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The EU’s central banker drama

10 November5 min read
Collage of images representing Christine Lagarde's exit from the ECB

Two weeks ago, European Central Bank (ECB) boss Christine Lagarde confirmed months of rumours: she's stepping down in Feb, ahead of her October finish line.

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  1. 01

    UNITED STATES

    Huang out to dry.

    Following his explosive admission of an affair (with a woman allegedly working with Chinese intelligence), both Jensen Huang and his Nvidia chips giant are now facing a class action arguing they misled shareholders by concealing his romantic ties to Megaspeed! That’s the mysterious Singapore-based shop where his paramour allegedly smuggled chips to China. (Reuters)

  2. 02

    FRANCE

    Cold war.

    Contrary to our initial guess that Moscow had the more obvious motive, French officials have now pinned the blame on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for last month’s cyberattack that fried commercial refrigerators across various supermarket chains. (France24)

  3. 03

    VENEZUELA

    We’re so back (maybe).

    US oil giant ExxonMobil has signed a preliminary deal with Venezuela’s interim government to explore local drilling opportunities. Just months ago the oil major had called Venezuela “uninvestable”. (WSJ $)

  4. 04

    IRAN

    “Effectively over”?

    President Trump has emerged from a meeting with Qatar’s PM, declaring the military portion of the Iran war now “effectively over”. Compare that with the latest from Trump’s chief diplomat Marco Rubio, who’s insisting the two foes are still nowhere near a breakthrough. (AP)

  5. 05

    ARGENTINA

    Pontiff and the populist.

    Pope Leo XIV has drawn a record-breaking crowd of 2.5 million faithful in Buenos Aires for the largest Mass of his pontificate. Spicily, he also used the stage to issue a thinly veiled rebuke of President Milei’s austerity policies, warning “the economy must be at the service of the person, rather than the person at the service of the economy.” (Al Jazeera)

  6. 06

    VIETNAM

    Cross-border snatch.

    There are now eye-witness accounts seemingly confirming that Vietnamese intelligence might’ve abducted Australian, Norwegian, and Vietnamese pro-democracy activists from neighbouring Cambodia in September! They’re now facing terrorism charges back in Vietnam, which claims they “entered illegally”. (Mekong Independent)

  7. 07

    RUSSIA

    The Abu Dhabi talks.

    With US, Russian, and Ukrainian delegates due to resume peace talks in Abu Dhabi today (Tuesday), there are wild reports DC is asking if Russia will accept Western partners making a NATO-like guarantee for Ukraine (ie… to deter Russia from attacking again). (Politico)

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