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Louvre tightens security after $102M jewel heist, installs bars on infamous window

PARIS (AP) — A freight lift rose up on its crane Tuesday toward the Louvre Museum — but this time it wasn’t jewel thieves. It was workers installing security bars on the window used to break into the Paris landmark’s Apollo Gallery in October’s stunning heist.

The world’s most-visited museum is slowly coming to terms with security failings exposed by the theft, while investigators hunt for missing crown jewels worth $102 million.

With the Louvre closed Tuesday, maintenance workers in security helmets and high-visibility vests mounted a freight lift to a second-floor balcony to secure new metal bars outside a now-infamous window.

The sight mirrored what happened Oct. 19, when a team of thieves posing as workers used a similar lift, then sliced through the window to enter the gallery. They grabbed tiaras, emerald earrings, a sapphire necklace and other treasures, and eight minutes later they were gone.

All four suspected thieves have been arrested and charged. But the jewels haven’t been found.

Samuel Lasnel of maintenance lift company Grima-Nacelles said he and his crew arrived before dawn Tuesday to carry out the high-profile window-securing operation.

“We have already worked at the Louvre — on the interior, on the exterior, inside and outside the pyramid — we’ve been here several times,” he told The Associated Press. “The Louvre knows us well.”

The Louvre didn’t publicly comment about Tuesday’s security operation.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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