Category: World news

(PARIS) —The director of the Louvre Museum in France has resigned, months after $102 million in jewels were stolen, according to the office of the French president.

Laurence des Cars’ tenure has been under intense scrutiny since the heist and she has faced calls for resignation.

Christophe Leribault has been named the new director of the Louvre. Leribault’s resume includes running the Versailles Palace, another world-renowned French landmark and tourist attraction, and was also the previous head of Paris’ Orsay Museum.  

Leribault will oversee a long-overdue multi-million-dollar renovation project.   

A French government spokesperson said he’s the perfect choice, saying, “He will notably have to direct major projects for the future of the institution, on the one hand securing and modernizing the Louvre, and on the other, the continuation of the ‘Louvre — New Renaissance’ project.”

French President Emmanuel Macron praised des Cars’ resignation “as an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs both stability and a strong new impetus to successfully complete major security and modernization projects,” the Élysée said in a statement Tuesday.

“The President thanked her for her work and commitment over the past few years and, recognizing her undeniable scientific expertise, entrusted her with a mission within the framework of the French G7 presidency, focusing on cooperation between the major museums of the participating countries,” according to the statement.

At least seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the October robbery but the jewels have not been recovered.

Empress Eugénie’s crown was the only item the thieves did not escape with during the robbery. The thieves dropped it on the street outside the Louvre during the roughly five-minute long heist.

The crown “was crushed and significantly deformed” during the heist, the Louvre said in a statement earlier this month. However, “it remained largely intact,” meaning museum officials believe it can be fully restored.

In light of the robbery, security lapses at the museum have been exposed, including that the password to the world-famous museum’s video surveillance system was “Louvre,” according to a museum employee with knowledge of the system.

During testimony before a French Senate committee after the robbery, des Cars said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery, where the stolen jewels were displayed, was facing west and did not cover the window where the thieves used power tools to break in and exit.

Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms and video cameras work, but said there was a “weakness” in the museum’s perimeter security “due to underinvestment.”

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(NEW YORK) — Airport operations are gradually returning to normal in Mexico after violence ignited in the country following the killing of the drug lord known as “El Mencho,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference Tuesday.

Sheinbaum said there were “seven roadblocks” in Mexico Tuesday morning, but “all of them” have now been cleared. Flights have resumed at Guadalajara Airport, and operations are “gradually returning” at Puerto Vallarta airport, she added.

School was suspended in Jalisco and Michoacan on Tuesday, but “activities are expected to return to normal tomorrow,” Sheinbaum added.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed in an operation led by Mexican authorities on Sunday in Jalisco, Mexican officials said.

Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.

Mexico’s security strategy “has not changed,” after the operation, emphasizing that law enforcement were attempting to arrested an individual with an outstanding warrant, Sheinbaum said Tuesday.  

“Members of the Army were attacked and responded. He later died while being transferred. But we will never act outside the law. That is very important. Here, the objective was never to kill anyone,” Sheinbaum said.

“Yes, this was a very significant member of organized crime, but the strategy has not changed. The strategy remains the same and is grounded in our laws and our Constitution,” she added.

Sheinbaum said that as of Monday morning, there are no longer any blockades and “normal activity has largely been restored.”

Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.

When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday.

El Mencho “fled the location, leaving behind a group heavily armed,” Trevilla said. “The attack by organized crime members was extremely violent.”

Mexican special forces members continued to pursue El Mencho and eventually were able to injure him and two of the bodyguards with him, according to Trevilla.

El Mencho and the two bodyguards died during the helicopter evacuation flight that was heading towards a medical facility in Jalisco, Trevilla added.

Ultimately, 25 members of the Mexican National Guard and 30 cartel members were killed in Jalisco, Mexican officials said. Four cartel members were also killed in Michoacan, officials said.

Among those killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.

Seventy cartel members have been detained across seven states, Mexican officials said Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Monday continued to urge Americans in locations throughout Mexico to shelter in place due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.”

“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with most domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert. “All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta.  Some businesses have suspended operations.”

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(PARIS) — The director of the Louvre Museum in France has resigned, months after $102 million in jewels were stolen, according to the office of the French president.

Laurence des Cars’ tenure has been under intense scrutiny since the heist and she has faced calls for resignation.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the resignation “as an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs both stability and a strong new impetus to successfully complete major security and modernization projects,” the Élysée said in a statement Tuesday. 

“The President thanked her for her work and commitment over the past few years and, recognizing her undeniable scientific expertise, entrusted her with a mission within the framework of the French G7 presidency, focusing on cooperation between the major museums of the participating countries,” according to the statement.

At least seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the October robbery but the jewels have not been recovered.

Empress Eugénie’s crown was the only item the thieves did not escape with during the robbery. The thieves dropped it on the street outside the Louvre during the roughly five-minute long heist.

The crown “was crushed and significantly deformed” during the heist, the Louvre said in a statement earlier this month. However, “it remained largely intact,” meaning museum officials believe it can be fully restored.

In light of the robbery, security lapses at the museum have been exposed, including that the password to the world-famous museum’s video surveillance system was “Louvre,” according to a museum employee with knowledge of the system.

During testimony before a French Senate committee after the robbery, des Cars said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery, where the stolen jewels were displayed, was facing west and did not cover the window where the thieves used power tools to break in and exit.

Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms and video cameras work, but said there was a “weakness” in the museum’s perimeter security “due to underinvestment.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon announced the third seizure in the Indian Ocean of an oil tanker allegedly linked to Venezuela’s illicit oil operation that had fled the Caribbean. 

“Three boats ran and now all three have been captured,” said a post from the Department of Defense on X announcing the seizure. “The vessel was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and attempted to evade. From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we tracked it and stopped it. No other nation has the global reach, endurance, or will to enforce sanctions at this distance.”

The department added it would continue to “deny illicit actors and their proxies freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”

After the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would continue enforcing a legal “quarantine” of illicit oil tankers transiting to and from Venezuela.

President Donald Trump said that his administration will work with private U.S. companies and the government in Caracas to expand Venezuelan oil production and exports — with the U.S. controlling the revenue of oil sales.

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez announced earlier this month that the country’s first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas had been exported to the U.S.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country on Tuesday, telling compatriots in a statement, “We have defended our independence, we have not lost our statehood.”

The fifth year of Russia’s war — the full-scale portion of which began in 2022 building on its 2014 invasions of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region — begins with tortuous U.S.-led peace talks ongoing, but a settlement seemingly still far away.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting all along the 750-mile front and long-range attacks continue unabated.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 133 drones and one ballistic missile into the country overnight, of which 111 drones were shot down or suppressed. The missile and 19 drones impacted across 16 locations, the air force said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 97 Ukrainian drones overnight.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy placed flowers at the national memorial near the wall of the St. Michael’s Monastery, in the center of Kyiv. He then attended a service at the nearby Saint Sophia Cathedral.

In his statement, Zelenskyy lauded the resolve and bravery of the Ukrainian people, recalling his initial reaction to Russia’s full-scale invasion in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022. His video statement also included footage of the bunker from which he worked at the beginning of the war.

“Our people did not raise a white flag — they defended the blue and yellow one. And the occupiers, who thought they would be met here with crowds waving flowers, saw lines at the recruitment centers instead,” the Ukrainian president said.

Zelenskyy ran through a timeline of the war to date, touching on Ukraine’s most famous battlefield victories and noting a litany of alleged Russian war crimes. He assured citizens, “We will do more, because Russia does not stop, unfortunately, and wages war by every method — against peace, against us, against people.”

“Putin understands he is not capable of defeating Ukraine on the battlefield, and the ‘second army in the world’ is fighting against apartment buildings and power plants,” he added.

Zelenskyy again raised the prospect of President Donald Trump visiting Ukraine — an offer the White House is yet to take up. His predecessor, President Joe Biden, visited Kyiv in 2023.

“Only by coming to Ukraine, and seeing with one’s own eyes our life and our struggle, feeling our people and the enormity of this pain — only then can one understand what this war is really about. And because of whom,” Zelenskyy said.

“It is an attack by a sick state on a sovereign one, and that Putin is this war. He is the cause of its beginning and the obstacle to its end. And it is Russia that must be put in its place. So that there can be real peace,” he added.

As the war grinds into its fifth year, Zelenskyy said, “Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken Ukrainians. He has not won this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to secure peace and justice.”

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia is “continuing our efforts to achieve peace, our position is very clear and consistent. Now everything depends on the actions of the Kyiv regime.”

“The goals have not yet been fully achieved, so the special military operation continues,” Peskov said in response to Zelenskyy’s statement, using a longstanding Kremlin phrase to refer to its full-scale invasion.

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(NEW YORK) — President Claudia Sheinbaum said there is a “greater calm” in Mexico on Monday, a day after violence ignited in the country following the killing of the drug lord known as “El Mencho.”

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed in an operation led by Mexican authorities on Sunday in Jalisco, Mexican officials said.

Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.

“Today there is greater calm,” Sheinbaum said during a press briefing Monday. “The public can rest assured that peace, security, and normalcy are being safeguarded across the country.”

Sheinbaum said that as of Monday morning, there are no longer any blockades and “normal activity has largely been restored.”

Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.

When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday.

El Mencho “fled the location, leaving behind a group heavily armed,” Trevilla said. “The attack by organized crime members was extremely violent.”

Mexican special forces members continued to pursue El Mencho and eventually were able to injure him and two of the bodyguards with him, according to Trevilla.

El Mencho and the two bodyguards died during the helicopter evacuation flight that was heading towards a medical facility in Jalisco, Trevilla added.

Ultimately, 25 members of the Mexican National Guard and 30 cartel members were killed in Jalisco, Mexican officials said. Four cartel members were also killed in Michoacan, officials said.

Among those killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.

Seventy cartel members have been detained across seven states, Mexican officials said Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Monday continued to urge Americans in locations throughout Mexico to shelter in place due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.”

“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with most domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert. “All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta.  Some businesses have suspended operations.”

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(LONDON) — Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, police said Monday.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police issued a statement, saying, “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday and has been taken to a London police station for interview. This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”

Mandelson is a former U.K. ambassador to the United States.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LONDON) — Iranian students from several universities across the country continued protesting on Monday against the Islamic Republic’s regime for the third-consecutive day since Saturday, when schools reopened for the second semester.

Social media videos verified by ABC News show hundreds of students in Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan shouting slogans, including “Death to Khamenei” and “Woman, Life, Freedom/Iranian Republic,” targeting Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, and pushing for a regime change.

The protests appear to be the most significant to spread since the Iranian regime’s massacre across the country, in which more than 7,000 people were killed, as the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based group, reported earlier this month. ABC News cannot independently verify the group’s figures.

Groups of students also chanted “Pahlavi will return,” calling for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of the former monarch of the country. Pahlavi’s call for protest in early January, 10 days after the unrest started in Tehran, escalated the nationwide protests just before the regime’s crackdown on the protesters.

Pictures of the victims of the January protests have been held by protesting students in universities. A verified video shows students gathering in the Foreign Languages department at the University of Tehran, with some holding pictures of Raha Bohlouli, a student of Italian language and literature at this school who was said to have been killed during the protests.

In a protest at Tehran’s Amirkabir University on Sunday, protesting students were confronted by pro-regime Basiji students who tried to disrupt their gathering.

Following the protests, some students of Tehran’s renown Sharif University who participated received a text message on Monday stating that they have been banned from getting into the university, the semi-official Asriran News Agency reported.

The current round of students’ protests appeared to be gathering momentum as families of thousands of the victims of January’s massacres have recently been holding 40th-day ceremonies in remembrance of their loved ones.

In Iran, one of the significant commemoration ceremonies after someone’s death is held on the 40th day after the burial, when loved ones gather to reflect on the memories of the departed. These ceremonies have traditionally been seen as potential hubs for more protests over the past decades, as the pain and loss of the families have the potential to stir anger and a demand for justice for those killed by the regime.

Dance of defiance

With the broad scope of the Islamic Republic regime’s massacre across the country, thousands of families are still mourning the loss of their loved ones. Iranian cemeteries, holy shrines and mosques — which normally are venues for the 40th-day ceremonies — have turned into scenes of the most extraordinary ways of mourning in the country, as victims’ families have been dancing to mourn as a sign of defiance.

Hundreds of videos circulating online from these ceremonies show parents, children, friends, wives and husbands of the victims dancing to upbeat music playing at mosques and holy shrine sites as a dramatic representation of their grief.

This is seen by many Iran watchers as an act of defiance, transforming a national collective pain into a form of resistance.

Videos show mourning women — even those from traditional and religious backgrounds — dancing in black, many of them without wearing a headscarf.

This comes as mosques and holy shrines have been important bases for the regime to spread the hardcore ideology its leaders stand by, which bans any kind of dance and music and scorns them as sins — let alone tolerating them in public or at holy sites.

The scenes have been witnessed at young victims’ commemoration ceremonies to highlight the happy life they deserved but were deprived of.

“No tears or words can express my pain,” a family member of one of the victims killed during protests in Tehran told ABC News on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I always dreamt of dancing at his wedding,” she said. “I felt this burning pain in my chest as I was dancing by the side of his grave. My dream was taken away by a bullet.”

The remerging of the protests comes as the United States and Islamic Republic leaders are preparing for another round of talks in Geneva on Thursday to discuss a possible nuclear deal.

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(LONDON) — London police said Friday they are “assessing” whether the city’s airports played a role in human trafficking tied to the release of the U.S. Department of Justice’s files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Following the further release of millions of court documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice, we are aware of the suggestion that London airports may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Friday. “We are assessing this information and are actively seeking further detail from law enforcement partners, including those in the United States.”

The Met Police’s statement comes after Essex Police said on Wednesday that they are also “assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files.”

Met Police said that it had previously investigated sex trafficking allegations involving Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell has denied any knowledge of what Epstein was doing with women and girls at his various properties.

Based on guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service and U.S. authorities, “it was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities outside the UK and perpetrators based overseas and therefore international authorities were best placed to progress these allegations,” Met Police said.

Met Police said it decided in 2016 not to conduct a full criminal investigation, a decision that was reviewed in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and remained unchanged.

Following the release of the Epstein materials, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he asked Met Police “urgently to re-examine their decision-making in their investigation and the subsequent reviews,” in a piece published in the New Statesman earlier this month. 

“The Epstein emails, which record the visas issued, payments made and transport organised for girls and women trafficked across the world, suggest a number of British girls were on 90 Epstein flights organised from UK airports on what was called his ‘Lolita Express,'” Brown wrote. “Among the many aspects that should sicken anyone looking at the emails is that 15 of these flights were given the go-ahead after his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. How the flights were allowed to continue should have been fully investigated.”

Brown further wrote that the Epstein emails “tell us in graphic detail how Epstein was able to use Stansted Airport — he boasted how cheap the airport charges were compared to Paris — to fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.” 

Stansted Airport, located some 30 miles northeast of central London, was where “women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another,” Brown wrote, adding that “women arriving on private planes into Britain would not need British visas.”

Brown also cited a BBC investigation into Epstein’s private planes published late last year that found that from the early 1990s to 2018, nearly 90 flights linked to Epstein had arrived or departed from UK airports — including some that had British women on board who alleged abuse by Epstein. 

“It seems the authorities never knew what was happening: evidence the BBC has uncovered shows incomplete flight logs, with unnamed passengers simply labelled as ‘female,'” Brown wrote. “To this day, the names of many of the male passengers are unknown because their names were withheld. In short, British authorities had little or no idea who was being trafficked through our country, and for whom other than Epstein.”

In the wake of the Epstein files release, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III — was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released after 11 hours and has not been charged.

In late 2010, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to share sensitive information stemming from his role as the U.K. trade envoy with Epstein, emails released by the U.S. DOJ suggest.

His arrest follows the emergence of documents detailing communication between him and Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.

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(LONDON) — The U.K. Government will consider introducing legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession once the police investigation has concluded, ABC News learned Friday.

Andrew is currently 8th in line to the throne.

Investigations continued Friday after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew and the younger brother of King Charles III — was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released under investigation.

Police confirmed that searches being conducted in Norfolk have now concluded, while searches in Berkshire remain underway and that Mountbatten-Windsor has not been charged. The former prince was pictured returning to Sandringham in Norfolk on Thursday night.

In a statement on Thursday, Thames Valley Police said it had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.”

There have been no senior royals arrested in recent history.

Under United Kingdom law, an arrest requires police to have reasonable grounds to suspect an offense has taken place and reasonable grounds for believing that it is necessary to arrest the person in question.

In a statement issued on Thursday, King Charles III said, “I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office.”

“What now follows is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation,” Charles added.

“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course. As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”

Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest on Thursday follows the emergence of documents detailing communication between Andrew and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has previously denied wrongdoing with respect to Epstein.

In late 2010, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to share sensitive information stemming from his role as the U.K. trade envoy with Jeffrey Epstein, who had just months earlier completed his sentence in Florida for solicitation of a minor into prostitution, emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice suggest.

Emails sent by Mountbatten-Windsor show the former prince passing along what he described as “confidential information” stemming from his government role to Epstein. Other emails sent by his former liaison suggest that Mountbatten-Windsor discussed Epstein’s connections in his personal dealings.

“It’s undoubtedly a threat to the monarchy,” ABC News royal contributor Robert Jobson said Thursday of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, noting the historic and “seismic” nature of a police raid taking place at a royal estate.

“I think some people, many people, younger people included, will argue, what is the point of an institution that’s unelected when you’ve got criminality, or potential criminality, actually unfolding like this and members of the royal family being arrested and cautioned … to give evidence under oath in an interview?” Jobson said on “Good Morning America.” “It’s shocking.”

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