China’s escalating curbs on the critical minerals has given Australia, a longstanding U.S. ally, the opportunity to reposition itself to a transactional president.
Authorities say the Empress Eugénie Brooch was among the stolen items
It is the most spectacular robbery at the Louvre museum since the Mona Lisa disappeared in 1911.
And it poses serious questions about levels of security covering French artworks, at a time when they are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs.
According to France's new interior minister Laurent Nunez, the gang that broke into the Apollo Gallery Sunday morning was clearly professional.
They knew what they wanted, had evidently "cased the joint" in advance, had a brazenly simple but effective modus operandi, and needed no more than seven minutes to take their booty and get away.
In a truck equipped with an elevating platform of the type used by removal companies, they parked on the street outside, raised themselves up to the first floor, then used a disc-cutter to enter through a window.
Inside the richly decorated gallery they made for two display-cases which contain what remains of the French crown jewels.
Most of France's royal regalia was lost or sold after the 1789 Revolution, but some items were saved or bought back. Most of what was in the cases, though, dates from the 19th Century and the two imperial families of Napoleon and his nephew Napoleon III.
According to the authorities, eight items were taken including diadems, necklaces, ear-rings and brooches.
They had belonged to Napoleon's wife the empress Marie-Louise; to his sister-in-law Queen Hortense of Holland; to Queen Marie-Amelie, wife of France's last King Louis-Philippe, who ruled from 1830 to 1848; and to the empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who ruled from 1852 to 1870.
A crown of the empress Eugénie was left at the scene and is being examined to see if it is damaged.
In a statement the culture ministry said that the alarms had sounded correctly. Five museum staff who were in the gallery or nearby followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.
It said the gang had tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a museum staff-member.
'An embarrassment': BBC's Andrew Harding reports from scene of Louvre robbery
The heist took place in a gallery just a short walk from some of the world's most famous paintings – such as the Mona Lisa.
But the criminal groups that order heists like this do not target world-famous paintings that cannot ever be displayed or sold. They prefer items that can be converted into cash – and jewels top the list.
However huge their historical and cultural value, crowns and diadems can easily be broken apart and sold in bits. Even large and famous diamonds can be cut. The final sales price might not be what the original artefact was worth, but it will still be considerable.
Two recent museum thefts in France had already alerted the authorities to the growing audacity of art gangs, and a security plan drawn up by the culture ministry is gradually being put into effect across France.
"We are well aware that French museums are vulnerable," said Nunez.
In September thieves took raw gold – in its mineral state – from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The gold was worth about 600,000 euros (£520,000) and will have been easily disposed of on the black market.
In the same month thieves took porcelain worth 6,000,000 euros from a museum in Limoges – a city once famous for its chinaware. The haul could well have been commissioned by a foreign buyer.
The Louvre contains thousands of artworks that are famous around the world, and an equal number of more obscure items that are nonetheless culturally significant.
But in its 230-year history there have been relatively few thefts – largely thanks to the tight security in place.
The most recent disappearance was of a landscape by the 19th Century artist Camille Corot. Le Chemin de Sèvres (The Road to Sèvres) was simply removed from a wall in 1998 when no-one was looking, and has not been seen since.
But by far the most famous theft was the one that took place in 1911, when Leonardo da Vinci's La Joconde – better known now as the Mona Lisa – was taken. The culprit back then was able to roll it up and put it inside his jacket.
It turned out he was an Italian nationalist who wanted the artwork brought back home. It was found in Italy in 1914 and returned to the Louvre.
Unless they have a quick success in catching the thieves, today's investigators are unlikely to be so lucky.
The first aim of the gang will be to disperse the jewels and sell them on. It will not be hard.
Molly Lee is talking to me about the tales her aunt Nelle, known to the world as Harper Lee, would weave for her when she was a little girl. "She was just a great storyteller," says the 77-year-old from her home in Alabama.
That's an understatement if the success of Harper Lee's Pulitzer-prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird is anything to go by. Since its publication in 1960, when it was an instant hit, the book has sold more than 42 million copies worldwide
Based around the story of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape, it's told through the eyes of two white children, Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch and her brother Jem - and is often described as an American classic.
But at the point Molly is describing, before the world had heard of Lee, she was simply an aunt enchanting her niece with stories, often by riffing on one of her favourite authors, the British novelist Daphne Du Maurier.
"The stories that she told me, she would make them up but they all seemed to be based around, 'It was a dark and stormy night'... It seemed to me they were always on the moor and she would just take me into the dark," Molly says.
Molly's cousin is 77-year-old Ed Lee Conner. His earliest memories of his aunt date back to the late 1940s, when he was tiny. "She sang to me in a way that was very funny," he recalls. "And I laughed."
He gives me a rendition, half-singing I've Got a Little List from the musical The Mikado. Ed says he only realised much later that "she was singing to me songs from Gilbert and Sullivan", the Victorian-era duo Lee "adored" all her life.
It seems some of Lee's influences were British, even if her roots were in Monroeville, Alabama at a time of strict segregation, when schools, churches and restaurants were divided on race lines.
Casey Cep
Harper Lee's nephew, Dr Edwin Lee Conner and niece, Molly Lee, who said their aunt was "funny" and "a brilliant writer"
The cousins are sharing their memories of their aunt - who died in 2016 - on the eve of the publication of a new book, The Land of Sweet Forever.
It's a series of newly discovered short stories Lee wrote in the years before Mockingbird, as well as previously published essays and magazine pieces.
Ed explains: "I knew there were unpublished stories, I had no idea where the manuscripts of those stories were."
They were discovered in one of his aunt's New York City apartments after she died, a time capsule from the start of Lee's career which help explain how a young woman from Alabama became a best-selling author whose work addressed the turbulent issues of her age.
Molly is "very pleased" that the stories have been found. "I think it's interesting to see how her writing evolved and how she worked on her craft," she says. "Even I can tell how she improved."
Getty Images
Harper Lee with her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, newspaper editor and lawyer, who was the inspiration for Atticus Finch, a character who also features in the short story, The Pinking Shears
Some elements will be familiar to fans of To Kill A Mockingbird.
Versions of Jean Louise Finch appear, although she hasn't gained her nickname Scout yet.
In one of the stories, The Pinking Shears, the character is a spirited little girl called Jean Louie who gives a friend a haircut and faces the wrath of the child's father. Perhaps a hint of the forthright Scout to come?
In another, The Binoculars, a child starting school is berated by the teacher for already knowing how to read. A version of that story appears early on in Mockingbird.
Some of them are set in Maycomb, Alabama, the fictional town which also stands for Monroeville in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Getty Images
Actress Mary Badham and Harper Lee on the set of the To Kill A Mockingbird film, in 1961 at Monroeville, Alabama
Ed, who's a retired English professor, calls them "apprentice stories" which aren't "the fullest expression of her genius and yet there's genius in them".
"She was a brilliant writer in the making and you see something of her brilliance in these stories."
I found one, The Cat's Meow, an unsettling read through a modern lens. Set in Maycomb, it sees two siblings, clearly Lee and her older sister Alice, confounded by her sister's black gardener Arthur, who's from the North but has apparently decided to work in the segregationist South. The older sister tells the younger one he's a "Yankee" who has "as much education as you have".
Written in 1957, seven years before the groundbreaking Civil Rights Act of 1964, Lee's own approach to the civil rights movement appears to be evolving.
Some of the language in the story and at times, even the narrator's own attitudes, are uncomfortable to read.
Ed thinks that's a "fair assessment"
He points to Go Set A Watchman, the novel Lee published just a year before she died after the manuscript was found decades after she wrote it.
As liberal as the narrator thinks she is, "she's not entirely liberated from her own prejudices, let's put it that way", Ed says.
"And I don't say that in any demeaning sense because for white southerners, it's not easy to rid ourselves of all the prejudices that we have born over the centuries."
Getty Images
Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his role as Atticus Finch, who defended Tom Robinson (Brock Peters)
The publication of Go Set A Watchman sparked controversy. Atticus Finch, the anti-racist hero of To Kill A Mockingbird, is portrayed as a racist.
There were questions about whether Lee, who had significant health issues by then, had the capacity to give full consent. (An investigation by the state of Alabama found claims of elder abuse were unfounded).
I ask whether it's an invasion of Lee's privacy to publish posthumously these stories that Lee didn't choose to make public in her lifetime. Ed Lee Conner is clear that, when it comes to The Land of Sweet Forever, "that's an easy judgment to make, she attempted to publish all these stories".
And he believes - like Mockingbird - the stories have something to say about modern race relations in the US which is "part of the continuing relevance of what she wrote".
To Kill A Mockingbird "had a huge influence on the way a lot of people thought about race relations in the United States".
Writing a book about a black man's struggle that's centred on white characters, particularly Atticus Finch, the white lawyer played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film, has led, in later years, to accusations of white saviourism.
Ed tells me his aunt "was writing a novel primarily for a white audience who I think would need to see a figure like Atticus Finch much more clearly and much more humanly in their lives, even as a fictional character, in order to influence them as much as she could".
Getty Images
President George W. Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harper Lee in 2007, for her contribution to literature
In an interview in 1964 for the New York radio station WQXR, Harper Lee described the "sheer numbness" she felt at the reaction to her debut novel.
"I never expected that the book would sell in the first place," she said. "I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers. I was hoping that maybe somebody might like it well enough to give me some encouragement about it."
Ed's side of the family had been given it in proof, ahead of publication. At age 13, he read the whole book in two days. "I was absolutely enthralled and it was one of the highlights of my youth."
He says the whole family shared her feelings of numbness at its reception. "We all loved it and thought it was a terrific novel, but we had no idea... that it would go on to be as phenomenal a success as it was."
Harper Lee had looked after Molly and her brother while she was writing it. "She was in her bedroom typing away and she locked the door and she'd come out and play with us and then go back to typing."
When Molly read the book, as a 12-year-old, "I'm not sure that I ever looked up from it. I was totally engrossed."
Dr Edwin Lee Conner/Harper Lee Estate
On the left: Harper Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee in his home in Monroeville with his grandchildren (including Ed Lee Conner with hat and Molly Lee standing) in 1953, and on the right, a previously unseen photograph of Nelle Harper Lee
I play them part of the WQXR interview that their aunt did four years after the book came out. It's the only known recording of Harper Lee talking about To Kill A Mockingbird.
She retired from public life soon afterwards. Ed says she wasn't a recluse as some have suggested and was very sociable with the people she knew. She'd simply realised, after the novel's success and then the hugely popular film, that she didn't need to promote it anymore.
"She did not particularly enjoy public appearances," he recalls. "She had no interest whatsoever in being a celebrity. So there was a point at which she decided no more interviews."
Michael Brown
Harper Lee, whose writing changed "the way we saw each other, and then the way we saw ourselves" -- in a tribute from the former US President Barack Obama
Listening to her speaking on this precious recording is its own time capsule.
In her soft southern accent, melodic and lilting, she talks not just about being numbed at the reaction to the book, but also why she believes the southern states are "a region of storytellers" and how she wants to be "a Jane Austen of South Alabama".
Hearing her voice again "just makes me smile," Molly says.
"I love hearing it," agrees Ed, clearly moved. "It's wonderful."
The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee is published on 21 October 2025.
Watch: Bangladesh's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport engulfed in flames
Business leaders in Bangladesh fear losses of more than $1bn (£750m) after a devastating fire broke out in the logistics section of the country's main airport on Saturday.
Clothes and raw materials were among the goods destroyed, which could put some businesses at risk, according to the country's export associations.
The cause of the fire - which took 27 hours to extinguish - is still being investigated. The blaze had forced the temporary suspension of flights and airport operations.
Bangladesh is the word's second-largest exporter of clothes after China, supplying global retailers like H&M and Walmart.
Bangladesh's garment sector generates around $40bn a year, accounting for over a tenth of its gross domestic product.
Local media reports say around 35 people were injured while working to contain the blaze.
The damaged airport cargo village is among the country's busiest logistics hubs, especially during the pre-Christmas rush. The centre stored fabrics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other goods.
Some of the goods destroyed were "essential" samples for securing new buyers, which means affected businesses could lose out on future opportunities, Inamul Haq Khan, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufactuers and Exporters Association, told Reuters.
In an email to the BBC, the International Air Express Association of Bangladesh also estimated damages of more than $1bn.
Getty Images
The centre where the fire broke out stored fabrics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other goods
The garments association has asked all its members to submit a list of damaged goods to determine the full extent of the losses.
Saturday's blaze was Bangladesh's third major fire within a week.
On Tuesday, a deadly warehouse fire killed at least 16 people and injured many others. And on Thursday, another fire burned down a seven-story clothing factory in Chittagong.
While investigations into Saturday's airport fire are still underway, conspiracy theories have been circulating online, linking it to the two earlier incidents and claiming all three were "pre-planned".
In the past, the causes of such major incidents had been used by political parties to attack one another, with parties accusing opponents of exploiting the tragedies for political gain. Experts say the heightened speculation this time stems from a history of uninvestigated accusations, where no one was ever held accountable.
The interim government of Bangladesh issued a statement on Saturday, saying it would take immediate and firm actions if "any credible evidence of sabotage or arson is found".
Large fires are frequent in densely-populated Bangladesh. These are often blamed on poor infrastructure and weak safety enforcement. Hundreds of people have been killed in fires in recent years.
Bereaved mothers Amarjit Matharoo, Lauren Caulfield and Fiona Winser-Ramm have campaigned for years for an independent inquiry into Leeds Trust
An independent inquiry into "repeated failures" at an NHS trust's maternity units has been announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, following potentially avoidable harm to babies and mothers.
Earlier this year a BBC investigation revealed that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) over the past five years may have been prevented.
Streeting said a thorough investigation was required to understand what had "gone so catastrophically wrong" at the trust's maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James's University Hospital.
In a statement, the trust told the BBC it was already "taking significant steps to address improvements".
MARTIN MCQUADE / BBC
A number of Leeds bereaved families found each other via a Facebook group
The BBC has now spoken to more than 70 families who have described traumatic care, with some cases going back more than 15 years.
They include Fiona Winser-Ramm and Dan Ramm whose daughter, Aliona, died in January 2020 at Leeds General Infirmary. An inquest found "a number of gross failures" that "directly contributed" to her death.
Four years later, Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo's daughter Asees was stillborn at the same hospital.
Both couples were among a group of bereaved Leeds families who wrote to Streeting requesting an independent inquiry following the BBC's initial coverage.
They later shared their experiences with him in person before the inquiry was announced.
MARTIN MCQUADE / BBC
Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo's daughter Asees was stillborn in January 2024
"We know we are not alone, and that there's other families that have experienced what we have," said Amarjit.
Fiona added that "we can't quite believe it yet".
"I think the scale of this inquiry will be enormous. There are so many people who don't even know they are victims yet and it is going to snowball at an alarming pace," she added.
Streeting said he was "shocked" by the bereaved families' stories and the "repeated maternity failures" that were "made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust".
"I do think there is an exceptional case in Leeds to have a Nottingham-style independent inquiry into the failures," he said.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust is at the centre of a public inquiry that will examine 2,500 cases of maternity failings on a national level.
Streeting said he hoped the Leeds inquiry would help the families to learn the truth about what went wrong in their care.
PA
Health Secretary Wes Streeting met families affected by maternity failures at the trust
The Department of Health has not yet revealed the inquiry's terms of reference or details of who will lead it.
Bereaved families want Donna Ockenden - the senior midwife who led the review into maternity failings at Shrewsbury and Telford and is currently leading the Nottingham review – to also chair the Leeds inquiry.
They said Ms Ockenden had the trust of families and proven experience in uncovering systemic failings in maternity care.
The BBC has previously spoken to whistleblowers who said the previous rating of "good" for LTHmaternity services did not reflect the reality.
The body responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded both of the trust's maternity units to "inadequate" in June, after unannounced inspections raised concerns that women and babies were "at risk of avoidable harm".
Inspectors also highlighted a "blame culture" at the trust, which resulted in staff being reluctant to raise concerns and incidents.
PA Media
The Leeds units are also currently part of a rapid national review into maternity and neonatal services across England, which was launched in June and is being led by Baroness Valerie Amos.
Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologised to bereaved families and said he hoped the inquiry would provide them with "answers".
He said: "We are determined to do better. We want to work with the families who have used our services to understand their experiences so that we can make real and lasting improvements.
"I would also like to reassure families in Leeds who will be using our services currently, that we are already taking significant steps to address improvements to our maternity and neonatal services, following reviews by the Care Quality Commission and NHS England."
Families say serious questions now need answering about what Sir Julian Hartley, the man in charge of the trust for ten years until 2023, knew about poor maternity care.
He's now in charge of the health care regulator in England, the Care Quality Commission.
In a statement, Sir Julian told the BBC that while he was Chief Executive of Leeds Trust, he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity, but clearly this commitment wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss".
He said he was "truly sorry" for this.
Lauren Caufield whose daughter, Grace Kilburn, died in 2022, and also met Streeting said:
"It is completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date to look into the situations with Sir Julian Hartley. We hope the inquiry will do that."
Do you have more information about this story?
You can reach Divya directly and securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +44 7961 390 324, by email at divya.talwar@bbc.co.uk or her Instagram account.
Several papers lead with the Metropolitan Police's investigation into media reports that Prince Andrew allegedly used his police protection to try to obtain personal information about his accuser Virginia Giuffre. It allegedly occurred just before the Mail published a photo of the pair's first meeting in February 2011, in what the Sun describes as an order to "dig dirt". Prince Andrew has not commented on the reports, but consistently denies all allegations against him. On Friday, he announced he would give up his royal titles, including the Duke of York.
The Daily Mail leads with details on King Charles III's "threat" to strip Prince Andrew of his royal titles. The paper cites anonymous sources who say the prince tried to "dig his heels in", despite "the growing tsunami of evidence" about his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It prompted the King to threaten "further action" unless his brother "saw sense", the paper reports.
The Daily Mirror also leads on the claims that Andrew tried to "dig up dirt" on Giuffre, declaring it the "scandal with no end". The paper also contains details about the King's intervention, quoting a source who said: "The scandal has engulfed the family for too long, forcing the King to banish him."
Calls for Prince Andrew to lose his title lead the Metro, including "by the family of Virginia Giuffre". The paper's headline, "And when he was down, he was down", alludes to the nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York".
The Times also leads with the Metropolitan Police investigation into Prince Andrew's "bid for police to investigate his accuser". The newspaper also reports that "Russian spies and hard-left humanitarian groups are working with people smugglers to flood Europe with illegal migrants", citing remarks from Bulgaria's interior minister.
The i Paper leads with reports on the tensions in Gaza, saying the ceasefire is "in peril". It reports the "fragile sense of calm" was disrupted by a "wave of air strikes" by Israel's military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "claims it bombed "terror targets" in response to an alleged attack on Israeli soldiers in Rafah", in southern Gaza, the paper says. The IDF and Hamas "blame each other for breaching ceasefires", according to the paper.
"Scramble to shore up ceasefire as Israel hits Gaza with deadly raids", reads the headline on the front page of the Guardian. Two IDF soldiers were killed in a Hamas attack and dozens of Palestinians were killed in "retaliatory strikes", the paper reports. The heist at the Louvre in Paris also features on the front page. It reports on the French police's investigation into the brazen seven-minute theft at the museum, which closed on Sunday. The paper says one of the pieces of jewellery stolen was a necklace Napoleon had given to his wife.
A "fractious" White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leads the Financial Times. The paper reports the meeting between the two leaders "descended many times into a "shouting match", citing "people familiar with the matter". The paper says Trump urged Zelensky to "surrender the entire Donbas region" to Russia.
The Daily Telegraph also leads with the Trump-Zelensky White House meeting. It says Trump had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before hosting Zelensky. It describes "shouting and swearing" during the Trump-Zelensky meeting, adding: "Mr Trump threw aside Ukrainian maps of the battlefield."
The Daily Express leads with an exclusive story, reporting the mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan "read reports of young girls being raped in hotels by groups of men while publicly denying there were any grooming gangs in the capital". It quotes whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who told the paper "the cases followed 'the same pattern' she had seen with Greater Manchester Police's cover-up of the Rochdale scandal", where a group of seven men were found guilty of sexually exploiting two teenage girls over five years. "The mayor and the Metropolitan Police have consistently claimed to have 'no reports' of Rochdale or Rotherham-style rape gangs in the capital", the paper reports.
The Daily Star leads with the British Film Institute (BFI) adding the "lettuce livestream" to its national archive, marking three years since Liz Truss resigned as prime minister. The livestream featured a "plucky 60p Tesco iceberg", which was "livestreamed to see if it would outlast Truss's time in No 10 in 2022".
A cargo plane has skidded off a runway at Hong Kong International Airport and landed in the sea, killing at least one person, local media have reported.
The Emirates flight, operating as Aerotranscargo, was arriving from Dubai just before 04:00 local time when it hit a vehicle on the north runway, local media reports.
Four crew members on board have been rescued and taken to hospital, but two ground staff "fell into the sea", a statement from the Civil Aviation department says. Their condition is unclear.
The affected runway is closed, but the airport's other two runways are still in operation.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
The 4.8% growth in the third quarter marked a slowdown from 5.2% in the three months to July
China's economic growth slowed in the three months to the end of September as trade tensions with the US flared up.
The world's second-largest economy grew by 4.8% compared to the same period in 2024, its weakest pace in a year, official figures released on Monday show.
The third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth will set the tone for a gathering of China's top leaders this week to discuss the country's economic blueprint between 2026 and 2030.
The 4.8% growth in the third quarter marked a slowdown from 5.2% in the three months to July.
China's National Bureau of Statistics said the economy showed "strong resilience and vitality" against pressure . It credited momentum in its technology sector and business services as key growth drivers.
Beijing has set a goal of "around 5%" economic growth this year and has so far avoided a sharp downturn, helped by government support measures.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects to meet Chinese officials this week in Malaysia in a bid to ease tensions and set up a meeting between Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.
Before the recent flare-up, Chinese businesses had taken advantage of the trade truce with Washington to ship goods to the US, resulting in China's exports rising by 8.4% in September. The total value of imports to China was also up.
China's industrial output grew by 6.5% last month from a year earlier, with its 3D-printing, robotics and electric vehicles manufacturers among its strongest performers.
Its service sector, which includes IT support, consultancies, and transport and logistics companies, also grew.
Xi Jinping seems to believe that only his continued rule can secure China’s rise. But as he ages, choosing a successor will become riskier and more difficult.
At 72, Xi Jinping has led China for nearly 13 years. There are no signs that he plans to step down, and he has said nothing about who might succeed him.
Xi Jinping seems to believe that only his continued rule can secure China’s rise. But as he ages, choosing a successor will become riskier and more difficult.
Login
