Louvre heist suspects to be charged, jewels not recovered: Paris prosecutor
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(PARIS) — The Paris public prosecutor reported on Wednesday that investigators are making “major progress” in solving the brazen Oct. 19 Louvre Museum heist and said two suspects in custody will be charged with “organized robbery.”
During a news conference on Wednesday, Laure Beccuau, the Paris Public Prosecutor, released new information about the two suspects arrested last weekend, but said the stolen jewels remain missing.
Beccuau said that if the suspects are convicted, they’ll face a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and heavy fines.
A 96-hour deadline for charging or releasing the suspects was set to expire on Wednesday. Both suspects are from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, authorities previously said.
Beccuau also said in her press conference that the two suspects arrested on Saturday “partially admitted their involvement in the events to investigators.”
A massive manhunt continued on Wednesday for at least two other suspects in the robbery. Beccuau said she has not ruled out the possibility that more perpetrators were involved in the heist, but added that, at this stage, evidence has not suggested any additional accomplices.
Beccuau said trace DNA recovered from a scooter used in the heist and a window at the Louvre helped investigators identify the suspects, whose names have not been released.
One man was arrested about 8 p.m. local time on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport as he was about to leave the country without a return ticket, Beccuau said. She said the suspect has lived in France since 2010 and had been convicted of a previous robbery.
Beccuau said the second suspect is a taxi driver who was arrested at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday near his home. She said the suspect’s DNA was found on one of the windows at the Louvre.
Beccuau said the suspect had been previously convicted of “aggravated robberies” in 2008 and 2014.
Investigators previously told ABC News that the second suspect was arrested as he was about to travel to Mali, but on Wednesday, Beccuau said the man had no intention of leaving the country.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry again warned that Moscow will not accept the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine as part of a future peace deal, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met a group of top European leaders in Paris on Thursday.
“Russia does not intend to discuss unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form whatsoever,” spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in comments published by the Foreign Ministry on Thursday. “Western war instigators view Ukraine as a testing ground for their military developments,” she said.
Moscow has repeatedly rebuffed proposals for Western forces to be deployed to Ukraine in any capacity as part of a deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which began in February 2022.
Nonetheless, the prospect is still under discussion by NATO leaders and the Ukrainian government as an element of the security guarantees Kyiv says are needed to facilitate any U.S.-brokered peace deal.
Zakharova said Thursday that the protections under discussion “are not security guarantees for Ukraine, they are guarantees of threat to the European continent.”
The remarks came before Zelenskyy gathered with European leaders — the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” — for further talks in Paris on Thursday. The group also spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump, who called into the meeting, the White House said.
“President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war — as Russia received €1.1 billion in fuel sales from the EU in one year,” a White House official said following the call. “The president also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts.”
European and Canadian leaders finalized a plan outlining potential security guarantees for Ukraine, with 26 countries expressing readiness to take direct action, French President Emmanuel Macron announced following the meeting. Macron said several countries are prepared to contribute “on land, in the sea or in the air” to “reassure the people of Ukraine and maintain the ceasefire once it’s implemented, and maintain and guarantee peace.” “The plan will now be taken to the U.S. with the intention of formalizing it in the coming days,” Macron said.
Other European leaders who attended Thursday’s talks in Paris included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Several other European leaders joined the meeting virtually.
Trump also spoke with Zelenskyy on Thursday following the coalition meeting, with the Ukrainian president calling it a “long and very detailed conversation.”
Zelenskyy said they discussed various ways to “push the situation toward real peace,” with the “most important thing” being strong economic measures.
“The key to peace is depriving the Russian war machine of money and resources,” Zelenskyy said. “We also talked about maximum protection of Ukrainian skies. Until there is peace, Ukrainians must not be dependent on constant Russian attacks; Russian missiles and drones must not take lives. Ukraine proposed that the U.S. consider a special format for protecting Ukrainian skies.”
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Trump pushed back on one reporter’s suggestion of his “lack of action” on Russia in response to its continued offensive operations and long-range attacks in Ukraine, despite his repeated threats of further sanctions and tariffs on Moscow.
“How do you know there’s no action? Would you say that, putting secondary sanctions on India, the largest purchaser outside of China, they’re almost equal, would you say there was no action that costs hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia You call that no action?” Trump said.
The president was referring to the recent imposition of 25% tariffs on all imported Indian goods in response to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy goods and military equipment.
“And I haven’t done phase two yet,” Trump continued. “Or phase three. But when you say there’s no action, I think you ought to get yourself a new job. Because if you remember, two weeks ago, I did — I said, if India buys, India’s got big problems. And that’s what happened. So don’t tell me about that.”
Trump and Putin met in Alaska nearly three weeks ago. After that event, Trump suggested that a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy should be the next step in the negotiations process.
The Kremlin has given no indication of its willingness to support such a meeting, though Putin suggested this week that a meeting could take place in Moscow.
Kyiv quickly dismissed that proposal. Foreign Minister Andri Sybiha said in a post to X, “Putin continues to mess around with everyone by making knowingly unacceptable proposals.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday he had “no message” for Putin. “He knows where I stand, and he’ll make a decision one way or the other whatever his decision is will either be happy about it or unhappy and if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”
“We’ve taken very strong action, as you know, and in other ways we’ve taken very strong action,” Trump continued. “But I’ll be speaking to him over the next few days and we’re going to see with him. I’m going to know exactly what’s happened.”
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Hannah Demissie, Will Gretsky, Yulia Drozd, Somayeh Malekian and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The Trump administration’s tariffs on Indian goods, initially 25% and then additional 25%, “due to India’s direct or indirect importation of Russian Federation oil,” is expected to make Indian basmati rice significantly more expensive for American consumers.
Basmati is an aromatic rice variety grown mostly in the Punjab region in northern India and is popular for its long grain, fluffy texture and distinct smell. This premium variety is sold for twice the price of other varieties meaning, even with limited quantity, basmati is considered a high value export.
India dominates the global market, providing the world with 65% of its basmati supply. Most of the rest comes from Pakistan.
The Indian price of exporting Indian rice is expected to rise sharply due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on India, and the consequences for India could be extreme due to the stark tariff differential when compared to Pakistan.
While India faces a 50% duty, Pakistan has only a 19% tariff.
“We definitely see this [tariffs] as a positive thing,” Mudassar Ahmed, of Rice Partners, a Pakistani agricultural cooperative, to ABC News.
“The 50% tariff on Indian rice will effectively price it out of the U.S. market,” Malik Faisal Jahangir, chairman of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
Meanwhile, the northern state of Punjab in India, which shares borders with Pakistan’s Punjab province, has been experiencing the worst flooding since 1988.
Arvind Shukla, a journalist from local media outlet NewsPolti, told ABC News that the devastation from the floods has been widespread and that most of the districts that grow basmati have been severely impacted.
The floods submerged more than 150,000 hectares of farmland — an estimated 10% of potential output, the Indian Rice Exporters’ Federation (IREF) spokesperson told ABC News.
Farmers in Punjab have an average landholding of 8.95 acres per farmer, significantly more than the national average of 1.08, according to the Government’s Agriculture Census, and farming is more mechanized and resource-intensive, with farmers often investing in costly equipment financed through high-interest loans, leaving them among the most debt-burdened in the country.
Any disruption in crop yields, particularly of high value crops like basmati, makes them vulnerable to significant debt and potential default.
Punjab province in Pakistan has also flooded, with the region producing 90% of the country’s Basmati rice. More than 1,000 people have died in the floods since August 2025, as per Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.
Officials estimate that 30 to 35% of their basmati output may have been impacted, according to the early estimates of Rice Partners Pvt Ltd., with the overall basmati damage may being up to 10% or 15%.
Pakistan exported approximately 772,725 tons of basmati rice in the last fiscal year, earning $876.9 million, an increase from 595,120 tons when compared to the year before, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
India, however, in the last fiscal year exported 234,467 metric tons of basmati rice which is valued at $300 million to the U.S. alone, as per the Indian Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.
The U.S. rice import market has grown from 7% of the domestic market in 1993-94 to over 25% in 2022-23, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the aromatic variety accounts for 60% of U.S. imports, with basmati from India and Pakistan as well as jasmine from Thailand.
The Basmati rice market is expected to grow to approximately $27 billion by 2032, as per Market Research Future’s Global Basmati Rice Market report.
“Pakistan can provide some basmati because of tariff difference, but can’t compensate for India’s quantity,” Vinod Kumar Kaul, executive director of India Rice Exporters Federation (IREF), said to ABC News.
(LONDON) — World leaders on Thursday issued a wave of statements commending Israel and Hamas for agreeing to the first phase of a ceasefire deal, with many also praising U.S. President Donald Trump for his administration’s role in brokering the deal.
“I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued statements with wording closely matching Starmer’s. Each praised Trump, then also included an appeal to Israel and Hamas to abide by the terms of the agreement.
Those statements and many others like them followed Trump’s announcement on Wednesday evening that the warring parties had “both signed off” on the first phase of a ceasefire plan.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!” Trump said in a statement posted on social media.
The full details of that deal were still coming into focus on Thursday, but the broad outline included a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release by Hamas of the remaining hostages, according to Trump. An as-yet unknown number of Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released from Israeli jails. Nearly 2,000 prisoners are believed to be under discussion for release.
Israeli officials were preparing on Thursday to ratify the deal. The details of the agreed-to deal had not been released as of Thursday morning.
White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Egypt on Wednesday for the final negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Washington, where he interrupted a White House roundtable to notify Trump that an agreement to the deal was near.
The administration’s efforts drew applause from Trump’s allies in Washington, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who in a statement hailed it as “a truly historic achievement,” as well as from leaders and aid organisations farther afield.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement posted on social media he wanted to thank “all those involved in this vital effort.”
“I wish to extend my deepest thanks to POTUS Donald Trump for his incredible leadership toward securing the release of the hostages, bringing an end to the war, and creating hope for a new reality in the Middle East,” Herzog said. “There is no doubt that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this. Should he visit us in the coming days, he will be received with immense respect, affection, and gratitude by the people of Israel.”
Praise for the deal also came from the Palestinian Authority, which governed the Gaza Strip until a violent 2007 seizure by Hamas, the terror organization that at that time executed or expelled many of the Authority’s civil leaders. The Authority, which currently controls civil operations in parts of the West Bank, said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the deal, calling it a “prelude to reaching a permanent political solution.”
“He also commended President Trump and all mediators for their significant efforts in reaching the agreement, affirming the State of Palestine’s readiness to work with relevant mediators and international partners to ensure its success, in order to achieve stability and a lasting and just peace in accordance with international law,” the Authority’s statement said.
The statement also said Palestinian “sovereignty over the Gaza Strip belongs to the State of Palestine.” The details of the agreed-to deal had not been released as of Thursday morning.
Guterres, of the U.N., said on social media he welcomed the agreement, praising the “diplomatic efforts” of the United States and the others who moved the deal forward, including Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. He called it a “desperately needed breakthrough.”
“The UN will support the full implementation of the agreement & will scale up the delivery of sustained & principled humanitarian relief, and we will advance recovery & reconstruction efforts in Gaza,” Guterres added.
European Council President Antonio Costa said the deal amounted to a “foundation for a lasting peace, grounded in a two-state solution.”
“Its implementation paves the way for the long-awaited release of all Israeli hostages, a ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the severe humanitarian crisis on the ground,” Costa said on Thursday.
The Catholic Church’s local patriarchate also issued a statement praising the deal, saying it “welcomes the joy” of the announcement.
“It is good news, and we are very happy. It is a first step, the first phase. Of course, there are many others, and surely there will be other obstacles,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said in a statement.
He added, “But now we have to rejoice about this important step that will bring a little more trust for the future and also bring new hope, especially to the people, both Israeli and Palestinians.”
