Thieves used a stolen card to buy a winning French lottery ticket worth 500,000 euros ($523,000). But they vanished before cashing in—and now they’re among France’s most famous fugitives.

The man whose card was stolen, identified in police documents as Jean-David E., is offering to split the cash with the lucky winners. He wants his wallet back, too.

The thieves, meanwhile, face the risk of arrest.

The state lottery operator La Française des Jeux, or FDJ, said that no one had submitted the ticket to cash out.

A totally incredible story, very funny, Jean-David’s lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, told The Associated Press.

Jean-David discovered in early February that his backpack had been stolen from his car in the southern city of Toulouse, including bank cards and other documents, the lawyer said. Jean-David asked his bank to block the card and learned it had already been used in a local shop.

At the shop, a vendor told him two apparently homeless men had used one of his cards to buy the winning scratch-off lottery ticket.

Jean-David filed a police complaint about the theft, but is ready to withdraw it if the thieves come forward so that they can share the money, Debuisson said.

Prosecutors may try to seize the winnings, considering them illegally obtained gains, the lawyer said.

The lawyer launched a national appeal asking the perpetrators to contact his office to make a deal.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Top-ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen turned his controversial denim into some greens—for charity.

The Norwegian chess grandmaster announced in February that he is auctioning off the Italian luxury brand jeans that started a dress code dispute at December's World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships. Carlsen ultimately quit the New York competition after accepting a $200 fine while refusing to change his pants.

While the tournament’s governing body agreed to loosen the dress code, Carlsen parted with his infamous britches.

Chess fanatics and #JeansGate followers had the chance to own Carlsen's pair of size 32 regular-fit Corneliani jeans. The auction was scheduled to end March 1. Listed as pre-owned but in “good” condition on eBay, the pants’ highest offer was $8,200 as of the morning of February 21.

Proceeds went to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA), a national youth-mentoring charity that carries out its mission through local chapters across 5,000 communities nationwide. According to BBBSA President and CEO Artis Stevens, they will be used to “bring mentorship to even more youth through chess clinics, community events, and more, equipping them with the skills and confidence to navigate life’s challenges.”

Stevens said chess has long been a favorite activity for program participants that creates opportunities for critical thinking and lifelong connections.

“Magnus Carlsen has captivated the world with his brilliance in chess, and now, this iconic piece of chess history will help inspire and empower the next generation through mentorship, Stevens said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

As a citizen of both France and America, Margaux Lantelme has noticed a difference in how store cashiers work in the two countries: in France, they do their jobs sitting down. In the U.S., where Lantelme works a register at REI, cashiers typically spend eight hours a day on their feet.

For Lantelme, a former kayaking instructor, prolonged standing can trigger flare-ups of chronic pain that limit her mobility. She requested a chair to use during her shift and got one. But after a change in management, she had to fill out paperwork to keep the chair, which required multiple doctor visits and insurance co-payments over a period of months. She's still waiting for final approval.

Not having access to a chair without approval from a doctor, which costs money and time and energy, is really ridiculous, Lantelme said. I personally think that people should be able to have access to seating at work anytime they need it.

Standing for long periods can lead to low back pain, fatigue, muscle pain and leg swelling, and it can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and pregnancy complications, according to a review conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Researchers there concluded that movement, whether walking or shifting from a standing to a seated or leaning position, appeared to be the best way of reducing those health hazards.

Being on one's feet for an extended time can also lead to chronic venous insufficiency, a disease in which damaged veins impact blood circulation, according to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), which represents operating room nurses.

The association recommends trying fatigue-reducing techniques such as alternate propping one foot on a footstool, the use of anti-fatigue mats, using a sit-stand stool and wearing supportive footwear, said Lisa Spruce, senior director of evidence-based perioperative practices at AORN.

In 1964, the International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency, adopted workplace standards requiring employers to furnish sufficient and suitable seats, as well as reasonable opportunities for workers to use them. More than 50 countries ratified the agreement, but the U.S. was not one of them.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A jury sat solemnly in a gilded hall in central London, presided over by a bewigged representative of the crown in flowing black robes, but there were no criminals in the dock.

Britain’s coinage was on trial.

In a ceremony that dates back to the 12th century, the jury filed into the Livery Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths to begin the process of weighing and measuring hundreds of coins to ensure they meet stringent standards set by regulators.

The tradition—known as the Trial of the Pyx—amounts to a very old type of consumer protection designed to safeguard the nation’s coinage from counterfeiting or other forms of debasement.

It's a way of making sure that if you're in the UK, the coins that are in your pocket are real and reliable, that you know what they're made of, that they are up to the right standards, said Eleni Bide, the librarian for the Goldsmiths' Company.

Making really standardized perfect coins is really important part of preventing forgery.

Like the many old ceremonies that the UK continues to observe, the annual assessment of coinage is replete with traditions that link modern Britain to its historic roots.

That starts with its name, which comes from the ancient Greek word pyxis, or small box, which was later used in Latin, too.

Coins are collected throughout the year and deposited in so-called Pyx boxes, from which jurors randomly select the coins to be tested.

The coins selected will be weighed, measured, examined for their design and tested for metallic composition over the next three months before the jury reconvenes to give its verdict on whether they meet regulatory standards.

In addition to a mix of tradition and heritage and a bit of pageantry, Bide said the 770-year-old tradition still has a serious purpose behind it.

I think the important thing to remember that actually, the person who is on trial here is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK, said Bide.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

West Virginia's reliance on federal funds to help address deeply ingrained issues makes it particularly vulnerable to President Donald Trump's freeze on spending on federal loans and grants.

Federally funded programs provide social safety nets and employment in one of the nation’s poorest, most rural states, where nonprofits play a vital role in providing basic services like healthcare, education and economic development.

Coalfield Development helped leverage almost $700 million for projects tied to Biden administration spending packages—funding 1,000 jobs in West Virginia alone.

Part of the nonprofit's role is to recruit and train the local workforce for the projects—something personal for CEO Jacob Hannah, who comes from three generations of coal miners and saw his father laid off from the mines.

Hannah toured a former coal train refurbishment factory slated to become a manufacturing hub and business incubation space where workers should have been busy with rewiring, brick and roof repair.

So we took it on as a nonprofit to revitalize it for the community around us, said Hannah. We'll use workforce development to do that. We train folks to have careers in construction so we want the space to have a new vibrancy inside it.

Hannah's projects are now on pause indefinitely. Hannah said his organization received communications that their awards are “under review” with limited details.

Alecia Allen runs a therapy practice and grocery store in a low-income neighborhood in West Virginia's capital called Keep Your Faith Corporation.

She wasn't getting answers from federal agencies about the grants that help her work with farmers to provide local, healthy food to her community at a lower cost. Then a vendor she buys from to stock store shelves told her that her weekly bill was going up from $500 to $850 because of tariffs.

Our scope of work is not political, said Allen. We just want to move the health of the state forward and we don't want that to be impacted by what's happening at the political level.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

NASA's two stuck astronauts are returning to Earth a little sooner than planned.

The space agency announced that SpaceX had switched capsules for the astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or April. That decision shaved at least a couple of weeks off their prolonged stay at the International Space Station, which hit the eight-month mark a few weeks ago.

Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges, NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.

The test pilots should have returned in June 2024 on Boeing's Starliner capsule after what should have been a weeklong flight demo. But the capsule had so much trouble getting to the space station that NASA decided to bring it back empty and reassigned the pair to SpaceX.

Then SpaceX delayed the launch of their replacements on a brand-new capsule that needed more prepping, which added more time to Wilmore and Williams' mission.

With even more work still anticipated for the new capsule, NASA opted for its next crew to fly up on an older capsule, with liftoff on March 12. This older capsule had already been assigned to a private crew awaiting launch this spring.

The private flight arranged by the Houston company Axiom Space, featuring astronauts from Poland, Hungary and India, was bumped and launched later to the space station, possibly still this spring.

NASA preferred having a new crew arrive before sending the old one back, in this case, Wilmore, Williams and two others up there since September. The new crew going up includes two NASA astronauts, as well as one from Japan and one from Russia.

NASA's latest change in plans had come a few weeks after the space agency said it was working expeditiously to bring back Wilmore and Williams as soon as possible. Just a day earlier, President Donald Trump and SpaceX's Elon Musk had vowed to accelerate the astronauts' return.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A bakery owner in New Hampshire testified that his excitement about displaying a painting by high school students of giant pastries quickly turned to annoyance after a zoning code officer told him it was a sign and had to be changed or removed.

Sean Young said the work atop his bakery is art and was never intended to be a sign.

“I was artistically offended for the students,” said Young, who's suing the town of Conway because he says it violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.

The bright painting atop Leavitt's Country Bakery shows sunbeams shining down on a mountain range made of sprinkle-covered chocolate and strawberry doughnuts, a blueberry muffin, a cinnamon roll and other pastries.

A federal judge is considering whether the town is infringing on Young's rights. U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante did not reach a verdict following the daylong trial. For now, the painting has been allowed to remain since it was first displayed in June 2022.

The zoning board determined the painting is not so much art as advertising.

If it didn’t show what’s sold inside—baked goods—it wouldn’t be considered a sign and could stay, board members said. But because of its size, they say it can’t remain as-is. At about 90 square feet (8.6 square meters), it’s four times bigger than the local sign code allows.

Jeremy Gibbs, the zoning officer who issued the citation, testified that he was following the town's definition of a sign.

A sign in Conway is “any device, fixture, placard, structure or attachment thereto that uses color, form, graphic, illumination, symbol, or writing to advertise, announce the purpose of, or identify the purpose of any person or entity, or to communicate information of any kind to the public, whether commercial or noncommercial,” according to the sign code.

Gibbs testified that if there were no regulations, then signs could be placed anywhere and there could be safety concerns about lighting or distracted drivers. He also noted that Conway, near the White Mountains, draws tourists to its natural resources.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Analyzing the brains of London's taxi drivers could be key to improving AI navigation systems and Alzheimer’s research, scientists say. University College London (UCL) researchers have found that London taxi drivers develop a larger posterior hippocampus (the part of the brain responsible for memory and navigation) due to years of training.

Each driver must pass a rigorous exam known as ‘The Knowledge’, memorizing over 26,000 streets to navigate the city efficiently.

Unlike app-based navigation systems, taxi drivers don’t rely on satnavs. Instead, they use years of training and experience to plan the best possible routes in real-time.

Now, researchers believe their unique approach to route planning could inform the development of artificial intelligence, and further research into Alzheimer’s disease.

For Marc Manning, driving a taxi in London is more than just a job; it’s a skill that has taken him years to master. “I love my job. 25 years and I still love it. Very proud of it. Very proud of the fact that, you know, I’m one of a very small number that can actually do The Knowledge.”

He says London’s taxi drivers rely on a deep understanding of the city’s streets, something which no satnav can fully replicate.

Now, scientists are studying how this expertise in route planning could help improve AI.

Hugo Spiers, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL says, “In this study, we asked London taxi drivers to plan routes through the city, saying each street out loud as they worked it out. Sometimes they were very quick, sometimes much slower. We used models to understand why—and found that the layout of London’s streets plays a major role. It shows just how efficient these taxi drivers are, and it gives us new insights into human navigation. That knowledge could help us develop better AI systems in the future.”

Unlike satnavs, which calculate multiple routes before choosing one, taxi drivers prioritize the most complex parts of the journey first, and then work around them.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The Louisiana Department of Health “will no longer promote mass vaccination” according to a memo written by the state's top health official and obtained by The Associated Press.

A department spokesperson confirmed Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham had ordered his staff to stop engaging in media campaigns and community health fairs to encourage vaccinations, even as the state has experienced a surge in influenza.

In a separate letter posted on the department's website, Louisiana's surgeon general decried “blanket government mandates” for vaccines and criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 vaccination push. Individuals should make their own decisions about vaccinations, Abraham said.

“Government should admit the limitations of its role in people’s lives and pull back its tentacles from the practice of medicine,” said Abraham, a Republican.

The department will still “stock and provide vaccines, according to Abraham's memo.

Jennifer Herricks, founder of the advocacy group Louisiana Families for Vaccines, said she feared that the new directive would lead to an increase in preventable illnesses and deaths.

“We are very concerned for people in Louisiana who have historically depended on vaccination drives to get easily accessible vaccines that are no longer going to be available,” Herricks said.

In liberal New Orleans, the city council passed a resolution vowing to continue supporting vaccination efforts.

The city’s Health Department Director Jennifer Avegno said state-supported efforts have led thousands of people to receive vaccines in the past. However, she anticipates vaccination rates for preventable diseases will drop due to the state's new policy and misinformation promoted by the surgeon general's letter. She pointed out that vaccines are most effective when they are widespread.

“Public health is really united on this issue: For more than a century, vaccines of all kinds have been a cornerstone of improving public health in America,” Avegno told the city council. “There’s not scientific debate on this, this is as close as you can get to established fact that vaccinations, particularly mass vaccinations, and community immunity, saves millions and millions of lives.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Loneliness is a widespread issue across Australia, with studies showing it can have a harmful effect on both mental and physical health.

In the outer suburbs of Melbourne, residents are taking action to ensure their communities stay connected.

Gaye Martin has come to a cafe on the northern periphery of Melbourne to meet a group of women. At first sight, this looks like a routine gathering over a hot drink. But this women’s group has a specific aim: fighting social isolation.

And it was created by one very dedicated volunteer. “It's just amazing. I don't even want to get paid for doing it. It's just so nice,” says Craigieburn resident Gaye Martin.

Martin had a career in aged care, and she saw firsthand how people in her area were feeling lonely.

“When you go there, they're just so excited. Some start crying because they haven't seen anyone for a week,” says Martin.

Through social media and word of mouth, Martin advertised her weekly coffee club to help women like her stay socially connected. There isn’t much reliable data on loneliness issues in specific locations, but Martin isn’t the only one who noticed social isolation in the outer suburbs.

Craigieburn Deputy Mayor Naim Kurt says he also comes across the issue while talking to his constituents.

“I door knocked something like 6,000 homes (during recent elections), and it was really surprising how many people were coming to us, inviting us into our homes for a coffee, telling us stories about how they lost the partner, how their children weren't seeing them,” says Craigieburn Deputy Mayor Naim Kurt.

Craigieburn is one of the many towns that make up the Hume local council, one of the country’s fastest-growing and most diverse areas.

According to a 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics report, almost half of its population was born overseas.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.