Louvre director resigns months after jewel heist in Paris
Louvre Museum Director Laurence Des Cars attends a press conference at the Louvre Museum on April 23, 2024 in Paris, France. Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images
(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.”
Russia-Ukraine war: Russian control of Ukrainian territory as of Feb. 2026 (Google Earth , Institute for the Study of War)
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.
A map shows the Strait of Hormuz on a laptop computer screen in this photo illustration in Athens, Greece, on March 3, 2026. (Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(STRAIT OF HORMUZ) — The conflict in the Strait of Hormuz intensified on Wednesday as the Iranian navy confirmed it targeted at least two of three ships struck by projectiles in the critical passage for the oil and shipping trades, and President Donald Trump said the U.S. military destroyed several “inactive” mine-laying boats in the strait.
The increased military activity in the Strait of Hormuz came just three days after President Donald Trump warned Iran in a post on his social media site that if it attempts to “stop the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that its navy conducted strikes on two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday morning.
An IRGC spokesperson said in a statement that its navy struck the ships Express Room and the Mayuree Naree because both commercial vessels were allegedly “ignoring alerts and warnings from the IRGC Navy.”
“Every vessel intending to pass must obtain permission from Iran,” IRGC naval commander Adm. Alireza Tangsiri said in a social media post on Wednesday.
The Express Room, a container ship sailing under the Liberian flag, was struck by Iranian projectiles after allegedly “ignoring warnings from the IRGC Navy and came to a halt in its position,” the IRGC spokesperson said.
The Thai-flagged container ship Mayuree Naree was targeted for allegedly “ignoring alerts and warnings from the IRGC Navy and unlawfully insisting on transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to the IRGC spokesperson.
Thai officials reported that three crew members were missing from the vessel following the attack.
“The Strait of Hormuz is, without a doubt and without a moment’s neglect, under the intelligent management of the brave naval forces of the IRGC. American aggressors and their allies have no right of passage,” the Iranian spokesperson said.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) said it had received reports that three ships came under attack in the Strait of Hormuz. It did not identify the vessels, nor did it say at the time who was responsible for the attacks.
The UKMTO said one container ship was struck about 11 nautical miles north of Oman, in the passage that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
“The vessel has requested assistance and the crew are evacuated,” the UKMTO said.
The other two container ships, according to the UKMTO, were also struck by projectiles early Wednesday. One was hit about 25 nautical miles northwest of the United Arab Emirates port city of Ras Al Khaimah, while the other was stuck northwest of Dubai, according to the UKMTO.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released videos overnight showing attacks being carried out on Tuesday on what it described as “multiple Iranian naval vessels, March 10, including 16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz.”
“To date, we have struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including more than 60 ships, using a variety of precision weapons systems,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video post Wednesday.
While taking questions from reporters on Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House before heading to an event in Kentucky, Trump said, “Look, we took out just about all of their mine ships in one night.”
“We’ve knocked out their navy. We’ve knocked out their air force. We’ve knocked out all of their air defense,” Trump also said.
When asked by a reporter if he’s encouraging CEOs of various oil companies to use the Strait of Hormuz, Trump responded, “Yeah, I think they should. I think they should use the Strait.”
Asked if there are any mines laid in the Strait of Hormuz, the president said, “We don’t think so.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said, “If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY!”
“If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before,” Trump said in the post.
CENTCOM issued a warning to Iranian civilians on Wednesday to avoid all port facilities where it said Iranian naval forces are carrying out military operations along the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said Iranian dockworkers, administrative personnel and crews of commercial vessels “should avoid Iranian naval vessels and military equipment.
“The Iranian regime is using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations that threaten international shipping. This dangerous action risks the lives of innocent people,” CENTCOM said in its warning.
A spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces said Wednesday that if Iran’s ports are threatened, “all ports and docks in the region will be our legitimate targets.”
In an interview with the Iranian state television, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi denied claims that the country’s naval forces are hiding in economic ports, and threatened heavier operations if Iran’s ports are targeted.
The chaos unfolding across the global economy stems in large part from the narrow but crucial waterway along the southern coast of Iran, which connects the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf.
The Strait of Hormuz facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global supply of crude oil and liquid natural gas. Those products hold major implications for the prices of gasoline, plastics and European electricity, among a host of other goods.
The passage, which at its narrowest point is just 21 miles wide, is the only shipping route that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, making it a key travel hub for goods originating in oil-rich Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran.
Wednesday morning, the International Energy Agency said it would release 400 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve, marking the largest oil release in the group’s history as the global economy grapples with soaring oil prices in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, and traders fear a prolonged blockade of the maritime passage.
Before the war, roughly 20 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait or Hormuz each day, but tanker traffic has now “all but stopped,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
A decoy drone flies during a NATO live-fire demonstration of a counter-UAS system on November 18, 2025 in Nowa Deba, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — On NATO’s southeastern flank, one ally is reporting an increasing rate of Russian drone violations and related air policing missions, as Moscow expands its long-range strike campaign against targets all across Ukraine.
Romania, a nation of some 19 million people, shares around 400 miles of border with Ukraine. To its east, Romania abuts the Black Sea, the Danube River and — beyond that — Ukraine, putting that part of the country in particular on the front lines of Russia’s war against its neighbor and Moscow’s wider showdown with the NATO alliance.
The contact zone there spans the Danube, the river’s width of around 1,640 feet — less than three football fields — separating Romania and its NATO defenses from the Ukrainian river ports that have for years been a focus of Russia’s long-range drone and missile bombardments.
Data provided to ABC News by Romania’s Defense Ministry shows that the rate of Russian attacks on Ukrainian targets close to the NATO frontier is increasing, resulting in more regular scrambling of NATO fighters for defensive missions, more violations of NATO airspace by Russian drones and the discovery of more munition fragments on allied territory.
In all four categories, 2026 is set to be a record-breaking year, according to Bucharest’s tallies.
As of April 28, since the start of 2026, Romania recorded seven airspace violations by Russian drones, the discovery of munition fragments 11 times and the scrambling of “Air Policing” missions 18 times, a Defense Ministry spokesperson told ABC News. Those incidents were the result of the 25 Russian attacks on Ukrainian areas close to Romania’s border.
Within the first four months of this year, the figures are already approaching the record annual highs set across 2025, during which Romania reported nine airspace violations, the discovery of fragments 16 times, 21 air policing missions and 28 attacks on Ukrainian targets close to Romania.
In total since Russia launched its invasion, Romania has recorded 25 airspace violations, the discovery of fragments 47 times, 53 air policing scrambles and 91 attacks on Ukrainian targets close to the shared border, the Defense Ministry’s data showed.
Thus far, then, the first third of 2026 alone accounts for around 28% of all airspace violations since 2022, 23% of incidents of fragment discovery, nearly 34% of all air policing missions and 27% of attacks close to Romania’s border.
Constantin Spinu, a former Romanian Defense Ministry official who left his role in 2025, told ABC News that Bucharest always expected Russia to expand attacks along the country’s shared border with Ukraine, particularly after the breakdown in 2023 of the Black Sea Grain Initiative — negotiated between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 — which had sought to ensure the safe flow of grain exports from southern Ukrainian and Russian ports.
“We were very much aware that this would happen,” Spinu said. “It was not possible back then to foresee the amplitude of the attacks.”
The first Russian drone was discovered on Romanian territory in the fall of 2023, according to officials in Bucharest, though that craft was not equipped with explosives. “We realized again that it was a matter of when, not a matter of if, drones equipped with explosives would hit Romanian soil,” Spinu said.
The Defense Ministry’s data, Spinu said, showed a “clear” and “growing tempo” of Russian attacks on Ukrainian targets along the Romanian border.
‘Emphasis on restraint’ Romania has yet to shoot down any Russian drones or other munitions in its airspace, though national law does allow forces to engage drones in Romanian airspace during peacetime if lives or property are at risk.
There is no suggestion that Russian drones have been aimed at targets in Romania, Spinu said. “All the situations were consequences of their attacks on Ukrainian targets,” he said. “I don’t see this changing in the future.”
Last week, British fighter jets were scrambled to track multiple drones attacking targets in Ukraine close to the Romanian border.
Initial reports suggested that the British aircraft intercepted the craft while they were in Ukrainian airspace, though the U.K. and Romanian defense ministries later clarified that the allied pilots tracked, but did not fire upon, the drones.
Romanian authorities said that around 200 people were evacuated during the incursion, which saw one drone land in the southeastern border city of Galati. Romanian President Nicusor Dan said it was “the first incident where Romanian property has actually been damaged, a threshold we take very seriously.”
Following that incursion, Russia’s ambassador in Bucharest — Vladimir Lipayev — told the state-run Tass news agency that the incident was a “provocation” by Kyiv.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry summoned Lipayev to protest the violation. The ambassador, though, told Tass after the meeting, “Due to the lack of any objective evidence of the drone’s national identification, the protest was rejected as far-fetched and groundless.”
The incident again raised questions as to whether NATO forces should intercept Russian munitions close to allied borders while they are still in Ukrainian airspace.
Ionela Ciolan, a research officer at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies think tank in Brussels, told ABC News that Romania’s political leadership has shown “a consistent emphasis on restraint” regarding wayward Russian drones.
“Those in power in Bucharest are careful to avoid any actions that could be interpreted as direct participation in the conflict,” Ciolan said. Questions as to a more assertive NATO posture “remain largely absent from the domestic agenda,” she added.
Oana Popescu-Zamfir, the director of the GlobalFocus Center think tank in Bucharest, told ABC News that the government in Bucharest is broadly “downplaying these incidents and avoids commenting too much about them.”
“The general perception that still the war is something that — though it’s on our border — is still kind of distant,” Popescu-Zamfir said. The official understanding appears to be that the violations are “not a direct act of hostility from Russia,” she added.
That stance could be partly down to domestic political considerations, Ciolan said. “Romanian society has become increasingly polarized,” Ciolan said. Recent data suggests that only about 55% of Romanians primarily blame the Kremlin for the war, while approximately 14% attribute responsibility to Ukraine and others point to the U.S. or the European Union,” she said.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the declared intention of toppling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government in Kyiv.
The “special military operation,” as the Kremlin described the invasion, followed eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, sparked by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fomentation of separatist rebellion in the eastern Donbas region.
The cost of action The first instance of NATO nations downing drones came last year, when Polish and Dutch fighters destroyed three Russian drones over Poland. At least 19 drones penetrated Polish airspace in that instance, according to Warsaw.
After that incident, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Moscow was engaging in “reckless behavior” and said the incursion was not “not an isolated incident.”
“Allies are resolved to defend every inch of allied territory,” Rutte added. “We will closely monitor the situation along our eastern flank, our air defenses continually at the ready.”
Russian officials have broadly denied any responsibility for munition incursions into neighboring nations, while also accusing NATO states of allowing Ukraine to use their airspace for routing drone attacks into Russia — an allegation allied leaders have denied.
As incursions mount, politicians in NATO member states are facing more public pressure to take action. But a more assertive response could carry political, military and economic risks, the analysts who spoke to ABC News said.
“It is extremely costly to shoot down drones that may only cost a few thousand euros with missiles that can cost hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of euros,” Ciolan said. Engaging incurring Russian drones could also hand Moscow useful military intelligence on NATO capabilities.
Romania and other NATO allies are rushing to adopt versions of cheaper counter-drone munitions showcased by Ukraine. In January, for example, Romanian military chief Gen. Gheorghita Vlad said Bucharest planned to acquire the U.S.-made MEROPS interceptor drone.
The costs of intercepting could also balloon if targets are engaged over populated areas, with drones, defensive munitions and falling debris all posing risks to people and property on the ground.
“It doesn’t make sense from an economical point of view, but also from a public safety point of view,” Spinu said.
Popescu-Zamfir said that while Romania has “made progress” on the issue, the country largely lacks the political will and means to engage.
“We now have a clear legal framework that actually allows us to directly engage the drones,” she said, “and it also allows the pilots, in cases where we use fighter jets, to make that decision.”
“But we don’t actually have the equipment,” Popescu-Zamfir added. “We have started positioning more radars and sensors around the Danube Delta, but we’re nowhere near where we should be.”
Romania, along with its NATO allies, faces a difficult and ever-evolving threat, Spinu said.
“You cannot install defensive equipment that would cover the whole border of Romania with Ukraine,” he explained. “That’s not militarily or economically possible. And no country in the world would be able to do that.”
“It’s a matter of risk calculation,” Spinu said, suggesting that the defense of populated areas and critical infrastructure must take precedent over sparsely-populated border regions in which Russian drones have largely fallen.
“I don’t think anyone has the perfect solution,” Spinu added. “Not even the most developed armed forces in NATO.”
