Four masked thieves, on Sunday, Oct. 19, carried out a daring daylight robbery at the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo), a 16th-century hall within the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, specifically on the south side of the building facing the Seine River, stealing eight to nine pieces of historically significant crown jewels in less than eight minutes.

The stolen items, valued at $102 million, include pieces from the French royal family's history, a diamond and emerald necklace from Napoleon I, a tiara worn by Empress Eugénie, and a sapphire set once belonging to Queen Marie-Amelie, with the Regent diamond, valued at over $60 million, reportedly left behind by the thieves.

The robbery, occurred at about 9:30 a.m., shortly after the museum opened, and was executed with remarkable speed and precision by a team of professionals. The heist involved a truck-mounted mechanical lift to access a second-floor balcony, followed by the use of power tools to break through a glass window.

The thieves used a monte-meubles (a furniture hoist truck) to reach the balcony near the River Seine, climbed up with a mechanical lift, and entered the museum through a glass window using angle grinders and other power tools. After threatening museum guards, who evacuated the building, the thieves smashed two display cases and stole the jewellery before escaping on two scooters.

The thieves fled on scooters, leaving behind a damaged crown and equipment, and authorities believe the jewels have likely been broken down for their precious metals and gems, making recovery extremely difficult.

A damaged crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was found near the escape route, and the thieves attempted to set fire to their vehicle but were thwarted by a museum staff member.

The Louvre remains closed for investigations as of Tuesday, with no official reopening date announced; refunds are being issued to ticket holders.

French authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt, led by the Paris police's Brigade de Répression du Banditisme (BRB) unit, which specializes in high-profile robberies.

Experts warn that the jewels are likely already being dismantled, with recovery efforts having only a few days before the items are lost forever.

This heist is the first major theft from the Louvre since 1998 and follows a recent spate of museum robberies in France, including a gold theft from the Natural History Museum and a porcelain heist in Limoges.

The incident has sparked national outrage, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling it an "attack on France's heritage" and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitting security failures.

The theft has reignited debate over museum security, with critics pointing to a recent spate of museum robberies in France, including a $11 million porcelain theft from the Adrien Dubouche Museum in Limoges and a gold heist from the National Museum of Natural History.

Critics of the museum security, allege that the Louvre's security chief, Dominique Buffin, was appointed as part of a "feminization policy" or "diversity hire" by director Laurence Des Cars.

The Louvre had previously requested government funding for a major renovation and security upgrade as part of President Macron’s New Renaissance project, which includes reinforced security.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS), stemming from a domain name system (DNS) issue in its US-EAST-1 region, disrupted a vast array of global websites and services through Monday, with recovery efforts concluding by late evening.

The disruption, which began around 2311 UTC Sunday (3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, Monday), affected critical platforms including Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Signal, Coinbase, Robinhood, Venmo, McDonald’s app, United Airlines, and the British government’s HM Revenue and Customs website, as well as Amazon’s own services like Ring and Alexa.

The root cause was identified as an underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of network load balancers, which impacted core services like DynamoDB and led to widespread API errors and connectivity issues. The outage originated in AWS’s key data center in northern Virginia, a hub that supports much of the world’s cloud infrastructur.

Over 11 million user reports were logged on DownDetector, with more than 2,500 services affected globally. The disruption had significant ripple effects, including students being unable to access learning platforms like Canvas, which is used by 50% of college and university students in North America.

Financial and government services were impacted, with Medicare enrollment websites inaccessible and United Healthcare’s provider search tool malfunctioning. The outage also affected media organizations, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Disney, which reported issues with their online content and services.

AWS confirmed the DNS issue was fully mitigated by midday, and most services were operating normally by 1900 UTC (6 p.m. Eastern Time), though some throttling and minor delays persisted into the evening.

This is not the first major AWS outage; similar widespread disruptions occurred in 2021 (lasting over five hours), 2023, 2020, and 2017, highlighting recurring vulnerabilities in the centralized cloud infrastructure.

Experts like Patrick Burgess of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, emphasized that while such outages are typically resolved within hours, they underscore the fragility of a global digital ecosystem dependent on a few dominant cloud providers.

Portugal’s parliament has approved a bill, banning face veils like burqas and niqabs in most public spaces, a move spearheaded by the right-leaning Chega party and supported by center-right coalition parties.

The legislation targets garments worn for "gender or religious motives," imposing fines of €200 to €4,000 ($234 to $4,671) for violations and prison sentences of up to three years for forcing someone to wear such veils. The bill now awaits presidential assent from Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who may veto it or refer it to the Constitutional Court for review.

The bill specifically targets burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women, though it exempts places like airplanes, diplomatic premises, and places of worship. 

Proponents, including Chega leader Andre Ventura and Social Democratic Party lawmaker Andreia Neto, argue the ban protects women’s autonomy and promotes gender equality, stating it prevents women from being forced to veil and safeguards national identity.

Critics, including left-wing parties like the Socialist Party and human rights advocates, argue the law unfairly targets Muslim minorities, risks stigmatizing religious expression, and may deepen societal divisions despite the small number of women in Portugal who wear such veils.

The Muslim population in Portugal is small, estimated at around 0.4% of the total population according to the 2021 census, meaning the practical impact of the ban may be limited but its symbolic significance is high.

If enacted, Portugal would join other European nations such as France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands in having full or partial bans on face coverings, a trend that has sparked international debate over religious freedom versus security and gender equality.