Thieves have stolen more than 1,000 items from a museum’s collection in California, including jewellery, carvings and Native American artefacts.

The burglary took place at an off-site storage facility holding items for the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) on 15 October.

The museum’s director said on Thursday details about the incident were being made public because the items might show up at flea markets, pawn shops and antique stores.

“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said Lori Fogarty.

“They’re not just a loss to the museum. They’re a loss to the public, to our community and we’re hoping our community can help us bring them home.”

She also said she believed it was an opportunistic crime, rather than a targeted raid.

“We think the thieves found a way to enter the building, and they grabbed what they could easily find and snatch and get out of the building with,” she said.

A metal neckpiece by the late artist Florence Resnikoff, scrimshaw walrus tusks and Native American baskets were taken, with the thieves also making off with historic memorabilia like pins and sporting items.

Experts believe some items may have already been sold.

John Romero, a retired police captain, told the Los Angeles Times he expects detectives are looking at resale platforms such as Craigslist and Ebay, as well as networks specialising in historic or collectable goods.

“These people are interested in fast cash, not the full appraisal value,” he said. “They need to get rid of it quickly.”

Oakland Police Department is working with a specialist art crime unit of the FBI to track down the items.

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The OMCA’s mission is to document the art, history and natural environment of the Golden State.

Its collection carries works by famous Californian artists from the 18th century to present day.

The theft at the OMCA took place four days before the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre museum in France.

Thieves broke into the world-famous Paris museum while it was open to visitors on 19 October and made off with several Napoleonic crown jewels.

Authorities have made five arrests but the stolen items have not yet been recovered.

They were one of the main staples of noughties music in the UK and Ireland and to celebrate 25 years of touring, Westlife have returned to the spotlight again.

The boy band has released a new song called Chariot, with an album following suit in February and a tour that will take them around the world next year.

“The Westlife story is fairy tale stuff and we’re very lucky and proud to be part of it”, Shane Filan tells Sky News at the Royal Albert Hall, where they have just performed for two nights.

“It took our breath away. We came out to the Royal Albert Hall thinking it might be a little bit more intimate than a big arena and just the sheer noise, the sheer screams from the women and everyone just having good fun.

“The support and love, we never felt it like we did in the room. It was amazing.”

Formed by their manager Louis Walsh in the late 1990s, the group originally consisted of Filan, Mark Feehily, Brian McFadden, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan.

McFadden left the group in 2004 to pursue a solo career, but the other four have remained together.

Due to health issues, Feehily can’t join the celebrations, but representatives say he is still very much part of the band and features on their new music and upcoming album.

History-making chart successes

Westlife are joint third with Sir Cliff Richard and Ed Sheeran for the most UK number one singles in history, just behind Elvis and The Beatles.

In their first 18 months, they secured seven of those top spots thanks to songs like Flying Without Wings, I Have A Dream and If I Let You Go.

Reflecting on the years gone by, Byrne says the nostalgia hits harder than ever.

“You see the generations coming to the shows, people letting their hair down, people remembering the songs from their first kiss, the first dance, all those special things that music does,” he says.

“Not even just for the fans – we’re having the time of our lives.

“We’re singing these songs up there… I remember breaking the wardrobe door when we were promoting Swear It Again, and now we’re singing it in front of the Royal Albert Hall and look, I mean, just look at this place.”

Famous fans and furniture

For Byrne, finding out about fans of their music never gets old, and their song Flying Without Wings seems to be a key component of their stature in music.

“I did Soccer Aid with Tom Grennan recently, and he was talking all about how he grew up listening to Westlife – his dad is Irish. Big Zuu, who scored the winning goal, he was like, ‘Flying Without Wings, man, is the best song I’ve ever heard’.”

It’s the same song Sheeran first learned to play guitar on, and years later, he began writing songs for the group, including their latest single Chariot.

Oddly, it’s their choice in furniture that receives just as much attention as their music over the years, with four stools becoming synonymous with the group.

Stemming from their lack of dancing skills, according to Simon Cowell at least, they chose to change it up and simply rise from their chair on the key change of the song.

“We are stool connoisseurs. It’s become a very strange thing and it’s nearly as big as our music. It’s genuinely as big as You Raise Me Up,” Filan laughs.

Keeping their kids grounded

As the band continued to release music, each member settled down and had families of their own. Now their children are around the same age they were when they first started as a group.

Egan says they all made a conscious decision to raise the next generation away from the spotlight.

“We don’t want our kids growing up in this world and at the end of the day they are privileged, so it’s really important for us to keep them grounded and to try and give them as much of a natural kind of upbringing as they possibly can, and I think that’s why we choose to bring them up in the same places that we grew up,” he adds.

Byrne chimes in jokingly: “Slightly bigger houses, though!”

It was this tour that caused Byrne’s children to realise the extent of their father’s fame.

“I have twin boys who are 18 and a half, and the middle girl is 12. So last week, when the tour went on sale in Ireland, and we went from five nights in the 3Arena to 13, and from Belfast it went from three right up to seven, and the boys are looking at me, going, ‘You’re doing 13 nights in the 3Arena’.

“And it is even me looking at them going, ‘Yeah, right’. It hits you, it hits you there in a way, to be honest with you. I got a little bit cooler then.”

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Running from September 2026, Westlife 25 – The Anniversary World Tour, will kick off in Dublin for 13 shows before heading to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, London, Brighton, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and then Belfast for seven nights.

Gigs in Paris, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne and Zurich will follow.

Tickets for Westlife’s UK tour dates go on sale this Friday.

The two suspects arrested over the Louvre jewellery heist have “partially” confessed to their involvement in the robbery, according to a prosecutor.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed the development at a news conference on Wednesday.

Four thieves stole nine items – one of which was dropped and recovered at the scene – in a heist pulled off while the world-famous Paris museum was open to visitors on 19 October.

It took the thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels. They forced open a window and cut into cases with power tools after gaining access via a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift.

Ms Beccuau also said the jewels had not yet been recovered.

“These jewels are now, of course, unsellable,” said Ms Beccuau. “Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods. It’s still time to give them back.”

‘No evidence’

Ms Beccuau also addressed reports that police believe the robbery could have been an inside job.

She said that there was “no evidence the thieves benefited from inside help”.

Under French rules for organised theft, custody can run up to 96 hours. That limit is due to expire late on Wednesday, and prosecutors must charge the suspects, release them or seek a judge’s extension.

One suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has been living in France since 2010, Ms Beccuau said. He was arrested Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to fly to Algeria with no return ticket.

Ms Beccuau said that he was living in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, and was known to police mostly for road traffic offences.

The other suspect, 39, was arrested Saturday night at his home in Aubervilliers.

“There is no evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country,” said Ms Beccuau.

The man was known to police for several thefts, and his DNA was found on one of the glass cases where the jewels were displayed, and on items the thieves left behind, she added.

Earlier, French police acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defences.

Paris police chief Patrice Faure told politicians that ageing security systems had left weak spots.

“A technological step has not been taken,” he said.

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Mr Faure also revealed that the Louvre’s authorisation to operate its security cameras quietly expired in July and had not been renewed.

He said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s alarms, but from a cyclist outside who dialled the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.

Mr Faure also rejected calls for a permanent police post inside the museum, warning it would set an unworkable precedent and do little against fast and mobile thieves.

“I am firmly opposed,” he said. “The issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert.”