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Thieves on Thursday raided one of the world's greatest Bronze Age gold collections in the latest of a series of high-profile heists on European museums in recent months.  The early morning raid on Villena Museum in eastern Spain lasted just a few minutes.  A group of thieves described by one official as "super-fast and super-professional" made off with almost the entire Treasure of Villena collection, leaving behind only a few items.  What happened in the heist?  "The alarm at the Villena Museum went off around 5:20 a.m.," said a spokesman for the town council, adding that within four minutes, they had all left the building again in an extremely rapid and professional operation.  The collection of Bronze Age gold, some of which we now know hailed from a meteorite, was a centerpiece at...

Zambia's opposition leader and presidential election runner-up Brian Mundubile was in police custody and being questioned, state broadcaster ZNBC reported on Thursday.  This comes two weeks after a disputed but largely peaceful presidential election, where incumbent Hakainde Hichilema was declared the winner by authorities.  Mundubile had been in hiding after police raids and arrests the day after the election, saying he planned to challenge the results in court as the government accused him of national security offenses and plotting an insurgency. Zambian police summoned him for questioning last week.  Mundubile was a close ally of the president in power before Hichilema, the late Edgar LunguImage: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP What did Zambian media report about Mundubile being in police cu...

Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who was serving a life sentence for war crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war has died, a United Nations official said.  Serbian state broadcaster RTS reported on Thursday that he died in a prison hospital in the Hague, after suffering several strokes. A family member of Mladic, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the reports to the Associated Press and said Mladic's son, Darko Mladic, was on the way to the Hague. The International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Mladic of charges including crimes against humanity and genocide in 2017, handing him a life sentence. The verdict was confirmed on appeal in 2021.30 years on: The Srebrenica genocide explainedTo view this ...

United States President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of foreigners who applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the country, the State Department said in a statement on Monday.  It didn't say how many visas would be affected, but the Associated Press put the number at up to 200,000, citing State Department documents ‌and ​two US officials. If carried out, it would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in US history. What did the State Department say about revoking visas? The State Department is expected to announce the revocations in the coming weeks, targeting so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 to holders who have sought or are now seeking asylum. These visas are generally issued for business trav...

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay as much as $16.7 billion (roughly €14.3 billion) and to impose new limits on how teenagers use its social media sites as part of a lawsuit in California brought by a number of US states.  The settlement still requires court approval.  The proposal was filed in federal court on Wednesday and seeks to resolve claims from a coalition of 47 US states in total.  As well as the financial damages, it foresees Meta introducing various limitations and changes designed to improve child safety and discourage or prevent overuse and social media activity overnight or during school hours. What did officials say about the settlement?  "Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platf...