Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Berlin: A Canadian gold coin named "Big Maple Leaf" which bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II was stolen in the early hours of Monday morning from Berlin's Bode Museum.
The coin is made out of pure gold, weighs about 100 kilos and has a face value of around $US1 million ($A1.3 million).
Intel Committee begins Russia interference hearing
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says he won't prejudge the probe into the possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia, saying "We are seeking to determine if there's an actual fire where there's clearly a lot of smoke."
US President responds to a question about anti-Semitism and xenophobia by reminding everyone how he won the election before adding he would "stop long-simmering racism and every other thing that's going on".
Police in Washington D.C. have fired on a woman in car after she rammed a police vehicle near the U.S. Capitol and tried to mow down several officers on Wednesday.
'Big Maple Leaf' in the Bode Museum in Berlin. Photo: AP
The museum said on its website that the coin was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 and that it was featured in the Guinness Book of Records for its "unmatched" degree of purity.
The coin, with a diameter of 53 centimetres and 3 centimetres thick, was loaned to the Bode Museum in December 2010.
Advertisement
Police said it was probably stolen by a group of thieves who entered the museum undetected through a window, possibly with the help of a ladder.
"Based on the information we have so far we believe that the thief, maybe thieves, broke open a window in the back of the museum next to the railway tracks," police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel said. "They then managed to enter the building and went to the coin exhibition.
"The coin was secured with bullet-proof glass inside the building. That much I can say," Wenzel added.
"Neither I nor the Bode Museum can go into detail regarding personnel inside the building, the alarm system or security installations."
The Bode Museum has one of the world's largest coin collections with more than 540,000 items.
Reuters
Save articles for later.
Subscribe for unlimited access to news. Login to save articles.
Return to the homepage by clicking on the site logo.