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.”
A plume of smoke rises after an explosion on February 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Dozens of students at an Iranian all-girls elementary school were among those killed during the U.S. and Israeli military strikes throughout the country Saturday morning, officials in Iran claimed.
The country’s leaders and state TV said 85 people who were at the Shajare Tayyiba Elementary School were dead, as of 10:40 a.m. ET, after the school in Minab was attacked.
At least 92 injuries related to the school attack were reported, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which cited the local governor.
Iranian officials have not immediately said how many of the dead and wounded are children. Earlier in the morning, Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, reported shortly after that the death toll had risen to 57 school girls, with another 60 injured.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian blasted the United States and Israeli governments for the deaths and injuries in a statement Saturday carried by the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency.
“This barbaric act is another black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors against this land that will never be erased from the historical memory of our nation,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an X post that the school was “bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils.”
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said in a statement that it would look into the reports about the school being bombed but emphasized, “Unlike Iran, we have never — and will never — target civilians.”
“We take these reports seriously and are looking into them,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, said in a statement. “The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm.”
International law prohibits the deliberate targeting of schools and universities during armed conflicts.
The U.S. military has a rigorous targeting process using different forms of intelligence to ensure that any targets to be struck by bombs or missiles are, in fact, enemy targets and will not harm civilians or strike civilian targets.
Claims of civilian casualties are investigated as much as possible, although it may not be possible to do so in areas controlled by hostile forces.
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, a non-profit that tracks military attacks on academic institutions, documented more than 6,000 attacks on schools, universities, students and education personnel worldwide between 2022 and 2023.
The group’s global research found that 10,000 students and education personnel were killed, injured, abducted or otherwise harmed during that time period.
his photo taken on May 17, 2026 shows an exterior view of a hospital that has been designated as an Ebola treatment center in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC. TO GO WITH “Update: DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to rebel-held city, Rwanda closing down border” (Photo by Str/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least 513 suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths have been recorded in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials said Tuesday.
Congolese Minister of Public Health Samuel Roger Kamba said during a press briefing in French that authorities will determine which of these deaths “are actually linked to the disease.”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during the United Nation agency’s annual World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, recalled how he declared Congo’s current Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, saying it was the first time a WHO chief had done so before convening an emergency committee.
“I did not do this lightly,” Tedros said. “I did it in accordance with Article 12 of the International Health Regulations, after consulting the ministers of health of both countries, and because I am deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic. We will convene the Emergency Committee today to advise us on temporary recommendations.”
At least 30 cases of Ebola virus disease have been confirmed in the ongoing outbreak in Congo, from the northeastern province of Ituri. In addition, there are more than 500 suspected cases and over 130 suspected deaths, according to Tedros.
Cases have been reported in urban areas, including one of Congo’s largest cities, Goma, the rebel-held capital of the eastern province of North Kivu, Tedros said.
Uganda has also confirmed two cases in its capital Kampala, including one death, among two individuals who traveled from neighboring Congo, according to Tedros.
This outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of Ebola for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics, Tedros said.
On Tuesday, Dr. Anne Ancia, WHO’s representative in the DRC, said more than 40 experts were deployed to the field on Sunday and the WHO has sent 12 tons of supplies, with six more tons coming.
Supplies include personal protective equipment for front line healthcare workers, laboratory samples, tents, drugs and other treatments.
“What I see here in the field is extremely vulnerable people, a [fragile] population,” Ancia said. “But I see also people working together while facing great uncertainty as to the [scale] or the extent of this outbreak.”
She said the surveillance capacity is limited in the affected region, which could be why the outbreak is spreading rapidly.
“We really need to go fast to really try to stop the spread of the disease further,” she said. “We don’t understand yet the extent of the spread of the disease.”
According to The Associated Press, more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have occurred in Congo and Uganda, but this is only the third time that the Bundibugyo virus has been detected.
An American doctor working in the DRC is among those who has tested positive for Ebola amid the outbreak, according to an international Christian missions organization.
Dr. Peter Stafford, a medical missionary with the missions organization Serge, was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital, the group said Monday.
He sought testing “after presenting symptoms consistent with the virus,” Serge said in a statement.
Dr. Satish K. Pillai, incident manager for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response, said the agency had activated its Emergency Operations Center through its country offices in the DRC and in Uganda, and is deploying technical experts that have been requested from Atlanta headquarters.
Pillai added that the risk to the U.S. general public remains low.
The CDC said earlier Monday that it is preparing to restrict entry for travelers arriving from parts of central Africa where an Ebola outbreak has been declared, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
On Sunday, the CDC said in a statement that a “small number of Americans” were directly affected by the Ebola outbreak.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is “working on” the Ebola outbreak.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud, Eric M. Strauss and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
A view of the vessels heading towards the Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran on the condition that the strait be reopened, seen in Oman on April 08, 2026. (Photo by Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As the world awaits a resolution on the fate of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the most vital global trade routes — the seafarers who have been stranded for weeks aboard ships and tankers on either side of the waterway are desperate for answers.
Nearly 20,000 people on some 2,000 vessels are currently trapped in the Persian Gulf, waiting for a passage that may not come anytime soon, according to the International Maritime Organization.
“It’s been almost 50 days since the war started, and uncertainty is our biggest fear,” one seafarer told ABC News, speaking anonymously for their safety. “Not knowing if we are going to get out of this situation alive is our main concern — because it doesn’t matter where you are in the Gulf, there is no safe place here.”
The seafarer said they have been waiting to cross since Feb. 28, the day the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran started and the moment vessel owners effectively halted traffic through the strait. Insurance companies stopped covering ships in the region almost immediately, bringing maritime traffic to a standstill on a waterway that normally carries as much as 20% of the world’s crude oil and refined petroleum products.
“There are several different dangers here,” the seafarer explained. “This is a very narrow, enclosed strait. There are reports of sea mines — we don’t know if they’re real or not, but it doesn’t really matter. Once the idea takes hold that mines might be there, no ship wants to pass. That’s the first issue. The second is that in such a confined space, we’re talking about the possibility of drones, unmanned vehicles, ballistic missiles — there are so many ways we could be attacked that I don’t think the U.S. military or any other military can realistically protect us.”
The fallout on global markets has been severe. The longer the strait remains closed, the deeper the energy crisis will cut, particularly across Asia, which depends heavily on Gulf oil exports.
High-stakes negotiations between Iran and the United States continue, with both sides debating the waterway’s reopening, but the only fact that matters to those waiting is that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, and the threat of attack is likely to keep it that way.
“I’ve seen missiles passing over our heads,” the seafarer said. “I’ve seen drones and planes fly by every day, and we never know their intentions. I’ve watched vessels get hit with my own eyes.”
The seafarer’s experience has been echoed by others in the shipping industry.
“I gave my notice exactly one month ago,” another seafarer recently told The Guardian. “I’ve informed the master, I’m not willing to sail through the strait. It’s about safety, it’s all about safety.”
“I think a vessel owner or operator is going to feel extremely vulnerable considering the disconnect between diplomatic communication and military actions,” Joshua Hutchinson, chief commercial officer at maritime risk agency Ambrey, told ABC News.
He said the industry expects the strait to remain under the control of Iranian authorities while the United States intensifies operations against Iranian vessels. “This will put continued strains on new ceasefire and peace talks,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the industry needs “clear communication” in order for vessels to safely leave the Persian Gulf and clear the backlog. He forecasts it could take three weeks for all vessels to clear the strait.
The seafarer who spoke to ABC News described a grim scene currently of ships drifting with little direction, and listening on the ship-to-ship communication systems called the VHF line — accounts of crews growing desperate for basic provisions, and some begging to go home.
“There are vessels in this area right now rationing food and water. Crews aren’t getting paid properly, and crew changes are still extremely difficult to arrange,” the seafarer said. “You can hear other crew members talking about their situations — people saying they haven’t been paid, that food is running out. The worst part, for me, is hearing someone say they have no water.”
Since the conflict began, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said it has received roughly 1,900 inquiries from seafarers across hundreds of vessels. About 20% were requests for repatriation; others raised concerns about dwindling supplies of fuel, food, and water.
“Civilian seafarers have already lost their lives, and tens of thousands more trapped near the Strait of Hormuz are spending every waking moment consumed by anxiety about how — or whether — they will make it home,” ITF Maritime Operations Coordinator John Canias said. “While many watching from afar see this through the lens of an energy or economic crisis, make no mistake: this is also a humanitarian crisis. Seafarers transport 90% of everything we rely on in our daily lives — food, medicine, fuel. They deserve far better than this.”
So far, the ITF says it has helped repatriate 450 seafarers from the region. For the thousands still waiting, relief has not come.
“We feel trapped — like we’re in a prison,” the seafarer who spoke to ABC News said. “The only way out is through the Strait of Hormuz, and right now, that’s not possible.”
