Oil volatility could affect ECB rate cuts, warns French bank chief
The European Central Bank (ECB) needs to assess fluctuations in oil prices and the euro as it sets borrowing costs, according to Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau.
While the ECB doesn't target a particular exchange rate, the common currency has demonstrated surprising strength against the dollar since US president Donald Trump began his tariff push.
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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Trump pulls US out of ‘woke' and ‘divisive' UNESCO for second time
The withdrawal from the Paris-based agency, which was founded after World War Two to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture, will take effect at the end of next year. The move is in line with the Trump administration's broader "America-first" foreign policy, which includes a deep scepticism of multilateral groups, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, and the NATO alliance. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said UNESCO "supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for." The US state department accused UNESCO of supporting "a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy". It said its decision to admit the Palestinians as a member state was "highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric." UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said she deeply regretted Trump's decision, but it was "expected, and UNESCO has prepared for it." Posting on X, French president Emmanuel Macron professed "unwavering support" for the "universal protector" of world heritage and said the US move would not weaken France's commitment to UNESCO. UNESCO officials said the US withdrawal would have some limited impact on US--financed programmes. Azoulay said UNESCO had diversified funding sources, receiving only about 8pc of its budget from Washington. UNESCO was one of several international bodies Trump withdrew from during his first term, along with the World Health Organisation, the Paris Agreement climate change accord, and the UN Human Rights Council. During his second term, he has largely reinstated those steps. Trump's pick to be his UN envoy, Mike Waltz, said this month the United Nations needs reform while expressing confidence that "we can make the UN great again." Israel praises US moral support and leadership Israel welcomed the US decision with its UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accusing UNESCO of "consistent misguided anti-Israel bias'. In a post on X, Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar, thanked Washington for its "moral support and leadership" and said that "Singling out Israel and politicization by member states must end, in this and all professional UN agencies." US senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on the Republican-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump's decision "short-sighted and a win for China," which she said became the largest financial contributor to UNESCO after Trump last withdrew from the agency. UNESCO officials said all relevant agency statements had been agreed with both Israel and the Palestinians over the past eight years. Azoulay said the US had given the same reasons for its pullout as it had seven years ago "even though the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism'. "These claims also contradict the reality of UNESCO's efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism," she added. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is best known for designating World Heritage Sites, including the US Grand Canyon and Egypt's pyramids. It lists 26 sites in the United States, including the Statue of Liberty, on its World Heritage List which highlights 1,248 global locations of "outstanding universal value." Washington has had a troubled relationship with UNESCO over the years. It was a founding member in 1945 but first withdrew in 1984 to protest alleged financial mismanagement and perceived anti-US bias during the Cold War. It returned in 2003 under US president George W. Bush, who said UNESCO had undertaken needed reforms, but in 2011 the Obama administration announced it was stopping funding for the agency following its vote to grant the Palestinians full membership. Trump's first administration announced in 2017 it was quitting after accusing UNESCO of anti-Israeli bias, with Washington owing $542 million in dues, before former US president Biden reversed the decision in 2023.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Iran's leaders turn to a new brand of nationalism after Israeli and US attacks
The event had all the typical trappings of Ashura, Iran's ritualistic Shi'ite Muslim mourning period. The kneeling crowds were dressed in black. They beat their chests in unison. Then Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , beckoned the man leading the chants and whispered in his ear. Grinning, the singer broke into a tune that would have been wildly out of place at a religious ceremony for the Islamic Republic just a few weeks ago: 'Ey Iran, Iran', a patriotic anthem. 'In my soul and spirit, you remain, O homeland,' he sang, as the crowd recited the words back to him. 'Wasted be the heart that does not tremble for you.' Iran has emerged from its war with Israel – briefly joined by the United States – deeply wounded. Its military defences are battered, its nuclear programme was pummelled and its population has been devastated by a heavy civilian toll over the 12-day war. READ MORE Amid that bleak outlook, the country's leaders see an opportunity. Outrage over the attacks has sparked an outpouring of nationalist sentiment, and they hope to channel that into a patriotic moment to shore up a government facing daunting economic and political challenges. A billboard in Tehran depicts missiles and the mythological figure of Arash the archer. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times The result has been an embrace of ancient folklore and patriotic symbols that many of Iran's secular nationalists once saw as their domain, not that of a conservative theocracy that often shunned Iran's pre-Islamic revolutionary heritage. In the ancient city of Shiraz, a billboard depicts Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu kneeling before a statue of Shapur I, the third-century Persian king, mimicking a frieze from the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis. In Tehran's Vanak Square, a popular shopping area, a billboard has been erected for Arash the Archer, the mythological figure said to have created Iran's borders by launching his life force from an arrowhead. Now, instead of arrows, it is the missiles of the Islamic Republic being fired across his bow. 'We are witnessing the birth of a fusion of Shi'ite identity and Iranian nationalism – and it is the result of the attack on Iran,' said Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University and well-known political commentator. With no reliable polling data to offer insights on popular sentiments, the effectiveness of this patriotic craze has been hotly debated among Iranians and analysts alike. Some Iranians are sceptical that any newfound nationalism will increase the government's popularity, arguing that it simply reflects the widespread anger over the Israeli and US attacks. Government supporters gather in Tehran to commemorate victims of Israel's recent attacks. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times Before the Israeli attacks, some Iran analysts had expected domestic turmoil this summer: Alongside an economic crisis, Iran's water, electricity and fuel supplies had been failing as temperatures soared. The war seems to have led to an opposite effect. Now some Iranians appear willing to stomach more government restrictions, including the tightening of internet access. The Iranian government has also begun a massive crackdown against what it says are infiltrators and spies, but which rights groups say is also sweeping up dissidents and minorities. US president Donald Trump and Netanyahu's calls for Iranians to rise up against the government in the wake of the strikes has led even some critics of the Iranian government to argue that they could not countenance protesting right now. 'People do not want domestic change to be driven by foreign governments,' Lida, who works in Tehran, told The New York Times in a voice message. She asked not to be identified by her full name because of the government's warnings against contact with foreign media. 'It goes against my national pride that a country comes and violates my land and hits our nuclear sites,' she said. 'OK, fine, this nuclear programme is not my dream or aspiration, but in the end it is part of my land and territory.' This is not the first time that leaders of the Islamic Republic have leaned on nationalism or traditional symbols in times of crisis. At the end of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, historians say, Iran's revolutionary leadership often turned to nationalist rhetoric. But the scale and scope of the latest effort to galvanise the population is different, Iran experts say. 'The revolutionary leadership has recognised that when the going gets tough you have to dive deep into that nationalist rhetoric to bring people together,' said Ali Ansari, the founding director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. 'They want to use the war as a way of encouraging national solidarity – something that they haven't had for many years.' That approach was especially striking as the country entered Muharram at the end of June, a period of mourning in Shi'ite Islam that lasts for about a month. Ashura, marking the 10th day of that period, is when Shi'ites grieve for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. This year, Iran's madahs, or religious singers, brought politics into the celebrations. At shopping malls in the city of Yazd, they blended pious verses into patriotic songs that were once banned – including a religious version of an anthem penned during the second World War, and often associated with the era of the Pahlavi monarchy that the Iranian revolution overthrew in 1979. Some Iranians have not welcomed the fusion of nationalist and Islamic rhetoric, including the family of Tooraj Negahban, the lyricist who penned Ey Iran, Iran. The madah who recited it in front of Khamenei wove in religious phrases including 'Iran of Karbala' and 'Iran of Ashura'. A critic of the Islamic Republic, Neghaban died in exile in Los Angeles in 2008. 'For years, you have silenced our voices. You have erased our names from books and the media,' the family wrote in a post on an Instagram page in his name. 'Now that you have nothing left to shout, you are singing the same anthems you used to curse.' Some Iranians, like Borhani, the Tehran University professor, argue that the theocracy's turn to nationalism shows that religion alone can no longer galvanise Iran's 90 million people, particularly those in their 30s or younger, who form the bulk of the population. Others say the widespread use of patriotic tunes in Ashura rituals around the country has created an authentic new expression of Iranian patriotism. Shahrzad, a university student in Tehran, described the shift as 'engineered nationalism.' 'Authentic nationalism comes from the streets, from protests, from shared pain, not from government podiums,' she said in a voice message. Even if the war – and the wave of nationalism it has spurred – has helped the government retain control, some question how long it will last. 'When the dust settles and people start to ask questions, they will see that there's still no water, still no gas, still no electricity,' Ansari said. 'Everything depends on the country having an economic renaissance – and it can't do it.' – The New York Times
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on Trump and Epstein: a story which still has a way to run
Donald Trump is not yet out of hot water over his 15-year association with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and the investigation files that he promised to release. He may be helped by his Maga base's pathological hatred for the 'mainstream media', notably Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal. But as a peddler of conspiracy theories himself to damage his enemies, he can hardly complain when his supporters demand more details on this one. And many are certainly doing so. Trump's political enemies are happy to stoke the controversy. Some of this may be unfair, given the lack of evidence to date, but they will calculate that any link to Epstein will be damaging for the president, as it has been for so many others. The Journal's story last week of a lewd letter allegedly sent by Trump to Epstein has prompted the president to sue the paper for defamation and to banish it from the presidential press pool. 'The Murdochs' bizarre assault on the president galvanised his base because of both content and process,' former adviser and key Maga leader Steve Bannon observes. 'Now we are united as Trump goes on offence – against the Murdochs, the courts and the deep state.' Even Elon Musk, who had earlier this year claimed Trump was named in the FBI's files, said he did not believe the letter was real. 'It really doesn't sound like something Trump would say,' he said. READ MORE In response to weeks of uproar on social media at the administration's failure to release the files, Trump ordered his attorney general to seek a court order freeing up some of the secret grand jury testimony on Epstein. Law enforcement agencies have not accused Trump of any Epstein-related wrongdoing, although reports have emerged in recent days that 1996 efforts to call law enforcement attention to him had implicated Trump. The president's base, schooled in lurid conspiracy theory, is unlikely to accept his assurances 'that there's nothing to see here, please move on.' This one still has a way to run.
