A 31-year-long treasure hunt that drew in thousands of enthusiasts across France appeared to have come to an end Thursday, after official social media accounts linked to the search said the token needed to claim the grand prize had been found.

The hunt, “On the Trail of the Golden Owl,” was based on a book of riddles published in 1993. Participants had to solve 11 puzzles in the book — and a 12th one that was hidden — to decipher the exact location of the token.

“Don’t go digging!” warned a message on a channel on the chat app Discord with tens of thousands of followers. “We confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night,” the message read, unleashing a wave of sad and crying emojis. “It is therefore useless to go digging.”

The solutions provided by those who claimed to have unearthed the token were currently being vetted, the message said.

The book, published in 1993 by author Régis Hauser and artist Michel Becker, built a cult-like following with a community of more than 200,000 players, known as “owlers,” from France and abroad, according to the hunt’s official website.

The search spawned a collection of other books, pamphlets and internet sites, the BBC reported.

Treasure hunter finally finds Golden Owl after decades https://t.co/UQDzMLc6KM

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 3, 2024

In a documentary posted on YouTube, Becker said he oversaw and financed the creation of the prize, an owl made of more than 6.5 pounds of gold and nearly 16 pounds of silver, with diamond chips on its face.

A documentary on the treasure hunt by French broadcaster Canal+ said earlier this year that the value of the owl is estimated to be $165,000, the BBC reported.

Events where “owlers” could meet and share tips were organized across France.

Hauser, the intellectual architect of the riddles, had initially used the pen name Max Valentin to prevent the most assiduous treasure hunters from seeking him out. He died in 2009, French newspaper Le Monde reported.

He and Becker decided to bury a replica of the owl, keeping the precious original in a safe place. 

In order to claim the treasure, the winning player would need to submit the replica along with the answers to all of the book’s enigmas.

Becker did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

On Discord, members of the hunt channel were quick to react to the news that the replica owl may have been found, with thousands of messages pouring in.

“Time to get the tissues out,” one wrote. “It’s the end of an era,” said another.

French media outlets also marked the end of the three decade-long chase, one of the world’s longest unsolved scavenger hunts. “I’m disappointed because I thought I was close but at the same time relieved that it’s stopping,” one participant from the south of France said on France Inter radio.

The 30-year-old man said he had spent all his weekends searching for the owl over the past two years, and had at times found himself digging in the middle of the night.

On the official website, Becker reminds “owlers” not to dig holes on either public or private property without authorization.

According to a 2021 documentary, the concept was inspired by The Masquerade, a 1979 book of riddles by Kit Williams, where hunters also had to solve several enigmas to find a golden rabbit.

Nestlé Waters has agreed to pay a $2.2 million fine to resolve criminal allegations in France related to its production of natural mineral water.

The settlement, approved on Tuesday by a judge in Epinal, eastern France, brings an end to two separate investigations focused on illegal drilling practices and consumer deception regarding the company’s water products.

As part of the judicial public interest agreement, Nestlé Waters Supply Est (NWSE), a unit of Nestlé SA, will also fund a $1.22 million ecological restoration plan to repair environmental damage caused by its operations.

Additionally, the company will pay approximately $552,000 in compensation to several environmental associations, including Foodwatch, which had filed complaints against the company.

The settlement does not include an admission of guilt by Nestlé Waters.

In its statement, the company emphasized that its mineral water production did not harm public health and that previous treatment processes had not altered the natural mineral composition of the water.

Nestlé further noted that since 2023, all its activities are in compliance with regulatory frameworks and meet the latest government directives.

However, the settlement has drawn criticism from environmental groups. Foodwatch, one of the key plaintiffs, condemned the agreement. Ingrid Kragl, fraud expert at Foodwatch, called the decision “scandalous,” arguing that it sends a message of impunity.

“Nestlé Waters can deceive consumers for years around the world and get away with it by simply pulling out the checkbook,” Kragl stated.

The case stems from concerns raised about Nestlé’s water extraction practices and claims about the purity of its bottled water.

Despite the settlement, the company maintains that its operations are now fully compliant and that no risks were posed to consumers’ health.

This agreement concludes years of legal scrutiny and allows Nestlé to move forward, although public debate over the environmental impact of large-scale bottled water production continues.

CNN
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French government minister Marlene Schiappa has come under fire from members of her own party after appearing on the front cover of Playboy magazine.

Schiappa, who has been a government minister since 2017, appeared on the cover of the magazine to accompany a 12-page interview she did on women’s and LGBT rights. Schiappa, who is the current Minister for the Social Economy and French Associations, was photographed for the cover wearing a white dress.

Schiappa has been a long-time advocate for women’s rights and was appointed as the country’s first ever Gender Equality Minister in 2017. In this role, she successfully spearheaded a new sexual harassment law which allows for on the spot fines to be issued to men who catcall, harass or follow women on the street.

Her appearance has drawn criticism from political colleagues including French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

Borne pulled up Schiappa over the cover, telling her it “wasn’t appropriate, especially during this period,” CNN affiliate BFMTV reported Saturday, citing a source close to the prime minister.

France is currently in the throes of a political and social crisis triggered by French President Emmanuel Macron’s move to push ahead with controversial pension reforms despite widespread public opposition.

“We are in the middle of a social crisis, there is the issue of policing, there are people between life and death, and I have the impression of being behind a smoke screen,” Sandrine Rousseau, Green Party politician and fellow women’s rights activist, told BFMTV Friday.

French politician, Jean Luc Mélenchon who came third in the 2022 presidential elections criticized both Schiappa’s appearance and the decision by French President Emmanuel Macron to give an interview to children’s magazine, Pif Gadget, this week.

“In a country where the President expresses himself in Pif and his minister in Playboy, the problem would be the opposition. France is going off the rails,” Mélenchon tweeted Saturday.

Schiappa responded to her critics in a tweet on Saturday, saying: “Defending the right of women to have control of their bodies, that’s everywhere and all the time. In France, women are free. With all due respect to the detractors and hypocrites.”

French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin came to Schiappa’s defense during an interview with French news channel CNews on Sunday calling her a “woman of character.”

“I wanted to say that Marlene Schiappa is a courageous female politician who has her character and who has her style which is not mine, but I respect,” he remarked.

CNN
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Paris Saint-Germain’s miserable season went from bad to worse on Sunday as the team suffered a second straight home defeat with a 1-0 loss to Lyon.

Even before the game kicked off, Lionel Messi bore the brunt of the frustrations of some PSG fans who whistled when his name appeared on the big screen during the announcement of the starting lineup.

After Alexadre Lacazette missed a first-half penalty, Bradley Barcola’s goal 10 minutes into the second period was enough to earn Lyon the three points on a night that PSG rarely looked like threatening the visiting goal.

Lens’ 1-0 victory over Rennes and Marseille’s 1-1 draw with Montepellier means both teams are now just six points behind PSG at the top of Ligue 1, and even the domestic title may slip from the team’s grasp.

The reaction of some fans on Sunday must have felt a world away from the adulation and worship Messi received during his recent return to Argentina for friendlies against Panama and Curaçao as the country continued its World Cup celebrations.

Messi’s arrival at the Parc des Princes was supposed to be the missing piece that would help PSG finally win the Champions League, the trophy the club’s Qatari owners crave the most.

So far, the only major trophy the team has won since Messi joined was Ligue 1 last season, a title – it’s fair to say – PSG would likely have won without him.

Messi has 34 goal contributions in all competitions for PSG this season – 18 goals and 17 assists – second only to Mbappé’s 38 and head coach Christophe Galtier refused to lay the blame for the team’s failures at the Argentine’s feet.

“I found it [the jeering] hard to listen to,” Galtier told reporters, per the Athletic. “There may be expectations for Messi and Mbappe to unlock difficult situations. Messi tries very hard, they didn’t all work out; but around him, the other players also need to do their jobs.”

“We can’t expect everything from Leo and Kylian,” he added.

Up next for PSG is a season-defining week as Galtier’s side travels to a Nice team that is unbeaten in 13 matches, before hosting Lens at the Parc des Princes.

PSG has lost two of its three matches since being dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich last month, and only limped past relegation-threatened Brest with a 90th minute Kylian Mbappé winner.

After his team’s victory, Lyon head coach Laurent Blanc said the Champions League or bust mentality has been detrimental to PSG’s performances.

“Paris’ problem is when the No. 1 objective of the Champions League is no longer accessible, it seems that the season no longer exists – and at all levels,” he told reporters.

CNN
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Lionel Messi celebrated his return to Paris Saint-Germain with a goal in his first game back since lifting the World Cup.

The 35-year-old only returned to training in the new year after taking some time off to celebrate and recuperate after Qatar 2022, where he finally won the trophy that had always eluded him in one of the greatest finals ever.

But the forward didn’t look to be suffering any hangover as he returned to action with a goal from close range in PSG’s 2-0 win against Angers on Wednesday.

Messi also paid tribute to Pelé before the match, joining his teammates in wearing a t-shirt with the Brazilian’s face on it during the warmup.

PSG sits comfortably top of the league despite Christophe Galtier having to switch up his team as he eases players back in after the World Cup.

Kylian Mbappé, a beaten finalist in Qatar, was rested for Wednesday’s match, allowing the likes of youngster Hugo Ekitiké to get some game time.

The 20-year-old forward has impressed when given the chance this season and opened the scoring with a sweeping finish in the first half.

Messi, who dovetailed the attack alongside Neymar Jr., then doubled the lead in the 72nd minute after a well timed run and right foot finish.

The linesman had initially flagged for offside, but the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) overruled the call and the goal was given.

The win on Messi’s return is some welcome good news for PSG, who lost in the league for the first time this season last week, 3-1 away to Lens.

“Yes, it was very important to get back to winning ways. We have rivals who are pushing hard,” Galtier told PSGTV after the game.

“We knew that we were going to have a difficult match because Angers is a team that plays good football and poses big problems on a tactical level.

“I also insist on the fact that the situation – post-World Cup – means that we have had a lot of players absent, that the group was very scattered and that, little by little, everyone is coming back and reconnecting.”

PSG, which is six points clear atop the table, plays Rennes in its next game on Sunday.

CNN
 — 

Lyon stunned Manchester City on Saturday to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions League, winning 3-1.

The French side made the perfect start, stifling Manchester City’s attacking play and eventually taking the lead after 24 minutes thanks to Maxwel Cornet’s inventive finish from just outside the box.

In the second half, the English side cranked up the pressure, and the pressure eventually told, as Kevin de Bruyne coolly slotted home to level the score before substitute Moussa Dembélé scored two goals to see Lyon through.

Lyon will face Bayern Munich in the semifinal on Wednesday, after the German side advanced to the semifinals on Friday, dispatching Barcelona 8-2.

For the first time since 1990/91, and for the first time in the Champions League era, the semifinal stage will not feature any team from England, Spain or Italy. For the first time in Champions League history, it will feature two teams representing France.

Belgian midfielder de Bruyne said that following another heartbreaking exit from the competition, it is “not good enough.”

“It’s definitely the same stuff. I think the first half wasn’t good enough,” he told BT Sport after the game. “I think we know that.

“We started slow, we had not many options. I think second half, we played really well. We came back 1-1, had a couple of chances and then obviously the 2-1, and then the 3-1 ends the game. It’s a shame for us to go in that way.

“The game was open but they didn’t really create except the two goal chances. Yeah, we need to learn. It’s not good enough.”

READ: ‘The club needs changes’ Changes on the horizon for Barcelona following Champions League humiliation

With its star players and a big name manager, Manchester City were overwhelmingly favored to beat Lyon.

But the French side had showed its resilience in its second leg against Juventus in the previous round, managing to edge past Cristiano Ronaldo and company despite having almost five months without football.

And its sturdiness was put to the test from kickoff. Manchester City dominated possession from the first whistle, but failed to create any golden opportunities.

And eventually Lyon’s ability to counterattack produced the game’s first goal. A ball played behind the City defence for Karl Toko Ekambi to run on to eventually fell to Maxwel Cornet and, with City keeper Ederson out of his goal, Cornet threaded a magnificent curling shot into the near post from about 20 yards.

The rest of the first half played out just as Lyon and manager Rudi Garcia would have planned. Manchester City dominated possession without creating too many clear-cut chances while Pep Guardiola’s team looked susceptible on the break.

After the half-time break, the game opened up and following an attacking substitution by Guardiola, City began to create chances at will.

And eventually the pressure told, as some nice footwork by England international Raheem Sterling freed him up to lay it back for de Bruyne to finish.

It looked like there would only be one winner. However, Lyon’s own super-sub Dembélé thought differently, latching on to a through ball near half-way and finishing under Ederson. A nervy video assistant referee check followed but after a few minutes of waiting, the goal was given.

Although City was behind, it created the better chances and the best of which fell to Sterling. Some clever dribbling and a cross from Gabriel Jesus left Sterling with an open goal from just five yards out, but he sent ball skyward and over the goal.

And the miss proved costly. Just 59 seconds later, Lyon had scored again, Dembélé pouncing on a poor save from Ederson to send the French club into the final four for the first time in nearly 10 years.

The result means that during Guardiola’s time at the club, Manchester City has failed to make it past the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League.

Despite thinking that his side played well for the majority of the game, Guardiola lamented Manchester City’s inability to play without errors in the Champions League.

“One day we will break this gap of the quarterfinals,” he told BT Sport after the game. “Except the first 25 minutes where we struggled to find out spaces to attack them more fluidly, the players, they play free.”

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“And the last 15 minutes of the first half was good. The second half was OK, we were there. I had the feeling we were better, but you have to be perfect in this competition in one game and we weren’t.”

The 2019-20 Champions League semifinals will see two French teams and two German teams compete for a place in the final; the first time since 2012-13 that there are just two different nations represented at this stage.

CNN
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When dreams clash with reality; when life reaches a daunting crossroads; when we must decide whether to be or make history.

Right now Neymar is at the crossroads.

A 21st century football brand fueled by endless promise; a nouveau-riche social, commercial and cultural phenomena; a superstar who’s no stranger to the scrutiny of the public eye.

Yet when it comes to the bright lights of European football’s biggest stage – the Champions League – he’s trapped in a perpetual cycle of repetition.

A one-time winner, yes – but for some ably assisted by his supremely skilled South American counterparts – Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez – in the once famed ‘MSN’ triumvirate at Barcelona.

On two occasions misfortune has conspired to subvert the Brazilian prodigy’s chances of grabbing the competition by the scruff of the neck in the red and blue colors of Paris Saint-Germain.

So here we are in 2020. Is it third time lucky? Is this Neymar’s moment of truth?

Three games now stand between the ‘Red Pill’ of European enlightenment or the ‘Blue Pill’ of another footnote in the 28-year-old’s lengthening Wikipedia page.

“This is the year that he can really redeem himself […] These three games can change everything […] I don’t believe he’s going to have another opportunity like this one,” Brazilian football journalist Fernando Kallás tells CNN Sport.

Since planting their flag in the cobbled Parisians streets in June 2011, PSG’s Qatari investors have made no secret of their ultimate goal – continental supremacy.

Domestically it’s been an era defined by unrelenting dominance. Seven top-flight league titles and five French cups, including four trebles in six seasons.

But if Europe is a combination lock, they’ve been interminably searching for the locksmith with the elusive key. Seven times they’ve tried and failed to crack the complex code – each failure more painful and bitter than the last.

“A specific timeline was set and once you get past that timeline each season it goes on it seems like PSG are getting further and further away so there’s a weight of history that’s bearing down,” explains French football expert Jonathan Johnson.

The world record signing of Neymar from Barcelona in August 2017 – for a still mind-bending $263 million – was intended to deliver that knight in shining armor.

No longer the back-up singer to Messi and Suarez but now the leading performer with a license to thrill and become the best in the world.

For some it was a game-changer; for Kallás it remains “the biggest mistake in the history of sports.”

READ: How billionaire owners changed European football

Reflecting this past week on the three-year anniversary of his move, the striker wrote that “(these) came with a lot of knowledge. I’ve lived times of joy and some complicated ones.”

His bond with supporters in the city of love has undulated its way through the full gamut of Facebook relationship statuses: From ‘Married’ to ‘Separated’ to ‘It’s complicated.’

All with the allure of a former lover in Catalonia lingering in the background.

A long drawn-out, but ultimately unsuccessful, serenade last summer to woo the Brazilian back to the Camp Nou brought simmering tensions in Paris to the boil.

The love-hate dynamic around the polarizing figure was perhaps best encapsulated in the superstar’s first league appearance of the 2019-20 season.

Relentlessly booed for 90 minutes before delivering a sublime match-winning bicycle kick at the very death – half the naysayers enraptured; the other half enraged.

Kallás paints a picture of jury similarly split down the middle along generational lines in Brazil – the young pretenders who adore “the image, the smile, the tattoos” contrasted with the old guard who are “really concerned about him.”

The Cold War in Paris has since thawed, along with the realization that going back to the future is – for now – not an imminent prospect.

“He has shown on the pitch and off it that he’s committed to the project […] He really has to embrace the challenge of being a PSG player and achieving something, notably in the Champions League, in Paris,” says Johnson.

Whilst a new leaf may have been turned on the pitch, questions remain off it.

Neymar’s personal life has – at times – borne the hallmarks of a gripping telenovela – filled with intrigue, and all supported by an ensembled entourage.

Last year he was cleared of wrongdoing after a Brazilian model accused the former Brazil captain of rape and assault.

This year he was forced to miss a league match through injury – two days after hosting a lavish birthday party in a Paris nightclub.

Those willing him on to succeed despair: Will the boy ever become a man?

“In Brazil we have an expression that says that he (Neymar) is an endless promise […] That he is “Menino Neymar” (“Baby Neymar”) – He’s not a boy […] He needs to be in reality […] He has to grow up,” says Kallás, who has followed the Brazilian’s trials and tribulations on and off the pitch.

“When he’s on the pitch he delivers […] I have never, never heard one complaint from a coach or another player about his attitude in training, in the locker-room.”

And for all the goals, assists and silverware to date, history and biology have dealt the twinkle-toed star a cruel hand – starving him of the opportunity to have his say at the business end of European football’s elite club competition.

Curtailed seasons in 2018 and 2019 due to injuries coincided with dramatic exists for PSG from the round of 16 stage at the hands of Real Madrid and Manchester United, respectively.

“That’s what makes the remainder of this campaign so important and why he’ll be under such close scrutiny,” says Johnson.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly – and perhaps favorably for PSG – changed the dynamic for the finale of this year’s tournament.

Gone are the two-legged knockout affairs from the quarterfinal stages onwards, replaced instead by single-leg shoot outs – all within the bubble of Lisbon.

Without the departed sharpshooter Edinson Cavani and the recently sidelined Kylian Mbappé, the floor is Neymar’s.

First the surprise package of Atalanta awaits in the quarterfinals; Then a potential clash with the battle hardened Atlético Madrid in the semifinals and, after that, who knows in a winner-takes-all final.

Whilst progress in the competition would – according to Johnson – “really give the (Qatari) project the shot in the arm that it’s needed after a few years of massive disappointment,” for Kallás, this month could be the beginning of a career defining two years for the individual at the heart of the narrative.

With the Brazilian’s contract set to expire in 2022 and a World Cup in Qatar that same year, which is likely to be his last in a Brazil jersey, it’s quite simply “make or break.”

“We always say ‘This is going to be the year. No – This is going to be the year. No – This is going to be the year’ […] He’s 28-years-old, he should be in the peak of his career but he’s not […] It’s his last chance.”

The telenovela has had its unforeseen plot twists, its moments of madness and its bursts of brilliance. Now it’s in the hands of its lead protagonist to script its showpiece ending.