Hello. As Russian losses mount, more North Korean soldiers may join the fight against Ukraine, but what does Pyongyang gain? We take a look at why museum thefts are getting more brazen, and at some of the items workers have lost at Buckingham Palace over the last 140 years.

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Why North Korea is sending some of its best soldiers to help Russia fight against Ukraine

The North Korean soldiers sent to Russia's Kursk region in 2024 were the country's largest combat force ever sent overseas. Credit: Getty Images

More than four years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Russia is facing a manpower shortage and as a result, it's turning to foreign fighters to sustain its ranks. Towards the end of 2024, 13,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Russia and as many as 3,000 of them are thought to have been killed. The others "apparently vanished from the battlefield", writes international correspondent Quentin Sommerville. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that up to 50,000 North Koreans could soon be deployed in Russia. So, why is Pyongyang sacrificing some of its best fighters for a foreign war, and what happens to them? Quentin takes a look at what's in it for North Korea, and the "major geopolitical shift" that's underway.

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Why museum thefts are becoming bolder across Europe

The heist at the Renoir museum saw thieves break in by cutting through a fence with an electric knife and hacksaw. Credit: Reuters/Museum Renoir

Less than a year after the Louvre heist, thieves broke into a French museum last week and stole four paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. But not everyone was surprised by the latest multimillion euro theft. Art crime investigators and security experts say burglaries from galleries across Europe are becoming more brazen.

In the 11 months since thieves stole jewellery worth €88m (£75m; $101.57m) from the Louvre, the French crown jewels have still not been recovered. Within hours of that audacious crime, thieves had raided coins from a smaller museum in France. Since then, criminals have stolen a diamond necklace in Vienna, Bronze Age artefacts in Spain, and art from two Italian museums - and those are only the cases we've covered.

Museums are public spaces that perpetrators can come in as visitors. Plus, they're vulnerable and easy to burgle compared with well-secured jewellery shops and banks, says art detective Arthur Brand. Museum directors historically "never have enough money for security" or prefer to spend it on the next exhibition, he says, adding that museums are often housed in old buildings that are difficult to protect.

While the events of last week show us that paintings are still being taken, they can be hard to sell, and so about 10 years ago, thieves began shifting to goods that are easier to get rid of, says Brand. For example, he says, precious metals can be melted down, and gems from jewellery sold separately. Europol, the European policing agency, also highlighted culturally significant artefacts including Chinese porcelain which can be easily sold on the art market.