Sir Keir Starmer has given up the Chagos Islands, handing the Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius.

The islands were British-owned from 1814 but have now been signed away by the Government in a deal that it claimed would safeguard global security by ending a long-running dispute.

The islands include Diego Garcia, which hosts a strategically important US-UK military base.

A joint statement by the Prime Minister and Pravind Jugnauth, his Mauritian counterpart, said: “Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.”

David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the agreement would still secure the “vital” military base for future use.

He said: “This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges.

“Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.

“It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.”

All four Conservative leadership candidates – Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat – were quick to condemn Sir Keir’s decision.

Grant Shapps, a former defence secretary, said: “This is absolutely appalling. Surrendering sovereignty here creates read-across to other British bases. It’s a weak and deeply regrettable act from this government.”

Under Sir Tony Blair, Britain discussed a US request for permission to use Diego Garcia to house a Guantanamo Bay-style prison camp for hundreds of 500 terror detainees.

While the idea was rejected for being impractical, documents suggested that the CIA may have still used the island to fly suspects to secret “black site” prisons around the world.

The agreement was welcomed by Joe Biden, the US president, who said it would lead to “peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes”.

Mr Biden said: “I applaud the historic agreement and conclusion of the negotiations between the Republic of Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the status of the Chagos Archipelago.

“It is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.

“This agreement affirms Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, while granting the United Kingdom the authority to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius with respect to Diego Garcia.

“Diego Garcia is the site of a joint US-UK military facility that plays a vital role in national, regional, and global security. It enables the United States to support operations that demonstrate our shared commitment to regional stability, provide rapid response to crises, and counter some of the most challenging security threats we face. The agreement secures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia into the next century.

“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Mauritius and the United Kingdom in upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

John Healey, the Defence Secretary, defended the deal on Thursday afternoon. He said: “This historic agreement highlights the UK’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. The UK-US base on Diego Garcia has a vital role in protecting our interests.

“By providing long-term sovereignty over Diego Garcia, this treaty secures continued operation of this major military base.”

The Foreign Office said the UK will be “authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius on Diego Garcia”.

‘Labour are making the world more dangerous’ 

Lord Kempsell, a Tory peer who tabled a number of written questions on the issue over the summer, said: “I repeatedly raised the issue of British Indian Ocean Territory in Parliament because I was suspicious the Labour Government was about to do exactly what it has announced today.

“Ministers declined to update Parliament properly before taking this decision to give up sovereignty.”

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader who has been sanctioned by China, described the agreement as “astonishing”.

He said: “At the heart of this lies the real threat from China and we have a government of Mauritius that is very pro-China.

“If China gets involved with Mauritius, I cannot see how you can continue to use that place as it is now or how the Americans can either.

“The whole thing is a shambolic mess and I’m as much blaming the previous Conservative government for this as Labour.”

Mauritius and China struck a free trade agreement in 2021, the first of its kind between China and an African country.

Exports from Mauritius to China rose by 73 per cent that year, while officials have said they expect it to form the basis of “enhanced collaboration” in the years to come.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, told The Telegraph: “Giving up the Chagos Islands is a strategic disaster.

“Our American allies will be furious and Beijing delighted. Labour are making the world a more dangerous place.”

Weight-loss jabs will be rolled out across the NHS for the first time in an effort to tackle obesity.

Health officials have announced plans to offer injections of Mounjaro – the most effective on the market – to 1.6 million people.

NHS England proposed that the jabs should first go to those likely to achieve the greatest clinical benefit.

This means that they will first be offered to the most obese people, with the most health conditions.

Over the next three years they would be offered to almost a quarter of a million people with a BMI of 40 or more, plus other health conditions.

The phased rollout would see 1.6 million people offered the jabs over 12 years, including those with a BMI of 35 or more, and weight-related health problems.

‘King Kong’

Mounjaro has been dubbed the “King Kong” of slimming jabs because of its powerful impact.

Officials said prescriptions may be issued via “virtual clinics” rather than face-to-face consultations, to make it quicker and more convenient to access services.

The new class of medicines have been hailed as “game-changing” – having been found to cut heart deaths by a fifth, with research suggesting that it could turn back the clock on a host of diseases.

However, there have been concerns that slim young girls have ended up in A&E suffering deadly complications, after obtaining medicine by providing false information to online clinics.

The proposals for the rollout would see the scheme reviewed after three years, before a wider expansion.

The proposals are now subject to a three-week consultation.

In recent weeks Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, have promised a raft of nanny state interventions to prevent ill-health and tackle obesity.

Ministers have been far more cautious about the part to be played by weight loss injections.

Just before the election, Mr Streeting called for tighter regulation of the sector, saying he was “terrified” that someone would die from misuse of the drugs.

Until now, the use of injections such as semaglutide and tirzepatide has been heavily restricted on the NHS, and only offered to patients via specialist clinics.

The new proposals would mean patients are offered them via digital apps and services based in the community.

In recent years, a raft of injections have been licensed that have phenomenal effects on weight loss, but the majority are purchased privately.

The best-known is semaglutide, which was first licensed as Ozempic for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, and later as Wegovy for weight loss.

A second drug, tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro, is used for both conditions and has been found to achieve even better weight loss results.

On average, patients lost more than a fifth of their bodyweight in eight months during a major trial.

Health officials said the scale of the rollout was “unprecedented”, with new ways of delivering obesity medicines, including digital services, needing to be established to allow a more rapid expansion.

Final guidance is due later this year.

Dr Sam Roberts, the chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), said: “This new generation of weight loss medications has the potential to achieve important health and wellbeing benefits for people living with obesity. They can also prevent serious health problems from developing, reducing the long-term risks to individuals.

“Our independent committee found this medicine to be both effective and good value for money. Its use will help people living with obesity to lose weight, and as a result substantially reduce the risk that they will develop serious health-related problems associated with obesity such as heart disease and stroke.

“Because of the very large number of people who could potentially benefit, Nice accepts that a phased roll out is required. However, we now need to hear from stakeholders on the proposals we have received from NHS England.”

Two in three adults in England are overweight or obese, with obesity now the second most common cause of preventable death after smoking.

Estimates show that obesity is costing the NHS £11.4 billion per year.

Health officials said the injections would be offered as part of a “wraparound package including diet and exercise support”, with help from psychologists, dieticians and physical activity instructors.

‘Powerful part of our arsenal’

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, said: “This drug will be a powerful part of our arsenal to tackle obesity and support many more people to lose weight and reduce their risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke, and this phased rollout will ensure those with the greatest clinical need can access it as a priority – with a quarter of a million people able to benefit over the first three years – while we develop new and innovative services through which other weight loss treatments can also be delivered.

“With the sheer number of people potentially eligible for these treatments and GP teams already delivering record numbers of appointments, the NHS is developing a range of community-based and digital services to provide the benefits of weight loss drugs while continuing to ensure GPs can deliver all other vital services patients rely on.”

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesman said the rollout of the drugs to those who need them the most would help to “tackle the obesity crisis head on”.

He added: “Where needed, these obesity drugs can greatly benefit those in real need. However, we have to be cautious and recognise these drugs are not a replacement for a good diet and exercise. “

Tirzepatide (also known as Mounjaro and made by Eli Lilly) has been shown in clinical trials to be more effective than diet and exercise support alone, and when compared with semaglutide alongside diet and exercise support. On average, patients lost 20.9 per cent of their bodyweight in 36 weeks during the Surmont-4 trial.

An independent Nice committee recommended the weekly injection, costing £122 per month at its maximum 15mg dose list price, for obese patients, in draft guidance issued in June.

Under the new proposals, the injections would only be offered to those with a BMI of 40 or more in the first three years.

The injections would be offered first to those with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 kg/m2 and at least three of the specified weight-related health problems: hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, or cardiovascular disease.

It would then be offered to those with a BMI of more than 40 plus two weight-related health problems and then to people with a BMI of more than 40 plus one weight-related health problem.

Over the next nine years, they would be increasingly offered to those with a BMI of at least 35, plus weight-related health problems.

Parts of Hamburg’s main train station were cordoned off on Wednesday afternoon over two train passengers suspected of carrying the highly lethal Marburg virus.

Emergency crews wearing full protective gear boarded a train that had come from Frankfurt, after a man, said to be a 26-year-old medical student, and his girlfriend reported flu-like symptoms.

The man had reportedly travelled to Germany from Rwanda on Wednesday morning and had direct contact with a patient infected with the hemorrhagic fever, which comes from the same family as Ebola and has a fatality rate of nearly 90 per cent.

Other passengers were evacuated from the train and the area was cordoned off for several hours.

One of the two suspected Marburg patients began vomiting on the train.

“He then called the fire department because he suspected something was wrong,” a spokesperson for the Hamburg Fire Department told Germany’s Die Welt newspaper.

The pair were taken for treatment at University Hospital Eppendorf, known for its expertise in treating tropical diseases. Their luggage was also confiscated as an infection protection measure, Bild reported.

Rwanda is currently battling what is believed to be the fourth largest outbreak of Marburg in history.

At least nine people have died and dozens more have been infected since the first cases were reported last Friday.

Marburg spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of infected people.

Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, muscle pains, diarrhoea, and vomiting. In severe cases, death occurs from extreme blood loss.

There are no specific treatments or licensed vaccines available for the Marburg virus, but a range of therapeutics are currently in development, according to the WHO.

The virus was first recognised after outbreaks in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1967.

The infections were traced back to a shared shipment of infected African green monkeys.

Thirty-one people became ill then, initially laboratory workers followed by several medical personnel and family members who had cared for them.

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When Joe Biden leaves the White House in January the war in Ukraine will be a month short of its third anniversary.

There is no telling what levels the crisis in the Middle East could have reached by then, with Israel defending itself on three fronts.

And then there is the potential threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a key US ally, looming large, with warnings Beijing could attempt to seize the island by 2027.

That is quite the in-tray for a president who shot to power on a promise to restore the United States as a foreign policy power to leave to his successor.

“America is back,” Mr Biden declared in his first major foreign policy speech a month after his inauguration in January 2021.

In the first two years of his presidency, the expert consensus was that he had presided over the most transformative phases in US foreign policy history.

Mr Biden had the monumental task of healing the scars of Donald Trump’s veiled threats to withdraw the US from Nato and the former president’s collapse of the Iran nuclear deal.

It was no mean feat that the man departing from the White House was able to stabilise what had become a dangerous position in the eyes of Washington’s closest allies.

“But he was not able to advance the ball much down the field,” Brett Bruen, a former diplomat in the Obama White House and now president of the Global Situation Room, said.

“And in a number of cases, he made some dumb moves that turned the ball over to adversaries.”

There was the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of war but handing power and vast amounts of military resources to the Taliban.

Less than six months later, Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, sparking the largest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Mr Biden entered office wanting a “stable and predictable” relationship with Moscow in order to focus on China, Washington’s main adversary.

He will leave with what Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s former secretary-general, has described as an authoritarian power axis of China, Iran and North Korea unified behind Moscow’s war effort.

The president has talked a good game, promising to help deliver Ukraine a victory, and has ultimately handed over more weaponry to Kyiv than any of its other Western allies.

Critics argue this support came with plenty of brash and bold statements, but never a genuine plan to end the war or the willingness to deliver the weapons necessary to finish the job.

And then there is the perceived mishandling of the crisis in the Middle East, with Mr Biden unable to convince Israel to come to the table to end its invasions of Gaza and Lebanon.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, publicly denounced Washington’s plan for a 21-day ceasefire with Hezbollah shortly before launching a ground assault into Lebanon targeting the terror group.

Mr Biden had issued similar warnings to Vladimir Putin, who ultimately ignored threats of Western reprisals and invaded Ukraine anyway.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, even prolonged his trip to America to hold talks with Donald Trump, in a sign that the current leader is just a bystander to events.

Had the US president and his army of aides overestimated their country’s once-great standing in the world when making their demands?

“It comes down to a group of advisers who make too many assumptions, who approach these global issues with an overabundance of arrogance and who still believe that a strong statement from Washington will send reverberations throughout the corridors of power, which is simply no longer the case,” Mr Bruen said.

Mr Trump, and his running mate, JD Vance, have used foreign policy as a key attack line, claiming these wars had only broken out after the Republican candidate had been voted out of office.

The challenge for them, or Kamala Harris, will be to build teams that can formulate a plan, one that is likely going to be less ambitious and contains a hint of pragmatism, to end the war in Ukraine and stabilise the Middle East.

Not until then will any US president be able to focus on facing down the ever-growing threat posed by China.

There’s nothing like a bright new image in the face of impending doom. It’s the oldest trick in the book and one that Rachel Reeves surely considered when she briefed her hair colourist this week. “Take me battle red,” I imagine her asking, with thoughts of the autumn budget at the end of this month on her mind. 

One could argue that Reeves is simply plugged into the trends – according to global Pinterest data, searches for “Foxy red” hair are up 1530 per cent since this time last year, whilst “cherry blonde” has seen a 6300 per cent growth and “deep cherry red” 920 per cent. Thanks to the likes of pop stars Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and actress Megan Fox – all brunettes who’ve spiced up their hair colour in the past year or so – red is the shade du jour. 

But when you hold the country’s finances in your hands, a dramatic restyle doesn’t happen on a whim. Reeves’s move from brunette to red would have taken serious contemplation. “Red is a very powerful colour, it shows strength and determination,” says celebrity hairstylist Josh Wood. “Red hair can be seen as risky and racy and linked to dangerous women,” he adds, conjuring images of Jessica Rabbit, Ginger Spice (often referred to as Sexy Spice) and Christina Hendricks’ role as Joan Harris, a 1950s “sexy secretary” in Mad Men. 

Red hair has been steeped in meaning for centuries. During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, red was fashionable thus her wigs were deliberately dyed to order – as were those of her courtiers and horse’s manes. At other times, red hair has been associated with going to battle. “People who were attacking and invading (England) — tended to be red haired. So from the earliest times they represented invaders,” hair historian, Rachael Gibson, told CNN in November last year. 

Warrior queen Boudicca is always depicted with red hair despite minimal historic evidence of this – but Reeves exuded a similar spirit as she strode through Westminster on Wednesday wearing a red blouse to match her new hair. Of course, the Chancellor’s switch to red could be seen as a nod to Labour’s rose, and a show of solidarity with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who is a natural redhead. Certainly, copper hair gives the impression of a fresh new start, and is a refreshing move away from the stiff political style of old.

The message behind one’s hair colour often depends on the tone of red and the way in which it’s applied and styled. Wood, who helped initiate the trend for high-vis red at Alexander McQueen’s Autumn/Winter 2020 catwalk show explains that because the redhead gene is extremely rare (less than 2 per cent of the world’s population are natural redheads), whatever end of the red spectrum you go for, you’re never going to blend in. “Rachel Reeves means business, she wants to be noticed,” he says.

Reeves’s new hair colour symbolises both play and power. And with less than a month out from the autumn budget, there’s no better armour than a battle red new look. 

A free speech row has broken out at Durham University after its oldest student society was blocked from taking part in this year’s freshers’ fair.

Durham Union Society, the university’s 182-year-old debating society, which includes more than 3,000 current and former students, has been barred from taking part in an events day for the university’s new intake.

The freshers’ fair, which is run by Durham Student Union, welcomed hundreds of student societies and volunteering groups to set up stalls on campus on Wednesday, but the Durham Union Society was denied a place.

The student union said the debating society had failed to show it had improved standards following a string of racism allegations. It also said the Durham Union Society was independent from the university, meaning it had no formal obligations towards it.

Similar to the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, Durham Union Society was founded in 1842 as the university’s debating society.

Although run independently from the university and open to staff and local residents, membership is almost entirely made up of Durham students.

The registered charity hosts weekly events and debates that are frequently advertised on the university’s website. Recent guests include former Conservative prime ministers Boris Johnson and Baroness May, as well as actors Jeremy Irons and Sir Patrick Stewart and the late actress Maggie Smith, according to the society’s website.

A free speech group has now accused Durham Student Union of “censorious behaviour”, claiming its decision to block Durham Union Society from its freshers’ fair was “because it isn’t Left-wing enough”.

In a letter to Prof Karen O’Brien, Durham University’s vice-chancellor, The Free Speech Union claimed Durham Union Society had been “excluded from the key recruitment event of the academic year”.

Toby Young, the leader of the group, suggested the move violated the university’s legal duty to protect free speech within the law for all members, students, employees and visiting speakers.

“As things stand, it is now incumbent on the university to ensure that the situation is rectified,” he said.

The incident marks the latest in a long-running dispute between Durham Student Union and the university’s debating society.

The student union has previously accused Durham Union Society of allowing racism and misogyny to take place, including in an incident last year in which a student alleged being subjected to a racial slur.

The two organisations also entered into an agreement last year that future collaboration would depend on the debating society improving its track record on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

Durham Student Union told The Telegraph that the debating society had “failed to keep its promise and it is for that reason only that [we] didn’t accept the request from [Durham Union Society] to advertise at our freshers’ fair”.

The Free Speech Union claimed this was a red herring, and that “the real attitude of the student union towards the society may be gleaned from statements on its website”.

It pointed to comments from the student union’s current president about his “unambiguous … dislike of [Durham Union Society]”, and another student union official’s criticism that it plays host to “parliamentary-style debates by tuxedo-clad provocateurs”.

Mr Young suggested that the dispute would have been prevented if the Government had not pulled the plug on a major new free speech law designed to prevent cancel culture on campus.

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, halted the introduction of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act just days before it was due to come into force. It would have required universities to actively promote free speech on campus and introduced a new complaints scheme for those subjected to no-platforming.

Mr Young said: “This censorious behaviour by a militant student union, banning a 200-year-old debating society from freshers’ fair because it isn’t Left-wing enough, wouldn’t be possible if the Freedom of Speech Act hadn’t been torpedoed by this Government.

“This is a perfect example of the cancel culture that the Act was designed to stop. Bridget Phillipson should reverse her decision and implement the Act.”

The Department for Education was approached for comment.

A spokesman for Durham University said: “Durham Students’ Union and Durham Union Society are independent organisations, with entirely separate governance arrangements. The freshers’ fair is operated and managed by Durham Students’ Union. It is for Durham Students’ Union to explain any decision regarding participation or non-participation at their freshers’ fair.”

The spokesman also said the university had provided Durham Union Society with an alternative venue on Wednesday to recruit new students, and that “Durham University is committed to freedom of expression within the law”.

In a statement, Durham Union Society said: “The university has a legal obligation to secure freedom of speech on campus and we’re pleased that the pro-vice chancellor accordingly made an alternative space available for us to advertise to new students.

“We are working with the university to secure a permanent resolution to this situation so that the students’ union is not able to obstruct our society in this hostile and capricious way in future years.”

Durham Student Union said in a statement that it “believes strongly in freedom of speech and has never, and would never, take any action to disadvantage one of its student groups on the basis of lawful beliefs, opinions, policies, or ideas”.

It added: “There are no examples to the contrary. We work closely with Durham University, every day, to ensure that students find and share new thinking and experiences.

“We support over 300 student groups, of astonishing cultural, philosophical, political, and religious diversity, who frequently disagree with each other, and with the students’ union. We love it, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Durham Student Union doesn’t disagree with any of the lawful beliefs, opinions, policies, or ideas of Durham Union Society, which [despite the name] is not a student society at Durham University or Durham Student Union. The Durham Union Society trustees have never alleged any such disagreement. The Free Speech Union has not identified any such disagreement.

“As an act of goodwill, in September 2023, we welcomed it to our freshers’ fair in recognition of the importance of this promise to be better. But in September 2024, it informed us that it had failed to keep its promise, and it is for that reason only that Durham SU didn’t accept the request from DUS to advertise at our freshers’ fair. That has been, transparently, for the past 12 months, the terms of our agreement with DUS.”

The world’s longest-running treasure hunt has been solved 31 years after a “Golden Owl” was buried somewhere in France.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or – an owl statuette made from gold, silver and precious stones – has prompted such passion, even obsession, over the years that it is said to have led to financial ruin, divorce and even madness.

On Thursday, the man in charge of the hunt announced that the Owl, or at least a buried replica, has finally been found and that organisers are verifying the validity of the solution provided.

“We can confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, at the same time as a solution was sent to the online verification system,” announced Michel Becker, the artist who designed the Golden Owl and who now runs the hunt and publishes the book of enigmas hunters must crack to find it.

“There is therefore no need to go digging at the location you assume to be the cache… we are checking the validity of the proposed solution,” he wrote on the game’s discord forum, in a message published at 8.26am on Thursday morning.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or was launched in April 1993 when a French businessman who had adopted the alias Max Valentin said he had buried a bronze statue of an owl somewhere in France, and published a book of 11 enigmas as clues to its location.

The finder would be able to exchange the bronze bird for a statuette made from three kilos of gold, seven kilos of silver and diamonds on its head estimated at the time to be worth one ­million francs, the equivalent of €150,000 today, Valentin said.

Régis Hauser, the real name of the hunt creator, died in April 2009, sixteen years to the day after the countermark was buried.

In charge ever since, Mr Becker has faced various lawsuits and claims by some disgruntled hunters that the riddles are impossible to solve. Earlier this year, he sued Yvon Crolet, a retired engineer who spent 20 years trying to solve the riddles before announcing that the whole thing was a fraud.

“When you study the evidence, you have to conclude there is nothing buried at all,” said Mr Crolet.

Mr Becker said: “He thought he’d found the solution but when he went there, he dug a hole that was empty. The plain fact is that his solution was wrong.”

After years of legal wrangling with Mr Hauser’s heirs, Mr Becker was able to recover the solutions in the early 2020s. But the mystery deepened when they sent him a floppy disk and he visited the spot where the statue should have been buried. Instead, in a hole 80cm below the surface, he found a plastic supermarket bag and inside it, a rusting bird made of ferrous metal but not bronze.

Perplexed, Mr Becker placed a new bronze owl marked 2/8 in the spot, so the game could go on.

While the winner has not yet been announced, the news sent shockwaves among “chouetteurs” – dedicated Owl hunters, who are said to number 200,000 – who logged on to the forum in their hundreds when the announcement was made.

Beyond learning the winner’s identity, they are now desperate for the publication of the solutions after decades of fruitless searching.

The book consists of eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting. Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colours, and with an owl face.

One enigma considered perhaps the easiest called OPENING, had already been solved:

There have been many armchair treasure hunts organised around the world ever since Kit Williams, the British artist, gave birth to the genre with Masquerade, his best­selling picture book of riddles in 1979.

However, few have prompted such passion as Sur la Trace de la Chouette d’Or (On the Trail of the Golden Owl) – the official name of the French hunt.

Some have dedicated so much time searching that their spouses have divorced them, it is said. Others have spent a fortune on travels across France. At least one is believed to have ended up in an asylum.

According to its creator, one hunter wanted to blow up a chapel after deciding the treasure was underneath. Another turned up in a bank with a pneumatic drill, convinced the owl was beneath the floor. A third was said to have located the treasure under a lake.

Last year, the mayor of one village in eastern France called Dabo issued a plea for hunters to stop digging holes around its chapel on a rock where many believed the treasure was buried.

Before his death, Valentin created more than twenty other treasure hunts, all of which have been resolved. To help hunters, he offered a few extra clues, such as the importance of maps and the existence of a final, hidden riddle that uses all previous ones to lead to the cache that contains the owl.

In 2021, Mr Becker launched another armchair haunt, this time to find the two halves of a key to a £650,000 golden casket celebrating the 1904 Entente Cordiale agreements between the UK and France, which sealed the end of almost 1,000 years of conflict between the two old foes.

Mr Becker said he bought the solid-gold casket at an auction and has had it authenticated by the jewellers who wrought it. The two halves are said to be buried in the UK and France.

The world’s longest-running treasure hunt has been solved 31 years after a “Golden Owl” was buried somewhere in France.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or – an owl statuette made from gold, silver and precious stones – has prompted such passion, even obsession, over the years that it is said to have led to financial ruin, divorce and even madness.

On Thursday, the man in charge of the hunt announced that the Owl, or at least a buried replica, has finally been found and that organisers are verifying the validity of the solution provided.

“We can confirm that the Golden Owl countermark was unearthed last night, at the same time as a solution was sent to the online verification system,” announced Michel Becker, the artist who designed the Golden Owl and who now runs the hunt and publishes the book of enigmas hunters must crack to find it.

“There is therefore no need to go digging at the location you assume to be the cache… we are checking the validity of the proposed solution,” he wrote on the game’s discord forum, in a message published at 8.26am on Thursday morning.

The hunt for the Chouette d’Or was launched in April 1993 when a French businessman who had adopted the alias Max Valentin said he had buried a bronze statue of an owl somewhere in France, and published a book of 11 enigmas as clues to its location.

The finder would be able to exchange the bronze bird for a statuette made from three kilos of gold, seven kilos of silver and diamonds on its head estimated at the time to be worth one ­million francs, the equivalent of €150,000 today, Valentin said.

Régis Hauser, the real name of the hunt creator, died in April 2009, sixteen years to the day after the countermark was buried.

In charge ever since, Mr Becker has faced various lawsuits and claims by some disgruntled hunters that the riddles are impossible to solve. Earlier this year, he sued Yvon Crolet, a retired engineer who spent 20 years trying to solve the riddles before announcing that the whole thing was a fraud.

“When you study the evidence, you have to conclude there is nothing buried at all,” said Mr Crolet.

Mr Becker said: “He thought he’d found the solution but when he went there, he dug a hole that was empty. The plain fact is that his solution was wrong.”

After years of legal wrangling with Mr Hauser’s heirs, Mr Becker was able to recover the solutions in the early 2020s. But the mystery deepened when they sent him a floppy disk and he visited the spot where the statue should have been buried. Instead, in a hole 80cm below the surface, he found a plastic supermarket bag and inside it, a rusting bird made of ferrous metal but not bronze.

Perplexed, Mr Becker placed a new bronze owl marked 2/8 in the spot, so the game could go on.

While the winner has not yet been announced, the news sent shockwaves among “chouetteurs” – dedicated Owl hunters, who are said to number 200,000 – who logged on to the forum in their hundreds when the announcement was made.

Beyond learning the winner’s identity, they are now desperate for the publication of the solutions after decades of fruitless searching.

The book consists of eleven double-page spreads, each of which is a riddle composed of a title, text, and a painting. Each pair of pages is numbered with a wavelength associated with its colours, and with an owl face.

One enigma considered perhaps the easiest called OPENING, had already been solved:

There have been many armchair treasure hunts organised around the world ever since Kit Williams, the British artist, gave birth to the genre with Masquerade, his best­selling picture book of riddles in 1979.

However, few have prompted such passion as Sur la Trace de la Chouette d’Or (On the Trail of the Golden Owl) – the official name of the French hunt.

Some have dedicated so much time searching that their spouses have divorced them, it is said. Others have spent a fortune on travels across France. At least one is believed to have ended up in an asylum.

According to its creator, one hunter wanted to blow up a chapel after deciding the treasure was underneath. Another turned up in a bank with a pneumatic drill, convinced the owl was beneath the floor. A third was said to have located the treasure under a lake.

Last year, the mayor of one village in eastern France called Dabo issued a plea for hunters to stop digging holes around its chapel on a rock where many believed the treasure was buried.

Before his death, Valentin created more than twenty other treasure hunts, all of which have been resolved. To help hunters, he offered a few extra clues, such as the importance of maps and the existence of a final, hidden riddle that uses all previous ones to lead to the cache that contains the owl.

In 2021, Mr Becker launched another armchair haunt, this time to find the two halves of a key to a £650,000 golden casket celebrating the 1904 Entente Cordiale agreements between the UK and France, which sealed the end of almost 1,000 years of conflict between the two old foes.

Mr Becker said he bought the solid-gold casket at an auction and has had it authenticated by the jewellers who wrought it. The two halves are said to be buried in the UK and France.