Louvre Museum reopens after heist, as director set to testify to French lawmakers
The Louvre looks empty during a normally busy Sunday on October 19, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Remon Haazen/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Louvre Museum opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning in Paris — the first time it has welcomed the public since Sunday’s robbery.
Meanwhile, the Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, is set to make a much-anticipated appearance in front of France’s Senate Culture Committee to answer questions regarding the museum’s security and what went wrong on Sunday when nine pieces were swiped from the museum’s Apollo Gallery.
On Tuesday, Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced that those gems are estimated to be worth $102 million.
In an interview with the French radio network RTL, Beccuau called the figure “spectacular,” but said it was nothing compared to the “historical loss caused by the theft.”
“We can maybe hope that [the perpetrators] think about it and won’t destroy these jewels for no reason,” Beccuau said.
Hundreds of police officers are a part of the ongoing investigation in the Louvre heist. There are four main suspects in the ongoing investigation, but it’s possible there were other accomplices, Beccuau said.
A nationwide manhunt for the Louvre thieves has been in high gear since the theft on Sunday. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch those responsible for the “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
The thieves went directly to two displays, breaking them and taking a “significant amount of loot,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News.
“They knew exactly where they were going,” Dati said. “It looks like something very organized and very professional.”
Dati said the evidence collected so far points to “organized crime,” but added that investigators have not ruled out that the heist could have been an inside job.
The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health observed numerous clusters with discoloration around them, consistent with the appearance of human bodies in the Darfur region of Sudan. (Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health)
(NEW YORK) — Satellite images and verified videos paint a harrowing picture of door-to-door mass killings in the Darfur region of war-torn Sudan as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary rebels captured a key city in the region.
The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health says they observed numerous clusters with discoloration around them, consistent with the appearance of human bodies across the city as RSF advanced.
The apparent masses were seen in a hospital, all over residential neighborhoods, on the outskirts of the city and by military bases of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The alleged killings took place “in under 72 hours since RSF took control of the city,” Nathaniel Raymond, an American human rights and war crimes investigator at HRL who has been documenting the massacres in Sudan with satellite imagery, told ABC News.
With his team at the research lab, Raymond said he observed “an explosion of objects that measure between 1.3 to 2 meters proliferate all over the ground,” which HRL Yale concluded is human bodies due to the length, shape and videos from the ground showing alleged systematic civilian killings.
“In Daraja Oula — a neighborhood where civilians have been hiding — we’re seeing a tactical posture on the vehicles that is highly consistent with house-to-house killing,” Raymond told ABC News. “This is also consistent with video and testimony from those who reached Tawila. Particularly women, who said that the men are being separated by RSF and then they hear gunshots.”
The research lab also observed discoloration around these objects, which they concluded is blood, further confirmed by the presence of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) military vehicles always spotted in close proximity, Raymond said. An update on the report shows that the piles have grown and none of the original objects have moved, Raymond told ABC News.
Researchers said they also corroborated reports of alleged executions at Saudi Hospital, where at least four clusters of bodies appeared. “We see a line of people standing on day one at an RSF detention facility that was formerly a children’s hospital. On day two, we see a pile now in the corner consistent with the color and length of those individuals who are standing there in a line on the previous day,” Raymond said.
On the outskirts of El Fasher, HRL Yale also said they observed multiple clusters appearing between Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, consistent with reports of civilians being killed as they tried to flee. West of the city, along its encircling berm, at least six clusters were observed as well as adjacent technical vehicles, which were not seen in images from Oct. 28, suggesting RSF had moved, leaving the large clusters of bodies behind, according to the research lab.
RSF has also taken control of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) military bases in the city, the HRL analysis appears to show.
Satellite images from Oct. 26 show at least 15 new munition scars and thermal burns on the ground of the 6th Division HQ of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces in a comparison with images from Oct. 15.
“We’ve seen that all of the Sudan Armed Forces vehicles left en masse at about the same time. Which is consistent with reports that they escaped in the night in what now appears to be a negotiated deal with the Rapid Support Forces, leaving the civilians in Al-Fasher to die,” Raymond said.
During the offensive, El Fasher has been cut off from the outside world. Besieged for 18 months — the UN called it the “epicentre of suffering” — and now with RSF forces inside the city, there is no observable mass movement of people fleeing, likely prevented from escaping the alleged killings in what experts fear is just the beginning of devastating violence.
In January, the U.S. State Department announced it had concluded members of the RSF had committed genocide in Sudan, specifically pointing to human rights violations in Darfur. Raymond says what we are seeing “is the final battle of the Darfur genocide that began 20 years ago.”
Compared to previous RSF offensives — such as one in April on the largest displacement camp in Darfur, ZamZam — humanitarian observers are suggesting the new satellite imagery shows a more systematic way of killing that is making them warn of a possible genocide unfolding.
“Here, in the case of El Fasher, what’s different? They’re not burning the city to the ground. They have the city encircled. They are controlling the entrance and exit. And they are moving pretty systematically, unlike ZamZam. Pretty systematically, block by block. And as they move, we see objects consistent with bodies, often with discoloration, appear,” Raymond told ABC News.
From testimony on the ground, those who have fled said that men have been separated from women and children, who are now likely in hiding, but are next in the firing line, Raymond said.
“It’s now going to accelerate,” he said. “We haven’t even hit top velocity. The people that they will kill now are those who are hiding. And they’re mostly women and children… Now it’ll be those who were too weak to run or those men who were hiding and trying to protect them from the RSF.”
Volodymyr Zelensky President of Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron President of France and Keir Starmer Prime Minister of Great Britain sign a Declaration of Intent to deploy forces to Ukraine in event of a peace deal, during the ‘Coalition Of The Willing’ meeting at Elysee Palace on January 6, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo b
(PARIS, France) — France, the U.K. and Ukraine signed a “Declaration of Intent” on Tuesday to send their forces to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia.
British, French and partner forces would be on the ground, establishing “military hubs” across Ukraine, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s armed forces would use the protective facilities to retain Ukraine’s defensive needs, Starmer said.
Also present at the security summit on Tuesday in Paris were White House envoy Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Merz said in a statement after the meeting that Germany could deploy forces for Ukraine on neighboring NATO territory after a ceasefire was established, but added, “I want to say for myself and also for the Federal Government that we are not fundamentally ruling anything out.”
During a press conference following the talks, Kushner said the agreement was a “real milestone,” but warned that peace is some way off.
“This does not mean we will make peace,” he said. “But peace would not be possible without the progress we made today.”
The outcome of the talks suggests the U.S. and Europe are more aligned on security guarantees and how a ceasefire should be policed after any deal. But Russia has given no indication it would be prepared to accept a deal that includes such guarantees.
The pledge by France and the U.K. to deploy troops into Ukraine could further complicate negotiations. The Kremlin has repeatedly ruled out any presence of NATO countries’ forces in Ukraine after any deal.
The Kremlin has repeatedly ruled out any presence of NATO countries’ forces in Ukraine after any deal.
During the press conference, Starmer also hailed the progress on security guarantees but noted that “the hardest yards are still ahead.”
This is all about building the practical foundations on which peace would rest,” he said.
“But we can only get to a peace deal if Putin is ready to make compromises. And so, we have to be frank. For all Russia’s words, Putin is not showing that he is ready for peace.”
Zelenskyy released a statement on the agreement, saying, “We understand which country is ready for what among all members of the Coalition of the Willing.”
“I would like to thank every leader and every state that truly wishes to be part of a peaceful solution,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — A volcano that has been dormant for hundreds of thousands of years could be gearing up for a massive explosion, according to new research.
Scientists have measured signs of unrest at the Taftan volcano in eastern Iran, near the Afghanistan border, despite no eruptions in the last 700,000 years, according to a paper published earlier this month in Geophysical Research Letters.
Rapid uplift was detected near Taftan’s 13,000-foot-tall summit between July 2023 and May 2024, while an analysis method to reduce random noise due to atmospheric condition indicated that neither rainfall nor earthquakes triggered the unrest.
Therefore, an explosive eruption is likely imminent, the researchers said.
Changes in gas permeability within the shallow part of the volcano, as well as undetected deep magma movement, have likely led to the hydrothermal pressure buildup.
Taftan experiences frequent fumarolic — or venting of gas — activity, but geologic evidence indicates that it has not experienced a major eruption since 700,000.
“Uncertain” eruptions may have occurred in January 1902 and April 1993, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
Currently, Taftan is not monitored at the same level of scrutiny as other volcanoes due to its remote location. Space-based satellite sensing is the only source of data to detect transitions from dormancy to unrest for many remote and unmonitored volcanoes, according to the paper.
The study reveals an urgent need to revise the current volcano risk of the Makran subduction volcanic arc — a stretch of about 275 miles along the Indian Ocean — and establish volcano monitoring networks in the region.
“Our findings reveal that Taftan is more active than previously recognized,” the authors wrote.
