Macron waxwork stolen from Paris museum by Greenpeace activists
A wax figure of Emmanuel Macron was stolen from a Paris waxwork museum by several people claiming to be Greenpeace environmental activists.
According to police sources, two women and a man entered the Grévin Museum, in central Paris and left through an emergency exit with the statue – worth €40,000, (£33,700) – hidden under a blanket.
The activists then took the waxwork of the French president to the Russian embassy in Paris and placed it upright on the street in protest against France's economic ties with Russia.
'For us, France is playing a double game. Emmanuel Macron embodies this double discourse – he supports Ukraine but encourages French companies to continue trading with Russia,' said Jean-Francois Julliard, director general of Greenpeace France.
'We are targeting Emmanuel Macron specifically because he has a particular responsibility in this situation,' he added, saying that the president should be the first in European discussions to end trade agreements between Russia and European countries.
France, along with Britain, has been at the forefront of attempts to forge a European 'coalition of the willing' to provide security guarantees to Ukraine and enable peace negotiations with Russia.
However, in March Greenpeace France released a scathing report, accusing Paris of indirectly supporting Russia's war in Ukraine through continued trade in fossil fuels, fertilisers and nuclear materials.
While Mr Macron has pledged billions of euros in aid to Ukraine and reaffirmed sanctions against Russia, Greenpeace claims that France remains a major importer of Russian liquefied natural gas, fertilisers and uranium.
In 2024, France became the largest European importer of Russian liquefied natural gas, with imports increasing by 80 per cent compared with 2023, according to the report. These purchases amounted to €3.1 billion benefiting Russian companies despite declining domestic gas consumption, said Greenpeace.
The report also underscored the EU's broader dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which have generated €206 billion in revenue for Moscow since the war began, exceeding financial aid provided to Ukraine.
France's reliance on Russian chemical fertilisers further complicates its stance, Greenpeace says. Between 2021 and 2023, imports of Russian fertilisers surged by 86 per cent as domestic production faltered because of gas shortages.
The NGO warns that these imports indirectly finance Russia's war effort through export taxes imposed by the Kremlin.
In the nuclear sector, French collaboration with Russia's state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom remains intact despite the war.
Greenpeace highlighted Rosatom's dual role as a civilian and military entity, accusing it of complicity in war crimes at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Despite its strategic importance to Russia's regime, neither France nor the EU has sanctioned Rosatom.
Greenpeace accused France of hiding behind Hungary's veto on sanctioning Rosatom while continuing lucrative contracts with the company.
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I've been branded a cheat and a prostitute by evil trolls online & my boyfriend is starting to believe them
1 DEAR DEIDRE: EVER since I started dating this great guy at work, someone has been waging a nasty campaign against me. At first it was lies all over his socials, and mine, from an anonymous account, saying I was cheating on him. I managed to convince him that none of the accusations were true but I'm worried that their latest stunt is getting to him. We've been together for six months but as soon as he posted pictures of both of us together, the lies started. Thankfully the first lie they told was easy to disprove. When we went public, I posted a lovely photo of the two of us hugging and tagged him in. Within the hour someone commented from an anonymous account 'hang on? I didn't realise you were in a relationship otherwise I would never have stayed the night with you last weekend.' What they didn't know was I spent every single minute of that weekend at my boyfriend's so the lies didn't stack up. Dear Deidre: Cheating and can you get over it My boyfriend and I decided to ignore the comments, hoping whoever it was would get bored but they just kept repeating other untruths on his socials. Eventually we blocked the account but as soon as we'd blocked them, they would start up another. At first I felt it was us against this faceless saboteur, but now I can see in his eyes that he isn't quite sure about me any more. Their latest trick is to accuse me of being a prostitute. They posted a link to an escort site saying I had a secret past and sure enough there was a profile where they had used my photo. They have clearly cropped an image from my social media but I don't feel like my boyfriend is behind me any longer. And to be honest, I'm not sure that I want to be with someone who hasn't got my back anyway. I'm devastated and feel so anxious. I used to consider myself a quietly confident person but now I feel like hiding away. I'm sure everyone at work thinks there is some truth in these lies. Whenever I walk into a room, I can't help but notice the nudges, long looks and suddenly no one seems that interested in chatting to me. I don't want to let this malicious person win but I'm getting so tired. I wish I could make them stop and go back to how we were. HOW TO REBUILD TRUST You thought you were heading off into the sunset together but then an unexpected curveball comes spinning into your relationship and shatters the once unwavering trust you had. Perhaps they have started to hold back in conversations with you and you can feel an emotional gulf looming, or maybe they have become more attached to their phone making you acutely aware there's an unknown presence threatening your status quo. Worse still, you've discovered they've cheated physically or emotionally. Whatever the cause, when the trust crumbles between a couple, it can spell the beginning of the downfall. Only if you are both dedicated to working at rebuilding that trust has the relationship got a chance. Here are my trust re-enforcing tips: You've got to be prepared to talk about your worries to your partner. They have to be prepared to listen and reassure you, taking your concerns seriously. They also have to show genuine remorse and understand how their actions damaged your confidence in them. You both need to be ready to be honest about any issues in your relationship, without being unkind. This is about wanting to improve your connection, not blame one another. You both need to have the capacity to be consistent in your actions, proving you can be relied upon and ultimately trusted. Agree to have regular check-ins spending quality time together where you put all tech away and find out what is going on for the other in their life. Be patient. Rebuilding trust isn't a quick fix, especially if someone has cheated, it can take months, years even, of regular reassurance to find the more stable ground. And this is a biggie - you both have to be ready to forgive, or be forgiven and let all that resentment go. DEIDRE SAYS: You're fighting on two fronts; firstly you're dealing with this awful unsettling harassment and secondly you're facing the diminishing trust in your relationship. It is of course disappointing that your boyfriend seems to be questioning you - and actually on a practical level makes little sense. He knew from the start these slurs were fabricated so why would he now start believing that you worked as a prostitute - even when you insist this is a lie. Does he not see that it is at the very least a coincidence? It would be worth letting him know you feel he is pulling away and that you're worried he's starting to believe the untruths. He could be distancing himself, not because he doesn't believe you but because he's getting tired of the drama and wants a return to a care-free life. While the malice is being directed at you, his life and reputation are also being scrutinised. But you're only going to find out what is going through his mind if he is willing to talk. In terms of this harassment, it's really important that you start to record every incident. Don't interact with this person at all if they make any new contact with you or your boyfriend. It would be advisable if you and your boyfriend make your social accounts private to stop this individual from accessing your private lives. It's also a good idea to let any friend, family and managers know what you are going through, they may be able to help gather more evidence of this harassment and even help protect you. And be wary of the sort of content that you post on your social platforms - it all helps build a picture of your life and can easily provide material for anyone with ill intent. Also, contact the administrators of the escort site and ask them to take down your photo, they have a legal obligation to remove fake profiles. If they don't do anything, contact the web hosting company. I'm afraid you are the victim of harassment and stalking and you would be very wise to report these incidents to the police. You can also get in touch with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust ( who can offer further advice. Dear Deidre's Harassment Files Deidre's mailbag is full of harassment and stalking problems. One reader was left stressed and worried after a former friend was sending him malicious texts; another from a different subscriber who was living in fear after being stalked by a woman he went on a date with, while one woman was afraid to leave her home after receiving chilling messages from her husband's lover. Get in touch with the Dear Deidre team Every problem gets a personal reply from one of our trained counsellors. Sally Land is the Dear Deidre Agony Aunt. She achieved a distinction in the Certificate in Humanistic Integrative Counselling, has specialised in relationships and parenting. She has over 20 years of writing and editing women's issues and general features. Passionate about helping people find a way through their challenges, Sally is also a trustee for the charity Family Lives. Her team helps up to 90 people every week. Sally took over as The Sun's Agony Aunt when Deidre Sanders retired from the The Dear Deidre column four years ago. The Dear Deidre Team Of Therapists Also Includes: Kate Taylor: a sex and dating writer who is also training to be a counsellor. Kate is an advisor for dating website OurTime and is the author of five self-help books. Jane Allton: a stalwart of the Dear Deidre for over 20 years. Jane is a trained therapist, who specialises in family issues. She has completed the Basic Counselling Skills Level 1, 2, and 3. She also achieved the Counselling and Psychotherapy (CPCAB) Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Studies. Catherine Thomas: with over two decades worth of experience Catherine has also trained as a therapist, with the same credentials as Jane. She specialises in consumer and relationship issues. Fill out and submit our easy-to-use and confidential form and the Dear Deidre team will get back to you. You can also send a private message on the DearDeidreOfficial Facebook page or email us at: deardeidre@
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more
The world's smallest country has a big budget problem. The Vatican doesn't tax its residents or issue bonds. It primarily finances the Catholic Church 's central government through donations that have been plunging, ticket sales for the Vatican Museums, as well as income from investments and an underperforming real estate portfolio. The last year the Holy See published a consolidated budget, in 2022, it projected 770 million euros ($878 million), with the bulk paying for embassies around the world and Vatican media operations. In recent years, it hasn't been able to cover costs. That leaves Pope Leo XIV facing challenges to drum up the funds needed to pull his city-state out of the red. Withering donations Anyone can donate money to the Vatican, but the regular sources come in two main forms. Canon law requires bishops around the world to pay an annual fee, with amounts varying and at bishops' discretion 'according to the resources of their dioceses.' U.S. bishops contributed over one-third of the $22 million (19.3 million euros) collected annually under the provision from 2021-2023, according to Vatican data. The other main source of annual donations is more well-known to ordinary Catholics: Peter's Pence, a special collection usually taken on the last Sunday of June. From 2021-2023, individual Catholics in the U.S. gave an average $27 million (23.7 million euros) to Peter's Pence, more than half the global total. American generosity hasn't prevented overall Peter's Pence contributions from cratering. After hitting a high of $101 million (88.6 million euros) in 2006, contributions hovered around $75 million (66.8 million euros) during the 2010's then tanked to $47 million (41.2 million euros) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches were closed. Donations remained low in the following years, amid revelations of the Vatican's bungled investment in a London property, a former Harrod's warehouse that it hoped to develop into luxury apartments. The scandal and ensuing trial confirmed that the vast majority of Peter's Pence contributions had funded the Holy See's budgetary shortfalls, not papal charity initiatives as many parishioners had been led to believe. Peter's Pence donations rose slightly in 2023 and Vatican officials expect more growth going forward, in part because there has traditionally been a bump immediately after papal elections. New donors The Vatican bank and the city state's governorate, which controls the museums, also make annual contributions to the pope. As recently as a decade ago, the bank gave the pope around 55 million euros ($62.7 million) a year to help with the budget. But the amounts have dwindled; the bank gave nothing specifically to the pope in 2023, despite registering a net profit of 30 million euros ($34.2 million), according to its financial statements. The governorate's giving has likewise dropped off. Some Vatican officials ask how the Holy See can credibly ask donors to be more generous when its own institutions are holding back. Leo will need to attract donations from outside the U.S., no small task given the different culture of philanthropy, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, director of the Church Management Program at Catholic University of America's business school. He noted that in Europe there is much less of a tradition (and tax advantage) of individual philanthropy, with corporations and government entities doing most of the donating or allocating designated tax dollars. Even more important is leaving behind the 'mendicant mentality' of fundraising to address a particular problem, and instead encouraging Catholics to invest in the church as a project, he said. Speaking right after Leo's installation ceremony in St. Peter's Square, which drew around 200,000 people, Gahl asked: 'Don't you think there were a lot of people there that would have loved to contribute to that and to the pontificate?' In the U.S., donation baskets are passed around at every Sunday Mass. Not so at the Vatican. Untapped real estate The Vatican has 4,249 properties in Italy and 1,200 more in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. Only about one-fifth are rented at fair market value, according to the annual report from the APSA patrimony office, which manages them. Some 70% generate no income because they house Vatican or other church offices; the remaining 10% are rented at reduced rents to Vatican employees. In 2023, these properties only generated 35 million euros ($39.9 million) in profit. Financial analysts have long identified such undervalued real estate as a source of potential revenue. But Ward Fitzgerald, the president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, which finances papal charities, said the Vatican should also be willing to sell properties, especially those too expensive to maintain. Many bishops are wrestling with similar downsizing questions as the number of church-going Catholics in parts of the U.S. and Europe shrinks and once-full churches stand empty. Toward that end, the Vatican recently sold the property housing its embassy in Tokyo's high-end Sanbancho neighborhood, near the Imperial Palace, to a developer building a 13-story apartment complex, according to the Kensetsu News trade journal. Yet there has long been institutional reluctance to part with even money-losing properties. Witness the Vatican announcement in 2021 that the cash-strapped Fatebenefratelli Catholic hospital in Rome, run by a religious order, would not be sold. Pope Francis simultaneously created a Vatican fundraising foundation to keep it and other Catholic hospitals afloat. 'They have to come to grips with the fact that they own so much real estate that is not serving the mission of the church,' said Fitzgerald, who built a career in real estate private equity. ___ AP reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
The furniture fraud that hoodwinked the Palace of Versailles
In the early 2010s, two ornate chairs said to have once belonged on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles appeared on the French antiques to be the most expensive chairs made for the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, they were stamped with the seal of Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, a celebrated menuisier – or carpenter – who worked in Paris in the 1700s.A significant find, the pair were declared "national treasures" by the French government in 2013, at the request of palace, which displays such items in its vast museum collection, expressed an interest in buying the chairs but the price was deemed too were instead sold to Qatari Prince Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani for an eye-watering €2m (£1.67m). The chairs made up a remarkable number of 18th-Century royal furniture that had appeared on the antiques market in the past few items included another set of chairs purported to have sat in one of Marie Antoinette's chambers in Versailles; a separate pair said to have belonged to Madame du Barry, King Louis XV's mistress; the armchair of King Louis XVI's sister, Princess Élisabeth; and a pair of ployants – or stools – that belonged to the daughter of King Louis XV, Princess Louise É of these were bought by Versailles to display in its museum collection, while one chair was sold to the wealthy Guerrand-Hermès in 2016, this assortment of royal chairs would become embroiled in a national scandal that would rock the French antiques world, bringing the trade into reason? The chairs were in fact all scandal saw one of France's leading antiques experts, Georges "Bill" Pallot, and award-winning cabinetmaker, Bruno Desnoues, put on trial on charges of fraud and money laundering following a nine-year investigation. Galerie Kraemer and its director, Laurent Kraemer, were also accused of deception by gross negligence for selling on some of the chairs – something they both three defendants are set to appear at a court in Pontoise, near Paris on Wednesday following a trial in March. Mr Pallot and Mr Desnoues have admitted to their crimes, while Mr Kraemer and his gallery dispute the charge of deception by gross negligence. It started as a 'joke' Considered the top scholar on French 18th-Century chairs, having written the authoritative book on the subject, Mr Pallot was often called upon by Versailles, among others, to give his expert opinion on whether historical items were the real deal. He was even called as an expert witness in French courts when there were doubts about an item's accomplice, Mr Desnoues, was a decorated cabinetmaker and sculptor who had won a number of prestigious awards, including best sculptor in France in 1984, and had been employed as the main restorer of furniture at in court in March, Mr Pallot said the scheme started as a "joke" with Mr Desnoues in 2007 to see if they could replicate an armchair they were already working on restoring, belonging to Madame du of their crafts, they managed the feat, convincing other experts that it was a chair from the buoyed by their success, they started making more. Describing how they went about constructing the chairs, the two described in court how Mr Pallot sourced wood frames at various auctions for low prices, while Mr Desnoues aged wood at his workshop to make were then sent for gilding and upholstery, before Mr Desnoues added designs and a wood finish. He added stamps from some of the great furniture-workers of the 18th Century, which were either faked or taken from real furniture of the they were finished, Mr Pallot sold them through middlemen to galleries like Kraemer and one he himself worked at, Didier Aaron. They would then get sold onto auction houses such as Sotheby's of London and Drouot of Paris."I was the head and Desnoues was the hands," Mr Pallot told the court smilingly."It went like a breeze," he added. "Everything was fake but the money."Prosecutors allege the two men made an estimated profit of more than €3m off the forged chairs – though Mr Pallot and Mr Desnoues estimated their profits to be a lower amount of €700,000. The income was deposited in foreign bank accounts, prosecutors said. Lawyers representing Versailles told the BBC that Mr Pallot, a lecturer at the Sorbonne, managed to deceive the institution because of his "privileged access to the documentation and archives of Versailles and the Louvre Museum as part of his academic research".A statement from lawyer Corinne Hershkovitch's team said that thanks to Mr Pallot's "thorough knowledge" of the inventories of royal furniture recorded as having existed at Versailles in the 18th Century, he was able to determine which items were missing from collections and to then make them with the help of Mr Desnoues also had access to original chairs he had made copies of, they added, "enabling him to produce fakes that had all the visual appearance of an authentic, up to the inventory numbers and period labels"."The fraudulent association between these two professionally accomplished men, recognised by their peers, made it possible to deceive the French institutions that regarded them as partners and to betray their trust, thereby damaging the reputation of Versailles and its curators," they Pascal Rayer said the trial highlighted the need for more robust regulation of the art market, and also shone a light on the standards antiques dealers should abide court heard authorities were alerted to the scheme when the lavish lifestyle of a Portuguese man and his partner caught the attention of French by police about the acquisition of properties in France and Portugal worth €1.2m while on an income of about €2,500 a month, the man – who it turned out worked as a handyman in Parisian galleries – confessed to his part in working as a middleman who collaborated in the furniture fraud, AFP news agency reported. The money trail then led investigators to Mr Desnoues and Mr Pallot. A case of deceit by gross negligence? Some of those originally indicted in the case, including middlemen, later had charges against them charges against both Laurent Kraemer and Galerie Kraemer, which sold on some of the forged chairs to collectors such as Versailles and Qatar's Prince al-Thani, were allege that while the gallery itself may have been duped into first buying the fake pieces, Mr Kraemer and the gallery were "grossly negligent" in failing to sufficiently check the items' authenticity before selling them on to collectors at high prices. In his closing arguments, prosecutor Mr Rayer said that based on Galerie Kraemer's "reputation and contacts, they could have taken the furniture to Versailles or the Louvre to compare them."They could also have hired other experts given the amounts at stake and considering the opacity on the origin of the chairs."Speaking in court, a lawyer representing Mr Kraemer and the gallery insisted his client "is victim of the fraud, not an accomplice", stating Mr Kraemer never had direct contact with the a statement to the BBC, lawyers Martin Reynaud and Mauricia Courrégé added: "The gallery was not an accomplice of the counterfeiters, the gallery did not know the furniture was fake, and it could not have detected it"."Like the Château de Versailles and the specialists who classified the furniture as national treasures, the Kraemer gallery was a victim of the forgers," they added."We are waiting for the judgement to recognise this."The BBC has contacted Mr Pallot's lawyer for comment. The BBC was unable to reach Mr Desnoues or his lawyer.
