, I would say at least 50 masked men with slingshots. And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground. ... They just kept kicking me and kicking me probably 50 times,” 

The attackers also took her phone and cameras off her body. Levine said she believes that if it weren’t for the flak jacket and helmet she was wearing, she might not have survived. She estimated the attack lasted about 10 minutes.

The Washington Post reported. The attack left Levine with multiple lacerations, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae, and an injured finger, 

ambassador said in a statement.

“Details of who [is responsible are] under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” the U.S.

-

Why Older Adults Need More Daylight–And How to Get It 

Hi it’s Helen Billings, back with our Monday health section, and for today I’ll be talking about why older adults need more daylight. 

Ok so older eyes need more light, and most people aren’t getting it.

There was a recent study of 202 healthy older adults. It found that simply being exposed to more light, at the right time, could improve their sleep and energy levels.

It was Published in the Journal of Pineal Research. The study was part of a larger European research project called ENLIGHTENme. It tracked adults living independently in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands; Bologna, Italy; and Tartu, Estonia. Those who used a light-therapy lamp each morning showed better sleep-wake patterns and more daytime activity, especially those who weren’t getting much natural daylight to begin with.

Greg Elder, a sleep and circadian researcher in the UK, told us that the eyes contain light-sensitive cells that report directly to the brain regions controlling sleep and wakefulness. So Daylight is what keeps the internal clock set correctly. It promotes alertness during the day and helps trigger melatonin, the hormone that signals the body it’s time to wind down, in the evening.

Elder said,  as we age, changes in the eyes make us “less responsive to light.” Beginning around 50, the pupil shrinks, and the lens clouds slightly, letting in less of the blue light that the circadian system relies on most.

So the amount of crucial light reaching the retina can fall by as much as 72 percent between ages 10 and 80, and this can affect our sleep.

Elder said “Light is the most important cue for our circadian system,” (More)

Then there is the indoor problem.

An older adult may spend much of the day inside, receiving relatively little bright light even when the sun is shining outside. Mariana Figueiro, director of the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai Sigh-Nye, told us the result can be a weaker contrast between bright days and dark nights.

Figueiro’s advice is to shape light throughout the whole day:

• First she said make sure to get morning light. Within the first couple of hours after waking, spend at least 30 minutes outdoors when you can. Or when indoors, open the shades and sit near a bright window for about an hour.

• Next Brighten Daytime Spaces,  and use brighter bulbs so more light reaches your eyes—around 3,000 lumens, Figueiro said.

• Then Dim the Light Down as the Day Ends. and at night, keep the bedroom as dark as possible for sleep.

• And last Figueiro said, to Keep the Pattern Consistent. 

Importantly, she added, the goal isn’t to make your home brighter all day. It’s to restore the contrast between day and night that the body’s clock depends on.

I do like to dim the lights a bit after dinner because I do find that it helps me wind down plus it’s so cozy. Well, hope you’re letting in lots of light this morning and enjoying your day!

And before we leave, here are some words of wisdom to start the day…Today’s quote was written by the poet John Milton,

He writes

“Peace hath her victories

No less renowned than war.” 

—John Milton