The Louvre looks empty during a normally busy Sunday on October 19, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Remon Haazen/Getty Images)
(PARIS) — The director of the Louvre in Paris took the hot seat on Wednesday, answering questions from lawmakers amid mounting criticism over apparent security lapses that enabled thieves to pull off Sunday’s brazen daylight heist of more than $100 million in jewels from the museum’s ornate Apollo Gallery.
Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre, testified in front of France’s Senate Culture Committee, saying, “We have been defeated.”
“This tragedy deeply shocked museum staff, fellow citizens, and admirers of the Louvre around the world,” said des Cars, reading an opening statement. “This is an immense wound that has been inflicted on us.”
Des Cars added, “This theft hurts our institution.”
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced on Tuesday that those gems are estimated to be worth $102 million.
A large crowd of visitors was lined up when most of the Louvre reopened at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The Apollo Galley, still considered a crime scene, remained temporarily closed, according to the Louvre’s website.
In an interview with the French radio network RTL, Beccuau called the figure “spectacular,” but said it was nothing compared to the “historical loss caused by the theft.”
“We can maybe hope that [the perpetrators] think about it and won’t destroy these jewels for no reason,” Beccuau said.
Hundreds of police officers are a part of the ongoing investigation in the Louvre heist. There are four main suspects in the ongoing investigation, but it’s possible there were other accomplices, Beccuau said.
A nationwide manhunt for the Louvre thieves has been in high gear since the theft on Sunday. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch those responsible for the “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
The thieves went directly to two displays, breaking them and taking a “significant amount of loot,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News.
“They knew exactly where they were going,” Dati said. “It looks like something very organized and very professional.”
Dati said the evidence collected so far points to “organized crime,” but added that investigators have not ruled out that the heist could have been an inside job.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Melissa, which is taking aim on the Caribbean, may strengthen to a hurricane in the next 24 to 48 hours.
The storm will stay away from the mainland United States. Instead, Melissa poses the biggest threat to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica, where days of heavy rain and severe winds could lead to life-threatening landslides.
Here’s the latest forecast:
Melissa is moving over water temperatures 4 to 5 degrees above average for this time of year, which will help it strengthen from a tropical storm into a hurricane.
Melissa is expected to approach Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti later this week.
The storm is forecast to bring 5 to 10 inches of rain to the southern Dominican Republic, southern Haiti and eastern Jamaica through Saturday. Significant flash flooding and landslides are possible.
Across the northern Dominican Republic, northern Haiti and western Jamaica, 2 to 4 inches of rain are expected through Saturday.
Aruba and Puerto Rico could see less severe impacts from Melissa’s outer bands. One to 3 inches of rain is in the forecast and flooding is possible.
A hurricane watch is in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince, while a tropical storm watch has been issued in Jamaica.
The Atlantic hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30.
A baby was found on a subway platform in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 20, 2025. (WABC)
(NEW YORK) — The mother of a newborn baby found abandoned at a Midtown Manhattan subway station has been arrested, police said.
Assa Diawara, 30, was arrested early Wednesday in Queens on charges of abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the New York Police Department.
The baby girl was found wrapped in a blanket at the southbound 1 train platform at 34th Street-Penn Station during the Monday morning rush hour, police said.
The baby was taken to the hospital in stable condition, police said, with New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow calling it “the miracle on 34th Street.”
Officials carry the children after the Russian missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine on October 22, 2025. (Photo by Office of the President of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia overnight launched a heavy air attack on Ukraine — including striking Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles — that killed at least six people, including two children.
It came hours after plans for President Donald Trump’s proposed summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to fall apart, leaving hopes of movement in the coming days towards ending the war once again in tatters.
Russia also directly struck a kindergarten in the eastern city of Kharkiv, according to Kyiv.
At least one drone hit the building where nearly 50 young children were inside, Ukrainian officials said.
Fortunately many or all were in its shelter, the local governor said.
“Fortunately, the children were in shelter during the alarm, and they were not injured,” the governor said on Telegram.”In total, 48 children were rescued by the State Emergency Service units. Four people were hospitalized, two of them are in serious condition, two are in moderate condition. Two more injured received outpatient medical care.”
Images released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine show firefighters carrying terrified toddlers to safety from the destroyed building.
Kharkiv’s regional State Emergency Service told ABC News one person had been killed and nine injured in the strikes on the city on Wednesday morning.
Forty-eight children were evacuated from the kindergarten. They are experiencing “acute stress reactions,” a spokesperson said.
Dozens of people also have had to be rescued in Kyiv after Russian drones and debris struck their high-rise apartment buildings.
President Volodymyr Zelensky noted the attacks showed Russia doesn’t “feel enough pressure for dragging out the war.”
The Louvre looks empty during a normally busy Sunday on October 19, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Remon Haazen/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Louvre Museum opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning in Paris — the first time it has welcomed the public since Sunday’s robbery.
Meanwhile, the Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, is set to make a much-anticipated appearance in front of France’s Senate Culture Committee to answer questions regarding the museum’s security and what went wrong on Sunday when nine pieces were swiped from the museum’s Apollo Gallery.
On Tuesday, Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced that those gems are estimated to be worth $102 million.
In an interview with the French radio network RTL, Beccuau called the figure “spectacular,” but said it was nothing compared to the “historical loss caused by the theft.”
“We can maybe hope that [the perpetrators] think about it and won’t destroy these jewels for no reason,” Beccuau said.
Hundreds of police officers are a part of the ongoing investigation in the Louvre heist. There are four main suspects in the ongoing investigation, but it’s possible there were other accomplices, Beccuau said.
A nationwide manhunt for the Louvre thieves has been in high gear since the theft on Sunday. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch those responsible for the “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
The thieves went directly to two displays, breaking them and taking a “significant amount of loot,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News.
“They knew exactly where they were going,” Dati said. “It looks like something very organized and very professional.”
Dati said the evidence collected so far points to “organized crime,” but added that investigators have not ruled out that the heist could have been an inside job.
A bomb detection robot inspects a vehicle that rammed a security barricade at the White House complex on October 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Secret Service reported that one individual was arrested and that the vehicle is now deemed safe. Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A person has been arrested after driving his car into a security gate near the White House on Tuesday night, the U.S. Secret Service said.
It happened at about 10:37 p.m. at a security gate at 17th and E streets southwest of the White House, the Secret Service said in a statement.
“The individual was immediately arrested by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers, and the vehicle was assessed by Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department and deemed safe,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “Additional information will be provided upon conclusion of the investigation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — There are no plans for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet “in the immediate future,” a White House official said on Tuesday — calling off a summit that was expected in Hungary in the coming weeks.
Trump announced on Thursday that he and Putin planned to meet again, and predicted it would occur “within two weeks or so.”
First, he said, discussions would take place among senior advisers on both sides.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, held a phone call on Monday. It’s not expected the two will meet in person at this point.
“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call. Therefore, an additional in person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” the White House official said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin downplayed a potential in person meeting between Trump and Putin. The Kremlin said there was never a date set for a summit.
“You can’t postpone what was not scheduled,” a Putin spokesman said.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will be in Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with Trump, according to a NATO news release. A White House official confirmed the meeting.
The two will discuss the war in Ukraine ahead of a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in London on Friday, a NATO spokesperson said.
Trump, on the heels of a diplomatic achievement in the Middle East, renewed his efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end as Moscow’s invasion drags on 3 1/2 years later.
But it appears little has changed since his phone call with Putin last Thursday and his face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.
Zelenskyy was in Washington to make his case for coveted U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles and other military assets. Zelenskyy said on Monday that the Trump administration decided not to provide Ukraine with the long-range Tomahawks that would give Kyiv the ability to strike deeper inside Russia, but said the “issue is not off the table.”
Still, Zelenskyy described the White House meeting as positive and said he was waiting to see whether he would be invited to join the now-called off sitdown between Trump and Putin in Budapest.
Trump has called for the Russia-Ukraine war to end along its current battle lines, and denied a report from the Financial Times that he insisted Zelenskyy surrender the entire Donbas region to Russia.
On Monday, Trump softened his previous comments when he said he believed Ukraine could win back all its territory currently occupied by Russia.
“Well they could,” Trump said. “They could still win it. I don’t think they will but they could still win it. I never said they would win it. I said they — anything can happen. You know war is a very strange thing. A lot of bad things happen. A lot of good things happen.”
Tuesday’s announcement that a second Trump-Putin summit is side-tabled for now comes just hours after Russia’s top diplomat signaled that the U.S. and Russia are still very far apart with regards to how to end the war with Ukraine.
“Now, Washington is saying that we need to stop immediately and not discuss anything further. We need to stop and let history decide. You see, if we just stop, we will forget about the root causes of this conflict, which the American administration clearly understood when Donald Trump came to power,” Lavrov said.
ABC News’ Chris Boccia, Michelle Stoddart and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
The U.S. Capitol building is seen from Freedom Plaza during the 20th day of the ongoing federal government shutdown in Washington, D.C., United States, on October 20, 2025. Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — One of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown is about to hit tens of millions of the poorest Americans hard: the halting of a critical food assistance program.
Several states are now warning they will be forced to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.
SNAP, often referred to as “food stamps,” serves roughly 42 million low-income Americans. The program, run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food.
Texas is now warning its millions of recipients that all November SNAP benefits will be halted if the shutdown continues past Oct. 27.
Pennsylvania officials say they will also not be able to distribute SNAP benefits if the shutdown — now in its 21st day — continues.
“Because Republicans in Washington DC failed to pass a federal budget, causing the federal government shutdown, November 2025 SNAP benefits cannot be paid,” an alert on the state’s Department of Human Services website reads.
Other states such as Minnesota and New York, are issuing similar warnings — saying benefits are “at risk” or “may be delayed” if the shutdown continues.
SNAP has traditionally been entirely federally funded, but is administered by states. That means the shutdown’s impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to dry up will vary state by state.
Earlier this month, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — commonly known as WIC — received $300 million from the White House to help support the program through Oct. 31 amid the shutdown, but now states are projected to run out of funds as early as next month.
WIC — which which help more than 7 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents get nutritious foods — is on the verge of running out of money as early as Nov. 1 unless the government reopens or receives additional emergency funding. Previously, the White House said it would use tariff revenue to pay for WIC benefits.
“Without additional funding, State WIC Agencies may be forced to take drastic measures that prevent families from accessing the services they need, such as halting food benefits. This would directly jeopardize the health and nutrition of millions of mothers, babies, and young children,” National WIC Association CEO Georgia Machell said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a letter to state health officials earlier this month, Ronald Ward — the acting head of SNAP — warned that “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”
This has already been a tumultuous few months for SNAP. President Donald Trump’s megabill already cut the program by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
Federal agents clash with anti-I.C.E. protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on October 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. An Instagram post from the WorldNakedBikeRidePortland account stated – “The emergency WNBR Portland is in response to the militarization of our peaceful city. Right now peaceful protesters are being brutalized as they do their best for our neighbors and cousins who are being kidnapped.” (Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has filed a motion seeking to dissolve the remaining order preventing them from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
The filing on Monday came after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned, earlier that day, another temporary restraining order that prevented the Trump administration from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland. A panel of judges found that the Trump administration was likely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the TRO.
A broader order that prohibits any state’s National Guard from deploying into Portland remains in effect.
The government referenced the appeals court’s decision in its filing on Monday, stating, “Given the Ninth Circuit’s clear statements on the second TRO’s validity, the Court should address this motion in part today and without awaiting plaintiffs’ response due tomorrow evening.”
The Ninth Circuit’s decision “plainly warrants dissolution of this Court’s second TRO,” the government’s motion stated.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield decried Monday’s ruling, saying the panel of Ninth Circuit judges “has chosen to not hold the president accountable” and urged the “full Ninth Circuit to vacate today’s decision before the illegal deployments can occur.”
“Portland is peaceful. The military has no place in our streets,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to hold the line and fight for Oregon’s sovereignty.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, celebrated the ruling, saying the appeals court found that the president “has the right to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, where local leaders have failed to keep their citizens safe.”
In late September, President Donald Trump issued an order federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect federal propertyamid ongoing protests at a Portland ICE facility, despite objections from local officials.
After the city of Portland and state of Oregon sued, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut earlier this month prohibited the deployment of the Oregon National Guard into the Portland area, finding that conditions in Portland were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard, and that the president’s claims about the city were “simply untethered to the facts.”
The Ninth Circuit’s ruling on Monday, which lifted Immergut’s TRO, found that the Trump administration was likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal of Immergut’s ruling.
“After considering the record at this preliminary stage, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority” to federalize the National Guard, the court stated in the majority opinion.
Immergut issued a second TRO following the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy members of the California National Guard to Portland.
The government is seeking to dissolve that TRO or “at a minimum” to stay, or suspend, the order until it expires on Nov. 2, according to the motion filed Monday.
The city of Portland and state of Oregon have not yet filed a response to the government’s motion, according to the online docket.
A trial in the matter is scheduled to start on Oct. 29.
In this Aug. 1, 2023, file photo, Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on an unsealed indictment, including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C. Drew Angerer/Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley Tuesday seeking to correct what they call “inaccurate” claims that Smith wiretapped or spied on Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation into President Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
“Although you have not reached out to us to discuss this matter, we are compelled to correct inaccurate assertions made by you and others concerning the issuance of a grand jury subpoena for the toll records of eight Senators and one Member of the House of Representatives,” attorneys Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski wrote. “Mr. Smith’s actions as Special Counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences.”
The outreach from Smith’s team is the latest in a series of efforts by the former special counsel to correct the record on his parallel investigations into Trump that resulted in two indictments for Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records after leaving the White House in his first term and his attempt to subvert the 2020 election result.
Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases before both were dropped following Trump’s reelection, due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Both cases have since been cast by senior leadership of Trump’s Justice Department — many of whom previously served as Trump’s personal attorneys — as prime examples of political weaponization of law enforcement.
In the letter from his attorneys, as well as two public appearances on university panels, Smith has disputed that he or his team were ever motivated by politics in their prosecutions of the president.
In their letter Tuesday, Smith’s attorneys sought to refute a narrative stemming from a document released by the FBI on the eve of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
The record showed that during Smith’s investigation, his office sought limited phone toll data from eight senators and a member of the House in the days surrounding the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
While such records would not involve the content of any phone calls or messages, multiple Republicans on the committee incorrectly claimed at the hearing the next day that Smith had “tapped” their phones or “spied” on them.
“What was going on here? Who ordered this? Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States Senators?” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked Bondi during the hearing.
“We will be looking at all aspects of this, and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this,” Bondi responded, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel.
Smith’s attorneys, in their letter, stood firmly behind the move to seek the toll records as “entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy,” and further confirmed that Smith received approval to do so from career officials in the Department’s Public Integrity Section.
“The subpoena’s limited temporal range is consistent with a focused effort to confirm or refute reports by multiple news outlets that during and after the January 6 riots at the Capitol, President Trump and his surrogates attempted to call Senators to urge them to delay certification of the 2020 election results,” Breuer and Koski wrote. “In fact, by the time Mr. Smith’s team conducted the toll records analysis, it had been reported that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani tried calling Senators for such a purpose, with one Senator releasing a voicemail from Mr. Giuliani.”
Smith’s attorneys also noted that, during Trump’s first term, the Justice Department “purportedly obtained communications records from two Democratic Members of Congress” as part of an investigation into media leaks.
The letter also criticizes Patel for suggesting in a statement that Smith sought to cover up his office’s use of the toll records, claiming he put them “in a “lockbox in a vault, and then put that vault in a cyber place where no one can see or search these files.”
“It is not clear what cyber place in a vault in a lockbox Director Patel is describing, but Mr. Smith’s use of these records is inconsistent with someone who was trying to conceal them,” the letter said.
Smith’s attorneys point to Smith’s final report on his probe, released in January of this year, which specifically describes some of the calls made to Republican senators during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and contains as a footnote that refers to the use of toll records in Smith’s investigation.
“Moreover, the precise records at issue were produced in discovery to President Trump’s personal lawyers, some of whom now serve in senior positions within the Department of Justice,” Smith’s attorneys added in their letter.
