Hi Global Recap readers,
Our second story today involves an art restorer who “allegedly” painted Italian PM Giorgia Meloni’s face onto an angel. It isn’t strictly “geopolitical,” but it felt culturally and politically relevant to include—especially since people I’ve spoken to seem split on it.
As an art lover, I wholeheartedly believe restoration should aim to return a damaged work as closely as possible to its original appearance. That requires understanding the artwork’s history and the period in which it was created.
Others I know see art as a living part of history, where interpretation and change are inevitable—and to them, this kind of alteration isn’t necessarily a problem.
What do you think? 👇🏼
🇫🇷 FRANCE
French Police Raid X
French police raided X's premises in France on Feb. 3, 2026, and Paris prosecutors said they had summoned Elon Musk after a year-long probe into the platform
Search. The Paris prosecutor's office said its cybercrime division oversaw a police search of X's premises in France on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Chief Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Mr. Musk and other people associated with X, including former chief executive Linda Yaccarino, have been summoned for interviews.
Claims. Prosecutors said they are investigating X in relation to seven accusations, including:
complicity in distributing child pornographic images (Grok's image generation feature)
denial of crimes against humanity (Grok allegedly denying the Holocaust)
fraudulent extraction of data.
France has criminal penalties for Holocaust denial and certain forms of hate speech, and EU rules like the Digital Services Act give regulators leverage to force faster takedowns and impose major fines.
Origins. The investigation began after Éric Bothorel, a centrist French lawmaker, raised concerns about X's algorithm, the process that organizes what users see and how information moves on the platform.
X said in July that it "categorically denies" wrongdoing, called the investigation politically motivated, and said it would not cooperate with French authorities' demands.
Perhaps it was to relieve himself from this political and social pressure, Elon Musk open-sourced X's new "For You" feed algorithm in January 2026. This means that even people who can’t code can download the codebase and use their free ChatGPT account to learn the codebase with OpenAI’s new Codex app. (The free-tier access to Codex is only available for the next 2 months)
🇮🇹 ITALY
Meloni Lookalike
Cherub Investigation
Italian PM Meloni
The restored cherub
Italy ordered an investigation after a newly restored cherub fresco in a Rome church started resembling Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Officials are now digging through documentation from 2000 to see what changed during the 2025 restoration.
Scene. In the Chapel of the Holy Souls in Purgatory inside Rome's Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, a freshly restored cherub now looks, to many eyes, like Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The restoration finished in December.
Trigger. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli ordered an investigation into whether the restorer deliberately inserted Meloni's face into the fresco. The Ministry of Culture tasked the Special Superintendency of Rome, the office that oversees the capital's archaeological and historic heritage, with sorting out what happened.
Papertrail. Investigators say they are combing archives for documentation, photos, and drawings of the original decoration created in 2000, then comparing it with today's version after the 2025 restoration.
Restorer Bruno Valentinetti denied planting any political Easter egg, saying he simply copied the 2000 drawing and did the work for free as a volunteer.
The photo on the right is meant to show what it originally looked like. Hmm…
Meloni’s Response:
Nothing’s Free
The original Ecce Homo (left) and Giménez’s “restoration” (right)
Ecce Homo was painted by Elías García Martínez in 1930, depicting the moment Pontius Pilate presented Jesus to a hostile crowd. In 2012, an 81-year-old amateur artist, Cecilia Giménez, attempted to “restore” the work.
“Ecce Homo” translates to “Behold the Man.”
The botched restoration was quickly dubbed “Ecce Mono,” or “Behold the Monkey” (“mono” is Spanish for “monkey”).
Ironically, the restoration became a tourist attraction, and Giménez’s name is now almost always listed alongside the original artist when the work is cited.
A reminder: nothing is truly free—there’s always a cost.
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
F-35C Downs
Iranian Suicide Drone
US forces shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone as it approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on February 3. Hours later, Iranian vessels and another drone harassed a US-flagged tanker, prompting a Navy destroyer to escort it to safety.
Approach. US Central Command said the Shahed-139, part of a suicide attack drone class meant to crash into targets and detonate onboard explosives, flew with "unclear intent" and kept closing despite unspecified US de-escalation measures about 500 miles off Iran's southern coast.
Intercept. A Navy F-35C fighter took the drone down, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "acting aggressively" as it approached the carrier. Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said no American personnel were injured and no equipment was damaged.
Tanker. Central Command said Iranian vessels, joined by another drone, "harassed" the US-flagged and US-crewed Stena Imperative and threatened to board and seize it until the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul intervened. Hawkins said the McFaul escorted the ship to safety under "defensive air support" from the US Air Force.
📌 Context. The Lincoln was sent to the Middle East as the US and Iran argue over how to contain Iran's nuclear program and what else a deal should cover.
Over the past month, the US has deployed dozens of aircraft to bases operating near Iran and assembled about 12 warships in or near the Middle East.
🇩🇪 GERMANY
Hamburg Corvette
Sabotage Arrests
German prosecutors say two port workers were arrested Tuesday after alleged sabotage on German Navy corvettes, with detentions spanning Hamburg and northern Greece. A senior German lawmaker floated a Russia-style pattern, but stressed the investigation is still unfolding.
Arrests. Hamburg prosecutors said a 37-year-old Romanian national and a 54-year-old Greek national were arrested in Hamburg and a village in northern Greece, respectively, and that three properties in Germany, Greece, and Romania were searched.
Damage. Investigators allege the men sabotaged several corvettes intended for the German Navy, including:
pouring about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of grit into an engine
puncturing water lines, removing fuel caps
disabling safety switches
Signals. Ruling-party lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said the methods "fit a Russian pattern" of targeted disruption against critical infrastructure, while adding it is too early to treat that as settled. Prosecutors said they are now examining who else may be behind the attacks.
📌 Context. The case lands amid a wider European security dragnet since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the at least 145 sabotage incidents since 2022.
