Plus: Inside The Louvre Heist & Trump's Escalating War On Drugs

Good evening,

A manhunt is underway in Paris after a gang of thieves pulled off a daring seven-minute heist at the Louvre on Sunday — stealing priceless royal jewels. The museum remained closed today amid investigations. Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Monday that a private collector could have commissioned the theft. She also said it could have been a criminal organization. Bottom line: It was professional.

Officials say the thieves, disguised as construction workers, scaled the facade using a truck-mounted ladder, forced open a window, and smashed display cases with a small chainsaw before fleeing on motor scooters.
- And they did it right after the museum opened at 9:30am local time. Visitors were already inside.
Above is video of the stolen items on display (before the heist) in the museum’s Gallery of Apollo where the eight items were stolen. They include a necklace and earrings commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte for Empress Marie-Louise; a tiara and large jewel-encrusted bow brooch worn by the Empress Eugénie de Montijo; and a crown, necklace, and earrings worn by the last Queen of France, Marie-Amélie.
- Officials said the thieves dropped two items — including Eugénie’s crown, containing more than 1,300 diamonds — during their escape. The crown was damaged.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement.

Will we ever see them again? James Ratcliffe, a lawyer who specializes in recovering stolen art, told The Washington Post that thieves find it easier to sell looted jewels than stolen paintings because gems can be broken down and reshaped, making them harder to trace. But if a private collector is behind the heist, the person may want to keep everything intact, making the items easier to recover.

The theater of life… We’ll be awaiting the movie.

Lauren
Producer

🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

Trump Expands Military War On Drugs To Colombia; Strikes 7th Boat Despite Legality Questions

The Trump administration is widening its military and political campaign in Latin America — targeting not only Venezuela but now Colombia, formerly a close U.S. ally in the region.

The U.S. military carried out its seventh strike Friday on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean since September, killing three people on board, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday.

“The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are— they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote on X.

He linked the vessel to Colombia’s National Liberation Army, or ELN, a designated terrorist organization long accused of funding itself through narcotics.

The Trump administration said previous strikes were targeting Venezuelan networks. The expanding military “war on drugs” has a bipartisan group of lawmakers looking at potentially

TRUMP TAKES AIM AT COLOMBIA
Over the weekend, President Trump announced the U.S. would cut off all aid to Colombia, calling far leftist President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader.“

“They make drugs, they refine drugs, they make cocaine, they have cocaine factories,” Trump said. “They have no fight against drugs, and I’m stopping all payments to Colombia because they don’t have anything to do with their fight against drugs.”

Petro’s response: The day before, the Colombian president condemned the U.S. strike, accusing Washington of hitting a civilian fishing boat and invading “national territory.” Petro has recently compared Trump to Hitler. Over the weekend, Petro called himself the enemy of drug cartels — even though Colombia remains the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.

BOAT STRIKES
So far, at least 32 people have been killed in boat strikes as part of the Trump administration’s controversial campaign treating drug traffickers as terrorists.

Two people survived a strike Thursday and were sent back to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia.
- Critics say returning them without charges avoids judicial review of the administration’s actions and raises questions about who is really on these boats.

After Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on the U.S., Congress authorized the use of military force against the terrorist group. Congress has not approved such action against Latin American drug cartels.

Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called Monday for a hearing on the Trump administration’s use of military force to kill suspected drug smugglers, rather than arrest them as criminals with due process rights.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Sunday the strikes “go against all of our tradition.” He continued, “When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least.”

On the other side, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said the strikes are about protecting Americans from drugs.

“Every boat kills 25,000 (Americans) on average” from drug overdoses, Trump has repeatedly said. “You can see it, the boats get hit, and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean.”

However, the Washington Post reports that U.S. and international officials say fentanyl headed for the U.S. is not typically transported via these routes. Fentanyl seized in the U.S. is typically made in Mexico using precursors from China and brought in through land borders.

BIGGER PICTURE
The other fear from some in Congress is that the line between anti-drug enforcement and regime change is blurring — especially when it comes to attacks on Venezuelans. The previous six vessel attacks since September were allegedly against Venezuelan drug cartels.

In recent months, the U.S. military has built its largest presence in the Caribbean in decades — a show of force that echoes the 1989 raid that ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

Noriega had once worked with the CIA, but later turned on the U.S. and became deeply involved in the drug trade.
- The situation in Venezuela today has some of the same ingredients: an unpopular, authoritarian leader accused of ties to narcotics and facing rising U.S. pressure.

At stake in Venezuela are vast strategic resources: the world’s largest oil reserves, plus significant deposits of gold, diamonds and coltan. It has fallen from being South America’s richest nation to one of its poorest over the last two decades. Millions of Venezuelans have left the country in recent years—many seeking asylum in the U.S.

🚨 ONE THING WE’RE TRACKING

Amazon Web Services Outage Disrupts Websites, Apps Around The World

Is this thing working? Internet users around the world experienced multiple disruptions on many popular apps and websites Monday as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing service, experienced an outage. As of Monday afternoon, it was reportedly working again.

The outage impacted about 2,500 companies and 11 million people, according to Downdetector data. The disruptions could cost companies hundreds of billions of dollars, due to millions of workers not being able to access critical systems during the outage.

Some in the Mo News community joked that the massive internet disruption felt like an “adult snow day” — but for the web. AWS is the world’s leading provider of cloud infrastructure technology and powers online services around the world. It accounts for about a third of the cloud infrastructure market, ahead of Microsoft or Google.

⏳ THE SPEED READ

🚨NATION

Man arrested inside Atlanta airport after making threats (CNN)
Appeals court lets Trump deploy Oregon National Guard to Portland (CBS)
Secret service finds hunting stand in tree with line of sight to Air Force One (MO NEWS)
Prosecutors suggest they may move to disqualify James Comey’s attorney (ABC)
California police say shrapnel hit and damaged a patrol vehicle during Marine Corps drills (AP)
Baby found abandoned on train platform at New York Penn Station (NBC)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

Trump says Gaza ceasefire still in place after Israeli strikes (NBC) Hamas transfers coffin of dead hostage to Israel, IDF confirms (FOX)
Pope Leo XIV canonizes 7 new saints, including first from Venezuela and Papua New Guinea (CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY)
Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivian presidency, ending nearly 20 years of leftist rule (CNN)
Ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi on track to become Japan’s first female prime minister (AP)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

Trump suggests US will buy Argentinian beef to bring down prices for American consumers (AP)
L’Oreal paying $4.7 billion to buy Creed and other luxury fragrances (AXIOS)
Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again (BBC)
Study shows peanut allergy decrease from early introduction guidelines (ABC)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Former Buccaneers All-Pro running back Doug Martin dies at 36 (AP)
Disney+ and Hulu cancellations doubled amid Jimmy Kimmel suspension (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
Sabrina Carpenter drops the F-bomb — twice — during live ‘SNL’ performance (NY POST)
Jennifer Lawrence says costar Robert Pattinson pulled food out of her garbage—and ate it (E!)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… President Trump mocked the nationwide “No Kings” protests Saturday by posting a series of AI-generated videos and memes — including one showing him wearing a crown and another piloting a jet labeled “King Trump” that drops poop on demonstrators below.

The videos appeared on Truth Social as an estimated 7 million Americans joined anti-Trump rallies across all 50 states.
- Protest organizers called it one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. GOP officials dismissed the events as partisan “hate America” rallies.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) Monday said: “The president uses social media to make a point... He is using satire to make a point.” We’ve covered Trump’s use of memes before.