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The European Central Bank (ECB) is prepared to offer euro liquidity to monetary authorities from around the world, an effort to prevent market tensions and increase global use of the single currency.The Frankfurt-based institution will extend repo lines to “all central banks, unless excluded on the grounds of, in particular, money laundering, terrorist financing or international sanctions,” it said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the changes will apply as of the third quarter.“The framework will enable central banks in jurisdictions outside the euro area to address risks of euro liquidity shortages swiftly,” it said. “These changes aim to make the facility more flexible, broader in terms of its geographical reach and more relevant for global holders of euro securities.”The move to make euros more readily available reflects Europe’s broader efforts to redefine its place in a global order upended by US President Donald Trump. Policymakers have long viewed his erratic policies as an opening to challenge the dollar’s decades-long dominance and bolster the euro’s international role.ECB President Christine Lagarde last year highlighted swap and repo lines, which help ensure the smooth transmission of monetary policy, as part of the responsibilities that come with an international reserve currency.Earlier this month, she said that the ECB was in the process of reframing its liquidity framework to open up access and make repo lines “more attractive” to central banks outside the euro area and outside Europe.Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Lagarde stressed that the ECB “must avoid a situation where that stress triggers fire sales of euro-denominated securities in global funding markets, which could hamper the transmission of our monetary policy.”“This means we have to give partners who want to transact in euros the confidence that euro liquidity will be available if they need it,” she said, highlighting the permanence, scope and agility provided by the new repo framework and saying that it “reinforces the role of the euro.”Lagarde highlighted that “the availability of a lender of last resort for central banks worldwide boosts confidence to invest, borrow and trade in euros, knowing that access will be there during market disruptions.”The ECB said on Saturday that under the new Eurosystem repo facility for central banks, or EUREP, it will no longer publish information about which central banks have accessed its repo lines. Instead, it will provide details of overall weekly drawings of euro liquidity across all repo lines.“There are no ex ante restrictions on how non-euro area central banks can use funds borrowed under the revised EUREP, as opposed to the previous EUREP facility, which was reserved for lending by non-euro central banks to their domestic financial institutions,” the ECB said. “In view of the increased geographical scope, central banks worldwide can use the euro liquidity provided under EUREP to address a wider range of temporary funding needs.”In a speech about Europe’s monetary sovereignty, Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said Thursday that the ECB’s liquidity facilities address the risk of disruptions in euro-denominated funding markets outside the region, thereby preventing turmoil in global markets to lead to “strong adverse effects” on euro-area financing conditions.Repo lines offer access to euros for specified periods in exchange for high-quality euro-denominated financial assets as collateral. They’re different from swap lines, under which the ECB exchanges money with major peers including the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.Both arrangements help address — and prevent — market dysfunctions that can spill into the euro area, push up interest rates and impair the way the ECB’s monetary policy affects the economy.The ECB created EUREP during the Covid-19 pandemic and currently has repo lines with the central banks of Romania, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, North Macedonia, San Marino, Montenegro and Kosovo.South Africa’s central-bank chief Lesetja Kganyago has already said that the G-20 country would be keen to utilise new ECB repo lines if available, given the vast amount of trade and investment that comes from Europe, according to Reuters.The ECB can also count on the backing of European policymakers.In a paper prepared for Monday’s meeting of the euro-area finance chiefs and seen by Bloomberg, the European Commission called for reinforcing euro diplomacy by reassuring partner countries about access to euro liquidity.Meanwhile, the European Parliament this week stated in its resolution on the ECB’s annual report 2025 that it “supports the ECB in its efforts to accommodate the international role of the euro through, inter alia, sufficient currency swap and repo lines.” 

Snow, ice and high winds brought transport chaos to swathes of Europe for a third day on Wednesday, with hundreds of flights cancelled and passengers stranded.Airports in Paris and Amsterdam were the worst affected, with the Dutch authorities saying more than 1,000 travellers had been forced to spend the night at Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest hubs.Seven people have died in weather-related accidents as the continent reels from the most bitter cold snap of the winter so far.Hungary's interior ministry said on Wednesday that a woman had died after a car skidded on ice and crashed into another vehicle, adding to five people killed in France and one in Bosnia since the winter freeze descended on Monday.With snowfall continuing on Wednesday, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed hurtling down the steep hills of the Montmartre district in Paris.But the cold snap came as a bitter shock to the French capital's many homeless people.Guinean teenager Boubacar Camara, who is sleeping in a tent on the city's outskirts, told AFP he had "no choice but to keep on going"."You just have to stay strong, make sure you don't die, you know," said the 19-year-old. "We can't do anything about the cold -- I'm not used to this at all."Hundreds of schools were closed for a third day across Scotland, and English authorities were warning of a snowstorm across parts of the country in the coming days.More than 100 flights were cancelled on Wednesday at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and 40 more at the French capital's other main hub, Orly.Almost half of mainland France was on alert for heavy snow and black ice, and lorries were banned from the roads in some areas, forcing truckers off the road while waiting for permission to get going again."It's better to be here than stuck on the road," said driver Carle Bruno, who managed to get to a roadside service station in the northern port city of Le Havre to wait out the weather.In the Netherlands, Schiphol Airport said more than 700 flights had been cancelled so far and warned that the number was likely to increase.Brussels Airport confirmed 40 cancellations on Wednesday, and Budapest Airport in Hungary said 20 flights had been cancelled overnight.Andras Vaszko, a meteorologist at the Hungarian national weather service HungaroMet, told AFP it was the heaviest snow in the capital for 15 years.Forecasters said temperatures could fall to -20C in some places in Hungary, and in neighbouring Austria the mercury plummeted even further to -24C in the Alps overnight.Britain also saw temperatures plunging, with the authorities warned some rural communities in Scotland could be "cut off" by snow.The Eurostar rail service connecting London with continental European cities was also disrupted again on Wednesday, with passengers facing cancellations and delays.The Balkans region has been hit by heavy snow and floods in recent days and thousands were still without power in Serbia after a snowstorm tore down power lines on Tuesday.The Albanian port city of Durres was hit by torrential downpours on Tuesday that inundated hundreds of homes and forced around 200 people to flee, though officials said conditions were easing on Wednesday.Nordic countries were also facing snow-related chaos, with officials in eastern Sweden warning that power cuts were "likely" because of heavy snowfall.Trams were suspended in the western city of Gothenburg, and the authorities in the wider region warned people not to drive and stay at home if possible. 

Iranian authorities Sunday announced they will give a monthly allowance to every citizen in the country to alleviate economic pressure, after a week of protests. “Individuals can receive an amount equivalent to 1mon tomans (approximately $7) per person per month, which is credited to their accounts for four months,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told state TV. She said the amount will be given to every Iranian for four months in the form of credit that can be used to purchase certain goods and is intended to “reduce the economic pressure on the people.” In Iran, which has a population of more than 85mn people, the minimum wage is roughly $100 (85 euros) and average monthly salaries are around $200. Iranians mostly use mobile phones and debit cards for their daily purchases instead of cash. Iran’s economy has been grappling with biting US and international sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme for years, and December saw a 52% year-on-year inflation rate. 

US authorities have arrested a man suspected of planting pipe bombs in Washington the night before the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, two officials briefed on the matter said Thursday. The FBI released surveillance video, offered a $500,000 reward and received hundreds of tips in a years-long search for the suspect they believe was involved in the incident that took place nearly five years ago. The footage, from January 5, 2021, showed a person putting a bomb near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee building. The suspect placed another bomb at the Republican headquarters. Both sites are near the Capitol. The suspect is Brian Cole, Jr., of Woodbridge, Virginia, according to two sources briefed on the matter. Cole, 30, lives with his parents and works for a bail bond company, one of them said. The suspect is expected to make an initial court appearance in Washington, according to a source briefed on the matter. The bombs were discovered on the same day supporters of Trump stormed Congress in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. Police deactivated the bombs and neither exploded. In the January 6, 2021, melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than $2.8mn in damage. Trump pardoned nearly everyone criminally charged for participating in the riot, some 1,500 people, when he returned to office in January. 

US authorities announced that three police officers were killed, and two others seriously injured in a shooting carried out by a gunman in the eastern US state of Pennsylvania before police were able to neutralize him.State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris confirmed at a press conference that five officers were shot on Thursday, three of whom were fatally wounded, while two were taken to the hospital and are in critical condition.

Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than 1mn people from homes in Punjab province this week, officials said Thursday, as the worst flooding there in four decades caused havoc in hundreds of villages and submerged vital grains crops.Torrential monsoon rain and neighbouring India's release of excess water from its dams swelled three rivers that flow into the eastern province, forcing authorities to breach river banks in some places – causing flooding in more than 1,400 villages, Punjab's disaster management authority said.Residents of villages such as Qadirabad were walking through water up to their chests Thursday after the River Chenab overflowed, causing sudden flooding."We spent the whole night awake and frightened," Nadeem Iqbal, 26, a labourer, told Reuters as he waded through the water with one of his children. "Everyone was frightened. Kids cried. Women were worried. We were helpless."Officials say that flooding has been worsened in Punjab – home to half of Pakistan's people and a major producer of wheat, rice and cotton – by the release of water into the three rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab, from Indian dams that were full.India, which routinely releases water from dams when they get too full, passed on three flood warnings to its arch rival Pakistan this week, calling them a humanitarian measure.Both countries are battling a heavy monsoon season that has unleashed flash floods.At least 60 people have died this month in hard-hit Indian Kashmir, while Pakistan's death toll since late June stands at 819.At least 12 people have died this week in Punjab province, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the provincial government.The waters of the Chenab threatened early Thursday to burst through a 3,300’ (1,000m) concrete barrage at Qadirabad that regulates flows, siphoning some of the water into a canal irrigation network.A collapse of the barrage would have inundated two nearby towns.To avert the danger, authorities deliberately blew up part of the riverbank at two places to release water onto nearby land before it reached the barrage, the provincial disaster management authority said.By afternoon, the level was down to 754,966 cusec, having reached nearly 1mn cusec overnight – well over its capacity of 800,000 cusec.A cusec is a flow of volume equivalent to one cubic foot, or 28 cubic litres, every second."We have evaded the threat," a spokesperson for the authority said.Officials said shifting weather patterns were to blame for the floods in Pakistan, which has repeatedly been battered by flooding in recent years.In 2022, unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing at least 1,000 people.The head of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Inam Haider Malik, said that for the first time, weather systems coming from the east, south and west had converged over Pakistan this monsoon season.Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said climate change "is the new normal"."But it isn't unmanageable," he added.On the other side of the India-Pakistan border, Himalayan river levels began to recede after days of downpours and forecasters said they expected the rain to start easing.