The ECB kept rates on hold on Thursday but held an in‑depth discussion about raising borrowing costs to tackle surging inflation triggered by soaring energy prices and indicated a move could come as early as June

International News via Reuters:

The European Central Bank needs clear evidence inflationary pressures are becoming entrenched to begin raising interest rates, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday.

The ECB kept rates on hold on Thursday, as was expected, but held an in‑depth discussion about raising borrowing costs to tackle surging inflation triggered by soaring energy prices and indicated a move could come as early as June.

Villeroy, an outspoken dove on the ECB’s governing council, said any tightening would depend above all on signs that inflation is spreading beyond its initial drivers, particularly through underlying price pressures, wage developments and inflation expectations among households and businesses.

While those expectations are harder to measure than financial market indicators, he said the key question is whether they remain anchored over the medium term, around a three‑year horizon.

“Before any possible tightening, it is necessary to have gathered a critical mass of data,” Villeroy said in an annual letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on the state of the economy.

Villeroy, who is due to stand down from the French central bank in the coming weeks, cautioned that monetary policy must remain prudent.

Reporting by Leigh Thomas, editing by Inti Landauro

The attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration killed 15, fuelling calls for tougher gun controls and more action to tackle hatred towards Jews, following a spate of antisemitic incidents

International News via Reuters:

Australia began public hearings on Monday in an inquiry into the Bondi Beach mass shooting in December, with Jewish Australians giving evidence of their experience of rising domestic antisemitism.

The attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration killed 15, fuelling calls for tougher gun controls and more action to tackle hatred towards Jews, following a spate of antisemitic incidents.

The first block of public hearings will investigate the nature and prevalence of antisemitism, said Virginia Bell, the retired judge leading the wide-ranging national inquiry known as a Royal Commission.

“The sharp spike in antisemitism that we’ve witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” Bell said.

“It’s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they’re Jews.”

‘WE DON’T FEEL SAFE HERE’

Witnesses from the Jewish community told the inquiry they felt increasingly unsafe amid rising hostility since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza.

“What is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past,” said Peter Halasz, an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled to Australia from Hungary.

“For those of us who lived through the 1930s and 1940s, it is something we recognise, and that recognition is frightening and cause for alarm.”

Sheina Gutnick, who lost her father Reuven Morrison in the Bondi attack, said antisemitism had damaged her family’s sense of safety and freedom of movement.

“As a mother, I’m constantly weighing up the risk of exposing my children to environments where they may be witness, or subject, to antisemitism,” she told the panel.

She recounted an incident in which a stranger at a shopping centre called her an “effing terrorist” for wearing a Star of David necklace.

Another witness said her family was relocating to Israel because of safety concerns.

“We never expected synagogues to be burned down,” said the woman, who used the pseudonym “AAM”. “We never expected Jews to be hunted on Bondi Beach.

“My family and I no longer want to live in Australia. We don’t feel safe here. We don’t feel welcome.”

JEWISH SCHOOL LOOKS ‘MORE LIKE A PRISON’

Stefanie Schwartz, the president of Sydney Jewish primary school Mount Sinai College, spoke of holding drills to prepare young students to deal with terrorist attacks, and requiring an “extreme” security presence on campus.

“You walk past our school and it looks a lot more like a prison than a primary school.”

Antisemitism has “run riot”, with Jewish Australians being held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, said Benjamin Elton, the chief minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney.

The inquiry released an interim report of 14 recommendations last Thursday, urging greater security for Jewish public events and further counter-terrorism and gun reforms.

A second block of hearings later in May will focus on the circumstances leading up to the Bondi Beach attack and issues raised in the interim report.

The commission is due to deliver its final report on December 14, exactly a year after the attack.

Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul and Clarence Fernandez

Six individuals were affected in the incident, of whom three have died and one is in intensive care in South Africa, it said in a post on X

International News via Reuters:

Three people have died and one case of hantavirus has been confirmed among passengers on a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.

Six individuals were affected in the incident, of whom three have died and one is in intensive care in South Africa, it said in a post on X.

The WHO did not name the vessel or its operator, although a source familiar with the situation said it was the MV Hondius, travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.

“WHO is facilitating coordination between member states and the ship’s operators for medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, as well as full public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board,” the WHO said.

A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that two Dutch passengers had died, but gave no further details.

Sky News reported that a British tourist was being treated in a hospital in South Africa after the suspected hantavirus outbreak, citing South Africa’s Department of Health. It also quoted Britain’s Foreign Office as saying it was closely monitoring reports of a potential hantavirus outbreak on the Hondius and was in touch with the cruise company and local authorities.

The British Foreign Office and South Africa’s Department of Health did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Mihika Sharma; Editing by Edmund Klamann