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French police may nab Louvre thieves but unlikely to recover their loot

By Gabriel Stargardter, Juliette Jabkhiro and Elissa Darwish

PARIS (Reuters) -Crime gangs around Europe are increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often catches the thieves, they struggle to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts say.

Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday's audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists say. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on.

A view shows a crane believed to be used in an alleged robbery at the Louvre museum, in Paris, France, October 19, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Former Israeli hostage 'looking ahead', determined to move on

After more than a year trapped in a dark tunnel under Gaza, Eli Sharabi is determined to move forward with his life, even as he knows that pain and grief will be constant companions.

"It's impossible to forget even a single moment of my captivity," the 53-year-old Israeli former hostage told AFP in an interview on Monday.

"But it does not define who I am."

Sharabi was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Beeri during the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

That day, he lost almost everything.

Trump says Hamas will be 'eradicated' if group breaches Gaza deal

US President Donald Trump warned Hamas Monday it would be "eradicated" if it breaches the Gaza deal with Israel, but said he would give the Palestinian militant group a chance to honor the truce.

Vice President JD Vance headed to Israel shortly after Trump's comments, joining two top US envoys after weekend violence threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire.

"We made a deal with Hamas that they're going to be very good, they're going to behave, they're going to be nice," Trump told reporters at the White House as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

US President Donald Trump (R) speaks as he meets with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) as Vice President JD Vance (L) looks on in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2025.

Iran says cooperation deal with UN nuclear watchdog is void

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary said on Monday, according to state media.

The statement came around three weeks after Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which let the IAEA resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated U.N. sanctions.

Those were reinstated last month.

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (unseen), in Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Once an idyll, Tunisian protest hotspot Gabes now an environmental 'nightmare'

By Tarek Amara

GABES, Tunisia (Reuters) -Beneath a smog-choked sky, the once-glistening waters of Gabes in southern Tunisia run dark with rust-coloured streaks. Trees are dying, fish vanishing and a suffocating stench infuses the air.

Known a generation ago as an ecological jewel of green oases, today the town is a toxic wasteland rife with cancer, respiratory illness and bone disease.

Children play on the beach with the Tunisian Chemical Group’s (CGT) phosphate complex visible in the background, in Gabes, Tunisia, October 16, 2025. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui

Exclusive-Pakistan says Afghan Taliban must rein in militants for ceasefire to hold

By Asif Shahzad

(Reuters) -Pakistan's ceasefire agreement with the Afghan Taliban hinges on their ability to rein in militant attacks on Islamabadfromtheirsoil, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters on Monday.

A Taliban spokesperson and its defence ministrydid not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Afghan Defence Minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid and Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif shake hands, following the signing of a ceasefire agreement, during a negotations meeting mediated by Qatar and Turkey, in Doha, Qatar, October 19, 2025. Qatar Ministry Of Foreign Affairs/Handout via REUTERS

Khamenei tells Trump to 'keep dreaming' he destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected on Monday an assertion by U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States has destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities.

"The U.S. president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" Khamenei said on X.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, September 23, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

U.S Vice President Vance to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, Israeli Airports Authority says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President JD Vance is to visit Israel on Tuesday, the country's airport authority said in a statement on Monday announcing preparations for his arrival at Tel Aviv's airport.

Israel Airports Authority said traffic disruptions around the airport were expected between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time and that some flights would be moved to another terminal.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Toby Chopra)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, U.S., October 19, 2025. Vice President Vance and his family were in Southern California to attend the 250th anniversary celebration of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego.     Oliver Contreras/Pool via REUTERS

Civilians in Sudan's al-Fashir cower from drones as siege worsens hunger

By Nafisa Eltahir

LONDON (Reuters) - Residents of Sudan's besieged city of al-Fashir have been taking refuge in underground bunkers to try to protect themselves from drones and shells after intensifying attacks on displacement shelters, clinics and mosques.

Famine-stricken al-Fashir is the Sudanese army's last holdout in the vast, western region of Darfur as it battles the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a civil war that has raged for two-and-a-half years.

A desk bearing signs of shelling in a school where displaced people are sheltering, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohyaldeen M Abdallah