Worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the necklace has possible links to the downfall of Marie Antoinette

A mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette , has sold for $4.8m at an auction in Geneva.

The 18th-century item of jewellery containing approximately 300 carats of diamonds had been estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale for $1.8-2.8m.

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Chancellor to tell City leaders of Canada-style plan to pool assets for benefit of long-term investment

Rachel Reeves will announce plans to merge local government retirement schemes into “megafunds” as she tries to revive long-running efforts to overhaul the UK’s public pension system.

The chancellor will tell an audience of City leaders and chief executives on Thursday that she will introduce a new pensions bill next year that will aim to pool assets from the 86 separate local government pension schemes (LGPS), which together represent one of the world’s largest defined-benefit schemes, with 6.5 million members and £360bn in assets.

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Dozens held under emergency measures imposed after violence that erupted around football match

Police have detained pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in central Amsterdam in defiance of a ban imposed after violence stemming from a football match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv .

Dozens of demonstrators, some with Palestinian flags, chanted “Amsterdam is saying no to genocide” and “Free Palestine”.

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Progressive senators urge party to ‘learn the right lessons’ from election defeat and take fight to US billionaire class

Elizabeth Warren delivered a rallying cry to Democrats in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory, calling on the party to show it stands ready to “unrig this economy” as the president-elect works with billionaires to overhaul it.

Calling on allies to “learn the right lessons” from Kamala Harris’s defeat last week, the Democratic senator set the stage for a “big battle” over economic policy as Trump returns to the White House.

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Collection of 1,700 pieces dating from third to 20th century is highest-value gift of objects in UK museum history

The British Museum has been given a private collection of Chinese ceramics worth about £1bn, the highest-value object donation in UK museum history.

The 1,700 pieces dating from the third to the 20th century have been given permanently by the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation. They had been on loan to the London museum since 2009.

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Alleged criminal ring is the biggest cryptocurrency investment scam in country’s history, according to police

South Korean police have arrested 215 people on suspicion of stealing 320 billion won ($228.4m) in the biggest cryptocurrency investment scam in the country.

Gyeonggi Nambu provincial police said on Wednesday that the arrests included the alleged mastermind of the organised crime group accused of selling 28 types of virtual tokens to about 15,000 people by promising high returns. Referred to as Mr A, he had fled to Australia but was arrested and extradited. Police have confiscated 22 Bitcoin from his accounts and have applied to seize some $34m more. Just 12 people of the 215 remain in custody, according to Yonhap.

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Regulator issues online safety ruling after finding weak processes leave networks ‘exposed to terrorist content’

Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Meta’s Instagram have been ordered by Irish media regulators to take “necessary measures” to prevent terrorist content being platformed in order to comply with sweeping new online safety legislation.

The Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, said it issued the ruling after its investigations determined that the social media networks were “exposed to terrorist content” due to weak processes.

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Lacey Chabert falls for a snowman with abs in streamer’s latest cheap, cheerful foray into Hallmark territory

Though I am personally of the belief that all Christmas movies should wait until after Thanksgiving – it just stopped being 80F (26C) in New York City last week , yikes – I cannot fault a movie for being exactly what it sets out to be. The trailer for Hot Frosty, Netflix ’s newest foray into Hallmark’s holiday territory, promised to answer the question no one was asking: what if Frosty the Snowman had abs?

Curious minds do, in fact, want to know. Thankfully, the actual finished product, 90 minutes of extremely unserious, occasionally sweet fluff written by Russell Hainline, delivers logistical and spiritual answers to the quandary of Half-Naked Alive Snowman with complete dedication to the genre. Said snowman, Jack (Dustin Milligan), awakens with barely a strategically placed scarf to cover him. The town of Hope Springs is even more of a New England (by way of Canada) mirage than Gilmore Girls ’s Stars Hollow. The snow is obviously styrofoam. All the old women are horny. Also, Chrishell Stause lives there. Merry Christmas!

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A World Cup winner in 2023, the loosehead is part of South Africa’s feared ‘Bomb Squad’ and a hero in his home country

Ox Nché is far from the finished article. By his own admission, the Springboks prop has just about mastered the basics. He’s not bad at the flourishing touches but there is a long way to go in his development.In short, he is a work in progress. “I’m learning, actually. I can do just one layer so far,” he admits. “And obviously the icing.”

Nché is, of course, talking about making cakes. The 17-stone loosehead is obsessed with them. His favourite is chocolate caramel, his mantra is that “salads don’t win scrums” and asked the secret to his set-piece prowess he bursts into a bout of his gentle, infectious laughter before shooting back “cake!”.

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