Police hunt two suspects after historic 200-carat piece is snatched from Austrian museum during opening hours

Austrian police are hunting two men alleged to have stolen a 200-carat platinum necklace encrusted with 673 diamonds that was on loan to a museum in Vienna and once belonged to Egyptian royalty.

Authorities in the capital released pictures of the suspects captured by security cameras during the heist at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), amid a rash of spectacular smash-and-grab thefts from European cultural institutions.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

Police hunt two suspects after historic 200-carat piece is snatched from Austrian museum during opening hours

Austrian police are hunting two men alleged to have stolen a 200-carat platinum necklace encrusted with 673 diamonds that was on loan to a museum in Vienna and once belonged to Egyptian royalty.

Authorities in the capital released pictures of the suspects captured by security cameras during the heist at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), amid a rash of spectacular smash-and-grab thefts from European cultural institutions.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

Speech part of effort to strengthen National Rally party’s international ties before Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid

The French far-right leader Jordan Bardella is to give a speech at Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham next week as he attempts to boost international ties before Marine Le Pen’s bid for the French presidency next spring.

Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) is high in the polls and she is predicted to reach the final round of the French presidential race in May.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

Plus, views from the Cotswolds of Harry and Meghan’s return, and the embarrassing anachronism that is Ali G

Is there anything sadder than the end of summer? As schools go back next week and parents rely on the boosting effect of a return to routine, we look around for other ways to soften the blow. A few things this year that might make it easier: the need for rain ensures that the advent of autumn is slightly less depressing than usual; people with attic conversions in which you could bake a muffin over the summer will be able to use them again; and if you happen to be a woman of 50 or thereabouts, the fresher weather is ... a relief.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

Edinburgh has given festival audiences a look at two long awaited musicals – Bliss and Disenchanted! – with both aiming to now scale up their spectacle

The Edinburgh fringe is mostly where new work is forged but that’s not the full picture. Amid all the hot-off-the-press shows are a number of familiar titles that have been around for years yet are only making their professional UK debut now. That’s the case with two fairytale musical productions hoping for a longer life whose festival run is a chance to engineer that happily ever after.

Bliss, co-created by Tyler Beattie and Emma Lively, won a new play award in the US in 2019 and had its world premiere in Seattle the year after. A handful of its songs were released in 2022. Now developed into what is billed as “the biggest new musical of the Edinburgh fringe”, it has a cast of 17 which exceeds regular fringe proportions – as does the running time (80 minutes rather than the standard hour).

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Marc Brenner

© Photograph: Marc Brenner

© Photograph: Marc Brenner

Canada’s minister in charge of trade with the U.S. was responding to comments by Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative. But that was before any mention of Lake Ontario.

© Chris Tanouye/Reuters

Households warned of ‘worse to come’ as energy bills rise

Soaring welfare bill pushes national debt to almost £3tn

Burnham blames Trump’s war in Iran for higher inflation

Unemployment rate fails to fall for Burnham

Exclusive: Sir Jeremy Farrar, who advised the government on Covid, resigns after helping to implement job cuts at global body

‘More pain’ to come after economic slowdown

Oil plummets as Trump calls off Iran strikes

UK economy to flatline, warns Bank of England

China’s chip breakthrough triggers global tech rout

Europe faces energy crisis as gas stockpiles sink

Britain to pay higher Trump tariffs than EU

Inflation fall a ‘false dawn’, Burnham warned

Private sector pay suffers worst growth since Covid

UK borrowing costs rise at fastest pace in G7