Stolen

“Art is worth something, even if it’s stolen.”

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The Louvre Museum in the French capital has closed for “exceptional reasons” after a group of intruders successfully stole eight pieces of priceless jewellery in a quick-hit heist that has rocked the world’s most-visited museum.

A manhunt for the thieves was under way in Paris on Sunday as police cordoned off the museum – famously home to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa – with tape and as armed soldiers patrolled its iconic glass pyramid entrance.

French government and museum officials said several intruders entered the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery) through a window shortly after the museum opened, relying on a lift used to hoist furniture into buildings.

Within just four minutes, the thieves stole away on motorcycles laden with eight items dating back to the Napoleonic era, dropping a ninth on their way out.

French President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to denounce the heist as an “attack on a heritage that we cherish”.

“The perpetrators will be brought to justice,” he added. “Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor’s office.”

Here’s what we know about the heist, which arrives as the Louvre faces questions over large crowds and overworked staff.

What happened?

Around 9:30am local time (07:30 GMT) on Sunday, as tourists already roamed the halls of the Louvre, the thieves zeroed in on Apollo’s Gallery – a gold-gilded, lavishly painted hall commissioned by King Louis XIV that houses the French crown jewels.

Describing the incident as a “major robbery”, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the thieves used a basket lift to reach the museum’s windows, entered the gallery and escaped via motorbike with “jewels of inestimable value”.

The Louvre evacuated all visitors and posted a notice online that the museum would remain closed throughout the day under “exceptional” circumstances.

Police meanwhile sealed the gates, cleared courtyards and even closed off nearby streets along the Seine River as authorities kicked off an investigation.

It was “crazy”, one American tourist, Talia Ocampo, told the AFP news agency – “like a Hollywood movie”.

No injuries were reported, but the thieves – believed to number four people – remained at large as of Sunday evening.

What was stolen during the heist?

Thieves successfully removed eight items from two high-security display cases, the Ministry of Culture confirmed late on Sunday. These include pieces that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, the wife of French Emperor Napoleon I, and others that belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

These are the items that were stolen:

• Tiara from the jewellery set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Necklace from the same duo’s sapphire jewellery set
• A single earring from the sapphire jewellery set
• Emerald necklace from the Marie-Louise set
• Pair of emerald earrings from the Marie-Louise set
• Brooch known as the “reliquary” brooch
• Tiara of Empress Eugenie
• Another large brooch of Empress Eugenie

The crown of Empress Eugenie was recovered outside the walls of the museum, the ministry said, where it was dropped by the thieves as they fled. The crown contains 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the Louvre.

Apollo’s Gallery is home to a range of other priceless gems, including three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – and “the magnificent hardstone vessel collection of the kings of France”, according to the museum’s website.

Anthony Amore, an art theft expert and co-author of the book Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists, told Al Jazeera the items contained in the collection were priceless “not just in terms of dollars, but in terms of cultural patrimony”.

“It’s not like stealing a masterpiece where instantly news media … would publicise this image,” Amore said. “You might see pieces like this broken up and individual jewels sold that are indistinguishable to members of the public.”

How did the thieves do it?

The thieves used a combination of power tools, motorcycles and efficiency to pull off the minutes-long heist, authorities said.

The group drew up on a scooter armed with angle grinders, one police source told AFP. They used the hoist to access the gallery from the outside, cutting windowpanes with a disc cutter.

One witness, who told the TF1 news outlet that he was riding his bicycle nearby at the time, said he saw two men “get on the hoist, break the window and enter”, adding that the entire operation “took 30 seconds”.

Le Parisien reported that the thieves entered the museum – located inside a former palace – via the facade facing the Seine, where construction work is ongoing. Two were dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests, the newspaper said.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati said authorities arrived “a couple of minutes after we received information of this robbery”.

“To be completely honest, this operation lasted almost four minutes – it was very quick,” she said.

Footage showed the hoist braced to the Seine-facing facade and leading up to a balcony window, which observers said was the thieves’ entry point before it was removed Sunday.

What happens now?

With the thieves still at large, forensic teams have descended upon the Louvre and surrounding streets to gather evidence and review CCTV footage from the Denon wing, where Apollo’s Gallery is located, and the Seine riverfront.

Authorities also planned to interview staff who were working when the museum opened on Sunday, they said.

The Interior Ministry said it was compiling a detailed list of the stolen items, but added that “beyond their market value, these items have priceless heritage and historical value”.

Dati, the culture minister, suggested the thieves were “professionals”.

“Organised crime today targets objects of art, and museums have of course become targets,” she said.

Have similar heists happened in the past?

The Louvre’s most famous heist occurred in 1911, when the Mona Lisa portrait disappeared from its frame. It was recovered two years later, but decades afterward, in 1956, a visitor threw a stone at the world-famous painting – chipping paint near the subject’s left elbow and prompting the portrait to be moved behind bulletproof glass.

In recent years, the museum has struggled with growing crowds, which totalled 8.7 million in 2024, and frustrated staff who say they are stretched too thin.

In June, the museum delayed opening due to a staff walkout over chronic understaffing.

One union source, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP that the equivalent of 200 positions had been cut at the museum over the past 15 years, out of a total workforce of nearly 2,000.

The fact that Sunday’s theft took place in broad daylight inspired a wave of consternation from French citizens and politicians.

“It’s just unbelievable that a museum this famous can have such obvious security gaps,” Magali Cunel, a French teacher from near Lyon, told the Associated Press news agency.

One of two trained hawks stolen from outside SoFi Stadium during a Rams game was recovered Sunday in Hacienda Heights, nearly 25 miles from where the vehicle taken during the heist was found a week ago.

A two-seat motorized cart with a key left in the ignition was stolen Sept. 28 from the stadium. The hawks — named Bubba and Alice — were housed in green containers in the back seat and vanished along with the vehicle.

Bubba was recovered near Seventh Street in Hacienda Heights after a homeowner spotted the hawk in her backyard and contacted the Inglewood Police Department. Falconer Charles Cogger, who trained and owned the hawks, raced to the location.

“I made arrangements, got over there as quick as I could and got Bubba back,” Cogger told NBC Los Angeles. “Alice is still out there, but this gives me hope she will show up.”

The hawks were employed by SoFi Stadium to deter other birds from flying over SoFi Stadium during the game, keeping fans safe from unpleasant aerial droppings and also keeping birds from eating discarded food.

The Harris’s hawks, also known as bay-winged hawks, are large, lanky raptors that breed in the southwestern U.S. and throughout South America. They have vision eight times better than that of humans and are known for hunting together as a team.

The Kawasaki Mule UTV that housed the hawks was found abandoned Sept. 29 in a South L.A. neighborhood about five miles from SoFi Stadium and 25 miles from Hacienda Heights.

Inglewood police released a photo of the suspect taken by stadium security cameras, describing him as a male adult “wearing a black jacket with a white stripe going down the shoulder, black pants and black shoes.”

Cogger is holding out hope that Alice will turn up. Each of Cogger’s hawks wears a metal band around its leg that identifies it as captive-bred.

“They can only go so long without eating or getting water,” he said.

Anyone with information about Alice can contact the Inglewood Police Department watch commander at (310) 412-5206. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for the hawk’s safe return.

Any Rams fans whose attention was diverted Sunday at SoFi Stadium by an aerial assault of bird droppings should know whom to blame.

Not the birds. They were just doing what they do (do).

Blame the thief who stole two trained hawks tasked with keeping the skies above the stadium free of other birds, so that the only airborne objects would be tight spirals off the right hand of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.

But the hawks — who have names: Alice and Bubba — were stolen at 2:22 p.m. by a suspect the Inglewood Police Department described as a “male Black adult wearing a black jacket with a white stripe going down the shoulder, black pants and black shoes.”

Police said the key was left in the ignition of the Kawasaki Mule UTV that housed the hawks. The thief drove off with the maroon two-seater and hadn’t been caught as of Tuesday morning. The vehicle was last seen in the Village at Century shopping area in Inglewood.

“Affixed to the bed of the UTV were two Harris’s Hawks … housed in green containers,” the police said. “These Hawks are used during the games by a Falconer in order to deter other birds in the area.”

The falconer is Redlands police officer Charles Cogger. The trained birds are Harris’s hawks, also known as the bay-winged hawk, large and lanky raptors that breed from the southwestern United States and throughout South America. They are known for hunting together as a team with vision eight times better than that of humans.

It’s a shame Alice and Bubba weren’t there to see the gorgeous 88-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Tutu Atwell in the fourth quarter that gave the Rams a 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

A HUNT for a gang of brazen thieves has been launched after 17 cars were stolen from holidaymakers on a cruise.

The motors were lifted from a special “secure” parking facility in Southampton, overnight.

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The special parking site is operated by Southampton Cruise Parking Services and is touted as “secure” storage for vehicles.

Police said they were working closely with the firm in a bid to capture the thieves.

The holidaymakers vehicles were taken between 9 and 10 September, cops said.

Police were called early the next morning and when they arrived at the parking facility they discovered the motors had been swiped.

So far, only six of the 17 stolen motors have been recovered by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.

Officers are appealing for any witnesses to come forward to assist with their investigation into the mass motor theft.

Did you have your car stolen? Email [email protected]

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: “We are appealing for witnesses following the theft of 17 vehicles from a cruise parking facility in Southampton.

“The incident occurred between the evening of September 9 and the early hours of September 10.

“Officers were called at approximately 7:40am on Wednesday September 10 to reports of a suspected break-in at Southampton Cruise Parking Services on First Avenue.

“Upon arrival, it was discovered that 17 cars had been stolen.

“The investigation team is working closely with the company operating the site, as well as local partners, to secure all available evidence.”

Detective Constable Edward Smith, the officer leading the investigation, said: “We don’t underestimate the significant impact this incident has had on the victims, who have returned from their holidays to discover their car stolen.

“We continue to keep those victims updated with the progress with our investigation, which our team is working incredibly hard on to ensure those responsible are arrested.

“We continue to progress several lines of inquiry including a full review of CCTV from the scene and surrounding areas.

“I am pleased to say that this work has already led to the recovery of six of the vehicles and those owners have been updated with the good news.”

Anyone with information, or who may have CCTV footage from the area, is urged to contact police quoting reference number 44250409694.

Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or visiting their website.

The Sun has contacted Southampton Cruise Parking Services for comment.

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Sept. 2 (UPI) — Australian police said Tuesday that a 41-year-old man has been arrested for stealing more than $160,000 worth of Lego, the largest single seizure of stolen goods by the Oceanic country’s retail theft task force.

The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested following a search of an address in Royal Park, a western suburb of Adelaide, that uncovered around 2,500 stolen items, including 1,700 unopened Lego sets.

“The size of the haul is significant and indicates the depth of the alleged offending,” Acting Assistant Commissioner John De Candia of the Metropolitan Operations Service with South Australia Police said in a statement.

“This type of theft is not victimless. Those who purchase cheap goods from online sites are unwittingly facilitating this crime and we would urge them to consider this.”

The arrest was conducted as part of Operation Measure, which was launched in March 2022 to address shop theft and recidivist offenders.

According to South Australia Police, the task force has linked nearly 6,000 retail thefts to persons of interest, including 2,425 arrests.

The state has experienced eight successive declines in reported shoplifting, which the police department attributes to the operation.

“Operation Measure will continue to target recidivist offenders we believe are responsible for the majority of the offending of this nature,” De Candia said.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — A stolen manuscript written by notorious Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés in 1527 has been returned to the Mexican government, the FBI announced on Wednesday.

The manuscript was written on parchment and signed by Cortés with an indicated date of Feb. 20, 1527.

“This is an original manuscript page that was actually signed by Hernan Cortez,” FBI special agent Jessica Dittmer said in a news release.

The manuscript “outlines the payment of pesos of common gold for expenses in preparation for discovery of the spice lands,” Dittmer said.

“It gives a lot of flavor as to the planning and preparation for uncharted territory back then,” she added.

Dittmer is a member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team and part of the joint FBI-New York Police Department Major Theft Task Force.

The document likely was stolen sometime between 1985 and October 1993, but investigators recovered and returned it to the Mexican government, according to the FBI.

The document contains a wax numbering that archivists used between 1985 and 1986, which helped investigators to narrow the timeline for its theft.

It was part of a larger collection, which caretakers with Mexico’s national archives in October 1993 discovered was missing 15 pages, including the just-returned manuscript.

Mexican authorities last year sought the FBI’s help in recovering the manuscript.

Investigators with the FBI, NYPD and the office of the U.S. Attorney for Southern New York determined the document was located within the continental United States and tracked down its location.

The investigative team “worked through additional logistical steps to ensure that all the stakeholders formerly and currently in possession of the manuscript page received all necessary information to prepare for our seizure of the document,” Dittmer said.

Those steps included having all former and current stakeholders sign away their claims to the document, which enabled the FBI to take legal possession, verify its authenticity and return it to its rightful owners in Mexico.

The document has exchanged many hands since it went missing, so no charges will be filed against past stakeholders, according to the FBI.

It’s the second such document created by Cortés that the FBI has located and returned to Mexico.

The bureau in July 2023 returned a letter that details the purchase of rose sugar that Cortés wrote in the 16th century.

Cortés is a significant and controversial historical figure who explored Central America and defeated the Aztec empire leader Montezuma, resulting in Spanish King Charles I making Cortés the governor of New Spain (Mexico) in 1522.

Rock musician Neil Young in 1975 wrote and recorded a song about the conquistador, “Cortez the Killer,” with his band, Crazy Horse. The song remains a staple of Young’s live performances.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has become the most frequently stolen car in the United States, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute, or HLDI.

The HLDI’s analysis shows that in relation to the number of Camaro ZL1s on the roads, it has a whole-vehicle theft rate 39 times the average compared to all other vehicles.

The regular Camaro has also become a top target for thieves, with a whole-vehicle theft rate 13 times the average of all vehicles.

The targeting of Camaros is a recent development, according to HLDI, which reports it hasn’t historically appeared near the top of its vehicle theft claim frequency rankings.

However, its two latest reports for 2025 rank the ZL1 two-door, Camaro two-door and Camaro convertible among the 10 2022-24 passenger vehicles with the highest theft and whole vehicle theft claim occurrences.

“Muscle cars have often topped this list, as thieves are attracted to vehicles with high horsepower,” said Matt Moore, chief insurance operations officer at HLDI and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in a press release.

“That also helps explain why the more expensive, more powerful ZL1 is stolen so much more often than the standard Camaro.”

Aside from the horsepower, Camaros also have a technical issue that allows thieves to clone the key code for newer models by accessing the car’s on-board ports. General Motors launched a service campaign in March for 2020-24 Camaro models, under which owners can bring their vehicles to dealerships for a free software update that should reduce the theft risk.

In the other direction, the 20 least-stolen vehicles include eight electric vehicles and two plug-in hybrids, which all have whole-vehicle theft claim incidences that are more than 85% lower than the all-vehicle average.

HDLI studies have shown electric vehicles are not as attractive to thieves because they’re more likely to be in a garage or parked near buildings to facilitate charging.

It is July 18, around 7 a.m., and a group of women carrying malnourished children are gathered at the primary healthcare centre in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, to receive free supplements for their children. While waiting for the weekly distribution to commence, they interact with one another. 

Moments later, a healthcare staff member in a white uniform with a blue check yells from the opposite direction: “There is no RUFT supplement today. Go home and come back next week.”

Disappointed, the women place their babies on their backs and disperse in different directions. 

Twenty-three-year-old Aisha Adamu, a resident of the Ngurore community, where the primary healthcare centre is located, is one of the women who are returning home without the supplements. Aisha relies on the RUFT supplement as a primary meal for her malnourished daughter. 

“She has been suffering from malnutrition since she clocked 1 year. I have seen improvement since I started feeding her the supplement,” Aisha tells HumAngle. She is devastated because she has to look for an alternative meal for her malnourished baby, as the facility is facing a shortage of RUFT supplement. 

Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, also known as RUFT, is an essential supplement used for treating malnourished children under the age of five. RUFT paste consists of powdered milk, peanuts, butter, vegetable oil, sugar, and a mix of vitamins and minerals. A sachet contains 500 calories and micronutrients. 

The crisis 

In 2023, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that growing inflation, climate change, insecurity, and displacement impacted child malnutrition in Adamawa. That year, about half a million children were treated for acute malnutrition in UNICEF-supported facilities in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states. The number reflected a 37 per cent increase from 2022, highlighting how severe malnutrition was endangering children’s survival and development in North East Nigeria.

Ngurore, a community in Yola South, grapples with a severe child malnutrition crisis. The community hosts victims of displacement from the Michika and Madagali Local Government Areas (LGA). The primary healthcare centre in Ngurore offers clinical services to residents, the displaced population, and people from outside the community. 

To address the malnutrition crisis, organisations such as the Helen Keller Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, and MSF are collaborating with primary healthcare facilities, offering free health screenings and providing RUFT supplements to malnourished children.

Ahmed Mshelia, the data clerk at the Ngurore primary healthcare centre and one of the key facilitators of the malnutrition unit, expressed concern over the soaring malnutrition cases in the facility. Ahmed is not sure whether the centre can handle the number of people relying on it for aid. 

“Apart from residents of Ngurore and the IDPS living here, we also have women from Fufore and sometimes Numan LGA coming here to collect free supplements for their malnourished children,” he said. 

The facility attends to malnourished children every Friday. 

“So we have new cases and then revisit cases. The new cases come to register for the first time, while the revisit cases have already been registered, so they turn up weekly for the supplements,” he explained, noting that the facility records an average of five to six new cases weekly, which puts it at 20 to 22 new cases monthly; so far, there are over 50 revisit cases.  “We refer severe cases to bigger hospitals.”

At the centre, the RUFT was distributed according to each child’s weight. If available, the women could go home with at least 14 sachets every Friday. Aisha Abdullahi, a 38-year-old mother, received at least 14 sachets of RUFT supplement each week for her daughter, who is one year and ten months old. Aisha set aside two sachets for each day, ensuring that the 14 sachets would last her daughter for the entire week.

“I feed her with the supplement twice a day, morning and evening, then complement it with any available food,” she told HumAngle. 

In February, Felix Tangwami, Adamawa State’s Commissioner for Health and Human Resources, noted in a report that insecurity accounts for the high malnutrition rates in the state as farmers have limited access to their farms, which, in turn, results in reduced food availability.

Parents of malnourished children in Fufore told HumAngle that inflation is the primary cause of malnutrition in their community, as their husbands can barely afford three meals a day for their households.

Ahmed stated that many women who visit the centre lack sufficient breast milk, a situation he attributed to poor feeding practices, which consequently impacts the health of their children. For Amina Abdullahi, a 35-year-old mother of six from Ngurore, the primary healthcare centre is assisting her 2-year-old twins in overcoming malnutrition. In addition to the twins, she has another son at home who is also malnourished.

Amina registered the three children at the facility in February and has seen improvement in their weight. However, with the shortage in RUFT supply, she’s worried about their recovery process, which seems to be taking too long. According to Ahmed, the RUFT treatment is expected to run for eight weeks nonstop, but right now, it’s impossible to stay on track as parents struggle to keep up due to inconsistent supply. He explained that the women get the RUFT supply for at least four weeks out of the required eight. 

Amina expressed concern over the country’s inflation rate. The ongoing shortage of RUFT supplies leaves her anxious about feeding her malnourished children due to insufficient food at home. 

“Feeding is difficult compared to the past. Everything is now expensive, but we thank God for everything,” she said. 

Less aid

In May, HumAngle reported that the withdrawal of humanitarian agencies dependent on USAID funding in Nigeria affected displaced populations relying on them for essential services. This suspension was said to have deepened the humanitarian crisis in the northeastern region. 

The primary healthcare centre in Ngurore, which previously collaborated with agencies like USAID, is now feeling the impact of their withdrawal as the child malnutrition situation in the region is worsening. 

Ahmed explained that the facility’s aid from civil society groups has significantly dropped this year compared to previous years. For example, the primary healthcare centre, which used to receive hundreds of RUFT cartons from UNICEF, now gets only about 30. 

As a result, the facility now distributes the supplements bi-weekly, unlike in the past when they were shared weekly.

“The supplements are scarce, and it is required that the children keep up with the treatment once they start, but due to a shortage in supply, we sometimes skip a week or two in distribution, which affects their recovery,” Ahmed noted. 

He added that in the past, the organisations the clinic partnered with not only gave RUFT supplements to the malnourished children but also provided complementary drugs. “They give them deworming tablets like albendazole and sometimes malaria tablets and even distribute free test kits.” The situation has changed, as they only get RUFT supplements, and even the supplements are scarce. “We try our best, and if there’s a constant supply of commodities, then we won’t have problems catering for the children.”

Ahmed is worried about the recovery of the children, stressing that since aid is shrinking and RUFT supply has declined, he had advised parents of the malnourished children to augment the supplement with other complementary meals. 

HumAngle spoke with Umeh Chukwuemerie, a medical officer in the department of pediatric surgery from the Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola. He explained that children under the age of five require good food to develop their brain and motor skills.

“The child is growing, so he needs all the nutrients he can get to be fully developed because this is the stage where he is rapidly growing and his brain is still developing,” Umeh said. He stated that once malnutrition sets in, continuous treatment is crucial; otherwise, the affected child will become stunted, more susceptible to other diseases, and may develop poor social skills that might affect their confidence in the long run. 

Trading hope

In 2022, HumAngle reported the abuse and sale of RUFT supplements in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, at the price of ₦150 per sachet. The reports showed how parents went as far as inducing their children with portions to pass watery stool, which makes them shed weight and then qualify them to obtain the supplements that they [parents] end up selling. 

This sale of RUFT supplements, though fueled by poverty, has been termed illegal. 

Amidst the scarcity, HumAngle found that some of the women in Adamawa also end up selling the supplement they get to local traders due to pressing hunger in their households.

In front of an old motor park known as Tashan Njuwa in Numan LGA, *Babagana balanced his wheelbarrow at the Park’s entrance, where he displayed his wares. Among the biscuits, sweeteners, and other items he was selling, there were scattered sachets of RUFT supplements.

When asked for the price, he said, each sachet costs ₦400. According to him, he buys a sachet at the price of ₦300 from his suppliers and then sells it to hungry adults for ₦400, making a profit of ₦100. 

As Babagana explained, these suppliers are women who receive the supplement for their malnourished children from centres specialising in child malnutrition care across the state. However, he revealed that some healthcare workers sometimes bring the supplement to him. 

He has been selling RUFT supplements for over two years now, and while business has boomed in the past because he sold about 30 pieces or more in a week, the suppliers have barely shown up lately. 

“I heard that there is scarcity, and the ones I have will soon finish, but I might get some in the coming week,” he said, stressing that his RUFT customers are mostly older people. “They buy it as a quick meal. Then they mix it with boiling water and take it as pap.” 

However, Umeh insisted that malnourished children require the RUFT supplement the most, and there is no medical explanation for adults taking it. “It is not supposed to be sold commercially. RUFT is sent directly to primary healthcare centres but ends up in the wrong hands sometimes, which is sad,” he said. 

Ahmed added that some of the women in the community gather the supplements and sell them in large quantities while others sell one at a time.  “We hear them whispering amongst themselves sometimes,” he revealed, stating that some women sell half of what they receive weekly at the healthcare centre and use the remaining half to feed the malnourished children.

“When we tried to sensitise them on why they shouldn’t compromise on their children’s health one time, a woman explained that ten sachets fetched her ₦4,000 at ₦400 each, which she used to procure rice, beans, and other groceries that fed the whole family for a couple of days.”

While he’s aware of the food scarcity and inflation in town, Ahmed urges the women to desist from selling supplements, as this hinders the quick recovery of their children, especially at a time when aid is declining. 

While RUFT is currently scarce, organisations like the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, with support from the government of Norway, are stepping up with alternative supplements like Tom Brown, a locally produced flour mixed with grains to prevent relapse in the malnourished children of the Ngurore community. 

“Distribution will start soon, and we are grateful. However, I fear that they might start selling this one too,” Ahmed said. 

A Cotswold plane scrappage company has been the unlikely resting place of Saddam Hussein’s stolen private jet – which is now being used in TV shows and movies, in part due to its excellent 80s interior

If you’re on the hunt for Saddam Hussein’s private jet, you might not think to look in the Cotswolds.

Yet, it’s in this picturesque part of England where you’ll find the former Iraqi dictator’s personal aircraft. Air Salvage International, a plane scrappage firm based at Cotswold Airport, has been the custodian of the VIP-equipped Boeing 727 for nearly a decade.

While most of the company’s planes are dismantled and sold off, sometimes fetching up to £10 million per jet, managing director Mark Gregory can’t bring himself to part with this particular flying machine.It’s not just its connection to Saddam (whose Iraqi Airways nicked Kuwait Airways’ entire fleet during the 1990 invasion) that makes it special, but also its retro ’80s interior.

Originally owned by the Kuwaiti Royal family, the 189-seat jet was gutted of its standard uncomfortable airplane seats and decked out with an array of kitschy furniture that could fill a retirement home. Think plush velour seats with extendable footrests, state-of-the-art JVC TVs embedded into mahogany walls, and glass vases brimming with plastic roses, all sitting next to unopened bottles of champagne.

Do you have an idea for an interesting place we can cover? Email [email protected]

READ MORE: Inside the eerie UK ‘plane graveyard’ where jumbo jets from around the world are ditched

Before the Iraqi forces swooped in and commandeered the Kuwaiti fleet, Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and other wealthy royals used the opulent plane for their global travels. Where there is now a patch of carpet overrun by mould, the Emir once sat on a specially built throne, using radio equipment to issue orders to his staff from 30,000 feet above.

Following the Western invasion of Iraq and Saddam’s execution, the private jet changed ownership multiple times until it was sold to Air Salvage International by Jersey-based Strong Aviation on 29 June 2016. Now at 45 years old, the aircraft’s value is virtually nil and its flying days are over – despite Mark maintaining it in full working order and taking it for a spin on the runway every ten days.

These days, it sees most action as a film set for TV programmes and films, including McDonald and Dodds, Casualty, The Lazarus Project, Hijack with Idris Elba, Star Wars, Mission: Impossible, and Doctor Who. Next time you watch a dramatic plane crash or runway scene on screen, keep an eye out for some suspiciously Gloucestershire-like countryside in the background. Or even Mark’s arms.

When he’s not making money from old planes or drumming away in his office by the runway, the ponytailed scrap tycoon can be partially seen on the big screen, “piloting” the Boeing 727 in its latest cinematic adventure.

Air Salvage International first began 30 years ago. Armed with redundancy money in the early ’90s, Mark bought his first plane and spent six months breaking it down into sellable bits. More than 1,400 aircraft later, the business is thriving and employs dozens of people to cope with the growing demand from the ever-expanding aviation industry.

And there are big bucks at stake. The equivalent of a commercial jet’s MOT costs around £1 million, which is why many plane owners decide to send their ageing aircraft to Mark instead. Sometimes as much as £12 million can be salvaged from them, either in reusable parts or recyclable materials.

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The Benin Bronzes were artefacts stolen during the UK’s imperial plunder of Benin, modern-day southern Nigeria.

The Netherlands has officially handed back 119 ancient sculptures stolen from the former Nigerian kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago during the colonial era.

Olugbile Holloway, director-general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said on Saturday that the artefacts were the “embodiments of the spirit and identity of the people from which they were taken from”.

“All we ask of the world is to treat us with fairness, dignity and respect,” he said at a ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos.

Holloway added that Germany had also agreed to return more than 1,000 additional pieces.

The artefacts, known as the Benin Bronzes, are the latest return of precious history to Africa as pressure increases on Western governments to return items taken during imperialism.

Four of the artefacts are on display in the museum’s courtyard and will remain in the museum’s permanent collection, while the others will be returned to the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II – the traditional ruler of the Kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria.

The Benin Bronzes include metal and ivory sculptures dating back to the 16th to 18th centuries.

The items were stolen in 1897 when British forces, under the command of Sir Henry Rawson, ransacked the Benin kingdom – modern-day southern Nigeria – and forced Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, the monarch at the time, into a six-month exile.

In 2022, Nigeria formally requested the return of hundreds of objects from museums worldwide. In the same year, about 72 objects were returned from a museum in London, and 31 were returned from Rhode Island in the United States.

June 15 (UPI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized a shipment of amphetamines valued at $6.7 billion, intercepted a Canadian citizen attempting to drive a stolen, high dollar sports car into the country, and apprehended a murder suspect at two Texas border crossings within a matter of hours.

Officers at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility in Texas discovered the methamphetamine concealed in a shipping manifesto and disguised as tomatillos.

“The cargo environment continues to be a top choice for trafficking organizations but our CBP officers along with our tools and technology are a force to be reckoned with,” said Carlos Rodriguez, port director of the Pharr port.

Officials seized the drugs and the vehicle they were being transported in.

At the same port of entry, officers encountered a 2023 Porsche Cayenne, valued at $55,000, driven by Dileen Raad Sadullah, 39, a Canadian citizen.

Border Patrol officers reported that Sadullah’s story became inconsistent when questioned by the agents at the initial inspection, which resulted in his being detained for a secondary questioning.

“During the secondary examination of the motor vehicle, officers discovered that the Porsche had been reported stolen in Canada earlier that day,” a release from CBP said.

CBP verified his identity and confirmed with Canadian officials that the vehicle was stolen, the U.S. equivalent of a felony.

Sadullah and the vehicle were detained by Canadian law enforcement. That incident also occurred at the Pharr port.

Agents apprehended Alan Alexis Ornelas, 31, of Desoto, Tex., at the Hidalgo International Bridge crossing and investigated him in connection with an arrest warrant, then detained him.

“Ornelas has been wanted since September, 2024 and is charged with capital murder by terror, a first-degree felony in the state of Texas,” a release from CBP said.

Ornelas was transported to the Hidalgo County jail where he awaits extradition to Dallas County.

June 6 (UPI) — A pair of stolen paintings have been returned to a museum in New Mexico after they were missing for more than 40 years, the FBI confirmed on Friday.

The FBI credited its free Stolen Art App launched in 2023 for helping to identify and recover the paintings by artists Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp.

The two works of art were stolen in March 1985 from the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Museum of Art, located in Taos. The town of approximately 6,400 people is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and known for its historic buildings.

The FBI did not say if anyone has been charged in relation to the stolen paintings, only that “cooperation of multiple individuals and other entities contacted during the investigation was critical to the recovery of these paintings,” and that “all investigative leads have been exhausted at this time.”

The museum is holding a special unveiling Friday night for Higgins’ oil painting titled “Aspens,” and Sharp’s “Oklahoma Cheyenne.” Both men were members of the Taos Society of Artists.

“We are thrilled to announce a historic moment for Harwood Museum of Art. After 40 years, two paintings stolen during the infamous 1985 Harwood Heist — works by Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp — have been officially returned to the museum,” the museum wrote on Facebook.

“The FBI has delivered the recovered artworks to our Collections and Curatorial Departments, marking a major moment of closure and celebration for our community and the legacy of Taos art.”

“We are grateful for the cooperation of all parties involved,” Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office Margaret Girard said in the agency’s statement.

“The recovery of these stolen paintings is a powerful reminder that the FBI continues to commit investigative resources to recover cultural property and return these stolen items to their rightful owners.”

Friday’s event also includes a screening of a documentary about the thefts.

“The evening will feature a special panel of individuals who have been part of this story since the 1980s and a screening of The Thief Collector at 5:30 pm, the riveting documentary that dives into the couple responsible for the 1985 Harwood heist,” reads the museum’s Facebook post.

In addition to the FBI, museum officials credit amateur historical crime researcher Lou Schachter with uncovering the location of the paintings, in the estate of New Mexico school teachers Jerry and Rita Alter.

“Without his sleuthing, this artwork would never be back where it belongs,” Harwood Marketing and Development Associate Sylvia Tawse told the Taos News in an interview.

Pro-European Nicusor Dan faces big challenges after defeating pro-Russian George Simion last week in a tense run-off.

Pro-European Nicusor Dan has been sworn in as Romania’s new president amid persisting claims from the far right that his election was illegitimate.

The centrist promised on Monday to usher in a “new chapter” in Romania amid hopes that his inauguration could help bring an end to months of political crisis. However, his pro-Russian and nationalist rival George Simion maintained that the May 18 election represents a “coup d’etat”.

In the run-up to the election, which was marred by the annulment of November’s initial vote due to Russian interference, Dan promised to quash corruption and reaffirm Romania’s commitment to the European Union and NATO.

In his inauguration speech, he said he would fix Romania’s economic and political woes and be a president “open to the voice of society”.

“The Romanian state needs a fundamental change within the rule of law, and I invite you to continue to be involved in order to put positive pressure on state institutions to reform,” he said. “I call on political parties to act in the national interest.”

‘National treason’

The May election rerun was held months after the Constitutional Court voided the previous election.

Far-right, pro-Russian Calin Georgescu had won the most votes in the first round of November’s vote but was thrown out of the race after allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), took his place and led the polls for weeks before a surge in the final days of the campaign pushed Dan past the post.

Since the result was announced, Simion has repeatedly alleged, without providing evidence, that the election was rigged through foreign interference.

However, the Constitutional Court validated the results on Thursday after rejecting an appeal from Simion to annul the vote.

Lawmakers from the AUR boycotted the swearing-in ceremony, calling it “legitimising a national treason” while Simion condemned the court’s decision as a “coup d’etat”.

Authorities remain on alert with protests expected by supporters of the far right.

Dan’s victory over Simion was heralded around Europe with the outcome viewed as crucial to maintaining Romania’s place within Western alliances, especially as the war continues in neighbouring Ukraine.

“We won the Romanian presidential elections. People rejected isolationism and Russian influence,” Dan said on Sunday at a rally in Poland for liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who will face nationalist Karol Nawrocki in a presidential run-off on June 1.

However, significant challenges lie ahead for Dan as Romania faces political and economic crises.

He must first nominate a prime minister who can garner the support necessary to form a new government as widespread rejection of the political class has propelled figures like Georgescu and Simion into leading challengers.

Dan is expected to meet Ilie Bolojan, who had been serving as interim president. The member of the pro-EU National Liberal Party has been tipped as a possible prime minister.

As for Romanians struggling economically, Dan made few promises on Monday.

“Put simply, … the Romanian state is spending more than it can afford,” the new president said.

“It is in the national interest for Romania to send a message of stability to financial markets,” he said. “It is in the national interest to send a signal of openness and predictability to the investment environment.”

Bangkok, Thailand – Over several years in the mid-1960s, the crumbling ruins of an ancient temple in northeast Thailand were picked clean by local looters.

Possibly hundreds of centuries-old statues that were long buried beneath the soft, verdant grounds around the temple were stolen.

To this day, all the known artefacts from the pillaging spree, collectively known as the Prakhon Chai hoard, sit scattered thousands of miles away in museums and collections across the United States, Europe and Australia.

In a matter of weeks, though, the first of those statues will begin their journey home to Thailand.

The acquisitions committee of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum recommended the release last year of four bronze statues from the hoard, which had been held in its collection since the late 1960s.

San Francisco city’s Asian Art Commission, which manages the museum, then approved the proposal on April 22, officially setting the pieces free.

Some six decades after the late British antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford is suspected of spiriting the statues out of the country, they are expected to arrive back in Thailand within a month or two.

“We are the righteous owners,” Disapong Netlomwong, senior curator for the Office of National Museums at Thailand’s Fine Arts Department, told Al Jazeera.

“It is something that our ancestors … have made, and it should be exhibited here to show the civilisation and the belief of the people,” said Disapong, who also serves on Thailand’s Committee for the Repatriation of Stolen Artefacts.

The imminent return of the statues is the latest victory in Thailand’s quest to reclaim its pilfered heritage.

Their homecoming also exemplifies the efforts of countries across the world to retrieve pieces of their own stolen history that still sit in display cases and in the vaults of some of the West’s top museums.

From Thai temples to the Acropolis in Athens

Latchford, a high-profile Asian art dealer who came to settle in Bangkok and lived there until his death in 2020 at 88 years of age, is believed to have earned a fortune from auction houses, private collectors and museums around the world who acquired his smuggled ancient artefacts from Thailand and neighbouring Cambodia.

In 2021, Latchford’s daughter, Nawapan Kriangsak, agreed to return her late father’s private collection of more than 100 artefacts, valued at more than $50m, to Cambodia.

Though never convicted during his lifetime, Latchford was charged with falsifying shipping records, wire fraud and a host of other crimes related to antiquities smuggling by a US federal grand jury in 2019.

He died the following year, before the case against him could go to trial.

In 2023 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York agreed to return 16 pieces tied to Latchford’s smuggling network to Cambodia and Thailand.

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum has also previously returned pieces to Thailand – two intricately carved stone lintels taken from a pair of temples dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries, in 2021.

While Thailand and Cambodia have recently fared relatively well in efforts to reclaim their looted heritage from US museum collections, Greece has not had such luck with the British Museum in London.

Perhaps no case of looted antiquities has grabbed more news headlines than that of the so-called “Elgin Marbles”.

The 2,500-year-old friezes, known also as the Parthenon Marbles, were hacked off the iconic Acropolis in Athens in the early 1800s by agents of Lord Elgin, Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Greece at that time.

Elgin claimed he took the marbles with the permission of the Ottomans and then sold them in 1816 to the British Museum in London, where they remain.

Greece has been demanding the return of the artefacts since the country’s declaration of independence in 1832 and sent an official request to the museum in 1983, according to the nongovernmental Hellenic Institute of Cultural Diplomacy.

“Despite all these efforts, the British government has not deviated from its positions over the years, legally considering the Parthenon marbles to belong to Britain. They have even passed laws to prevent the return of cultural artefacts,” the institute said.

‘Colonialism is still alive and well’

Tess Davis, executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit campaigning against the illicit trade of ancient art and artefacts, said that “colonialism is still alive and well in parts of the art world”.

“There is a mistaken assumption by some institutions that they are better carers, owners, custodians of these cultural objects,” Davis told Al Jazeera.

But Davis, who has worked on Cambodia’s repatriation claims with US museums, says the “custodians” defence has long been debunked.

“These antiquities were cared for by [their] communities for centuries, in some cases for millennia, before there was … a market demand for them, leading to their looting and trafficking, but we still do see resistance,” she said.

Brad Gordon, a lawyer representing the Cambodian government in its ongoing repatriation of stolen artefacts, has heard museums make all sorts of claims to defend retaining pieces that should be returned to their rightful homelands.

Excuses from museums include claiming that they are not sure where pieces originated from; that contested items were acquired before laws banned their smuggling; that domestic laws block their repatriation, or that the ancient pieces deserve a more global audience than they would receive in their home country.

Still, none of those arguments should keep a stolen piece from coming home, Gordon said.

“If we believe the object is stolen and the country of origin wishes for it to come home, then the artefact should be returned,” he said.

Old attitudes have started breaking down though, and more looted artefacts are starting to find their way back to their origins.

“There’s definitely a growing trend toward doing the right thing in this area, and … I hope that more museums follow the Asian Art Museum’s example. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go,” Davis said.

Much of the progress, Davis believes, is down to growing media coverage of stolen antiquities and public awareness of the problem in the West, which has placed mounting pressure on museums to do the right thing.

In 2022, the popular US comedy show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver dedicated a whole episode to the topic. As Oliver said, if you go to Greece and visit the Acropolis you might notice “some odd details”, such as sections missing from sculptures – which are now in Britain.

“Honestly, if you are ever looking for a missing artefact, nine times out of 10 it’s in the British Museum,” Oliver quips.

Gordon also believes a generational shift in thinking is at play among those who once trafficked in the cultural heritage of other countries.

“For example, the children of many collectors, once they are aware of the facts of how the artefacts were removed from the country of origin, want their parents to return them,” he said.

Proof of the past

The four bronze statues the San Francisco museum will soon be returning to Thailand date back to the 7th and 9th centuries.

Thai archaeologist Tanongsak Hanwong said that period places them squarely in the Dvaravati civilisation, which dominated northeast Thailand, before the height of the Khmer empire that would build the towering spires of Angkor Wat in present-day Cambodia and come to conquer much of the surrounding region centuries later.

Three of the slender, mottled figures, one nearly a metre tall (3.2 feet), depict Bodhisattva – Buddhist adherents on the path to nirvana – and the other the Buddha himself in a wide, flowing robe.

Tanongsak, who brought the four pieces in the San Francisco collection to the attention of Thailand’s stolen artefacts repatriation committee in 2017, said they and the rest of the Prakhon Chai hoard are priceless proof of Thailand’s Buddhist roots at a time when much of the region was still Hindu.

“The fact that we do not have any Prakhon Chai bronzes on display anywhere [in Thailand], in the national museum or local museums whatsoever, it means we do not have any evidence of the Buddhist history of that period at all, and that’s strange,” he said.

The Fine Arts Department first wrote to San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum about the statues’ illicit provenance in 2019, but started to make progress on having them returned only when the US Department of Homeland Security got involved on Thailand’s behalf.

Robert Mintz, the museum’s chief curator, said staff could find no evidence that the statues had been trafficked in their own records.

But they were convinced they had been looted and smuggled out of Thailand – and of Latchford’s involvement – once Homeland Security provided proof, with the help of Thai researchers.

“Once that evidence was presented and they heard it, their feeling was the appropriate place for these would be back in Thailand,” Mintz said of the museum’s staff and acquisition committee.

‘Pull back the curtain’

The San Francisco Asian Art Museum went a step further when it finally resolved to return the four statues to Thailand.

It also staged a special exhibit around the pieces to highlight the very questions the experience had raised regarding the theft of antiquities.

The exhibition – Moving Objects: Learning from Local and Global Communities – ran in San Francisco from November to March.

“One of our goals was to try to indicate to the visiting public to the museum how important it is to look historically at where works of art have come from,” Mintz said.

“To pull back the curtain a bit, to say, these things do exist within American collections and now is the time to address challenges that emerge from past collecting practice,” he said.

Mintz says Homeland Security has asked the Asian Art Museum to look into the provenance of at least another 10 pieces in its collection that likely came from Thailand.

Tess Davis, of the Antiquities Coalition campaign group, said the exhibition was a very unusual, and welcome, move for a museum in the process of giving up looted artefacts.

In Thailand, Disapong and Tanongsak say the Asian Art Museum’s decision to recognise Thailand’s rightful claim to the statues could also help them start bringing the rest of the Prakhon Chai hoard home, including 14 more known pieces in other museums around the US, and at least a half-dozen scattered across Europe and Australia.

“It is indeed a good example, because once we can show the world that the Prakhon Chai bronzes were all exported from Thailand illegally, then probably, hopefully some other museums will see that all the Prakhon Chai bronzes they have must be returned to Thailand as well,” Tanongsak said.

There are several other artefacts besides the Prakhon Chai hoard that Thailand is also looking to repatriate from collections around the world, he said.

Davis said the repatriation of stolen antiquities is still being treated by too many with collections as an obstacle when it should be seen, as the Asian Art Museum has, as an opportunity.

“It’s an opportunity to educate the public,” Davis said.

“It’s an opportunity to build bridges with Southeast Asia,” she added, “and I hope other institutions follow suit.”

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What has been taken?

What should you do?

How did the hack happen?

M&S has issued a major cyber attack update revealing that customers information has been stolen.

The retail chain is still scrambling to keep stores running as the fallout continues.

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In a statement posted on Instagram, M&S said: “As we continue to manage the current cyber incident, we have written to customers today to let them know that unfortunately, some personal customer information has been taken.

“Importantly, there is no evidence that the information has been shared and it does not include useable card or payment details, or account passwords, so there is no need for customers to take any action.

“To give customers extra peace of mind, they will be prompted to reset their password the next time they visit or log on to their M&S account and we have shared information on how to stay safe online.

“Everyone at M&S is working around the clock to get things back to normal for our customers as quickly as possible, and we are very sorry for any inconvenience they have experienced. Our stores remain open as they have throughout.

“Thank you for shopping with us and for your continued support, we are incredibly grateful.”