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Banking scandal hits Ireland

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The Irish prime minister has pledged to open an investigation into the €30bn (£25.5bn) bailout of Anglo Irish Bank as it emerged that an executive sang “Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles” as colleagues joked about German money flowing into the country after a state guarantee of the institution’s deposits.

A banker is heard on tape joking and singing the former first lines of the Deutschlandlied – not used since the Nazis made the first stanza their anthem – as the bank’s then chief executive, David Drumm, urges his executives to “get the fucking money in”. The recording was made in September 2008, when the Irish state stepped in to rescue a bank brought low by a property lending spree.

Enda Kenny, the taoiseach, paved the way for a parliamentary inquiry into an “axis of collusion”, although he stopped short of a full, Leveson-style inquiry. Referring to the former taoiseach Brian Cowen, who ran the country during the Anglo Irish bailout, he said: “I assume that our predecessors here, people who served … in high office and in those governments, would have the opportunity and would have the willingness, I assume, to come to a parliamentary inquiry.”

The latest recordings to be leaked from inside the bank will compound national outrage in Ireland over the behaviour of Anglo Irish bankers.

Dublin intervened in September 2008 with a guarantee of the bank’s deposits to keep it afloat – a move that angered London and Berlin because it enticed money from British and German savers.

Cowen’s blanket bank guarantee, much criticised as foolish by other European Union governments, was designed to prevent Anglo’s immediate collapse but instead put Ireland on a slippery slope to bailing out all six Irish-owned retail banks. In one conversation, two days after the fateful bank guarantee, Drumm giggles while his colleague John Bowe, then director of capital markets, recites lines from the Deutschlandlied.

Drumm, who has since fled to the US, and Bowe are heard laughing about fears that the guarantee would drive a wedge between Ireland and its EU partners.

The former said he would give “two fingers” to UK concerns.

Bowe was recorded boasting that he had picked as the cost of the state rescuing them a random figure, of €7bn (£5.9bn), “out of my arse”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, admitted on Tuesday ministers had been unaware the recorded conversations existed, even though the state has owned the bank since it was nationalised in 2009.

He said the degree of arrogance and hubris of the bankers highlighted in the tapes was shocking, and made clear the need for a full parliamentary inquiry into the Irish banking collapse.

“That’s why we have brought forward legislation to establish such an inquiry, and I hope that the legislation will be enacted before the summer and we can get on with it,” Gilmore told RTÉ radio. Gilmore added that the revelations couldcompromise Irish attempts to win further debt relief from the European Union. “It makes it more difficult, of course it does, but we’re going to continue to work to get the best possible outcome for the Irish taxpayer,” he said.

Kenny later confirmedthat the country’s that police had had the Anglo Irish Bank tapes for four years. He told the Dáil they had been originally handed over to the Gardai when they began their when criminal investigations into the bank.

His cabinet colleague, the finance minister, Michael Noonan, confirmed that he, too, was unaware of the tapes, even though it was standard procedure to record calls between senior banking personnel.

Recordings obtained by the Irish Independent of Drumm joking about the rescue plan on the tapes will intensify anger in Ireland towards the top bankers, given that he remains in exile in Boston, allegedly owing the state €8m.

Bowe has denied trying to mislead the state, adding that the reported remarks were “off-the-cuff comments”.”.

The secret tapes have compounded suspicions that Anglo Irish Bank’s senior executives had lured the then Fianna Fáil-led il-led government into a costly financial trap in the autumn of 2008. The figure of €7bn cited by Bowe more than quadrupled, to €30bn.

During the Irish boom, Anglo Irish Bank became the preferred lender to property speculators and builders. Among its high-profile clients was Ireland’s one-time richest man Seán Quinn, who borrowed hundreds of millions of euros from the bank to fund a global property portfolio stretching from the US to the Ukraine and Russia. When the world property market crashed, Quinn’s empire crumbled, leading him to bankruptcy and prison.

Press TV / The Guardian

Related Topics:Anglo Irish Bank Banks Ireland

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‘Saudis Arabia is not respecting its neighbours’: Commentator

Yemen will enter a new stage to fully reclaim its rights, Saudi Arabia will find itself in a major strategic deadlock and will bear high costs for its aggression.

Picture from al-Masirah TV on July 13, 2026 shows smoke and fire rising from the airport in Sana'a, Yemen after Saudi attack.

Commenting to PressTV on Saudi Arabia’s attack on Sana’a International Airport, author and commentator Saeb Shaath said ”Saudi Arabia’s actions destroy neighbours’ trust and destabilize the region”.

Yemen’s Foreign Ministry in Sana’a has condemned Saudi Arabia’s attack on Sana’a International Airport, saying that the strike marks the end of the truce and the beginning of a new phase of war.

In a statement on Monday, the Ministry declared that Yemen will enter a new stage to fully reclaim its rights, warning that Saudi Arabia will find itself in a major strategic deadlock and will bear high costs for its aggression.

Separately, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, stated that “the Saudi aggression will not go unpunished,” adding, “The Saudi enemy has ended the de-escalation phase, and must bear responsibility for all potential consequences.”

The Yemeni Ministry of Transport announced in a statement that “Saudi Arabia’s bombardment of Sana’a airport and violation of the Yemeni airspace signifies the Riyadh regime’s insistence, with Americans’ and Zionists’ push, to continue the siege.”

On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies initiated a blockade on Yemen, marking the beginning of a comprehensive war, backed with military, political, and logistical assistance from the United States and other Western countries.

The war has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Yemen, while failing to achieve its primary goal of reinstating the previous government that was aligned with Riyadh.

Amid a power struggle, the government fled the country, leading Yemen’s popular resistance movement, Ansarullah, to take charge of state affairs.

After a delicate ceasefire brokered by the UN in 2022, multiple rounds of significant attacks were launched against Yemen by the United States, Britain, and the Israeli regime.

The assaults aimed to weaken Sana’a’s ability to conduct solidarity strikes against Israeli targets, which were being conducted in response to Tel Aviv’s genocidal actions in the Gaza Strip.

Culture & Arts

Over 43 million join funeral ceremonies for Martyr Leader Imam Ali Khamenei in Iran, Iraq

Fra Hughes, reporting back From Iran, as he attending the funeral service in Mashhad for martyred Leader Imam Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .

Mourners-pack-the-streets-during-the-funeral-procession-for-martyred-Leader-of-the-Islamic-Revolution-Ayatollah-Seyyed-Ali-Khamenei-in-Mashhad

Fra Hughes, reporting back From Iran, as he attending the funeral service in Mashhad for martyred Leader Imam Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .

Tens of millions of Iranians and devotees from across the world turned the funeral ceremonies for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, into the largest procession the world has ever witnessed, according to a report.

The six-day grand farewell and burial rites for the revered Leader were held across five cities — Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, and Mashhad — drawing massive, passionate crowds that defied all previous records, the Fars News Agency reported.

The ceremonies included three days in Tehran, two days of public mourning at the Grand Mosalla and one day of the main funeral procession, with each of the other cities hosting a full day of tributes. Many mourners traveled between cities, multiplying the scale of participation and creating a continuous wave of devotion.

Official estimates, compiled from multiple independent field and government sources, confirm that between 41 and 43 million people took part in the historic events.

These figures are based on a rigorous combination of data including public transport passenger records to and from ceremony sites, active mobile phone signals in key areas such as the Mosalla and main procession routes, average individual attendance duration of approximately two and a half hours, detailed crowd density calculations along Tehran’s procession paths, physical area measurements from Jamkaran Mosque to the Holy Shrine in Qom, and the route from the airport to the Imam Reza Holy Shrine in Mashhad.

The endless sea of mourners, who had gathered since early morning, accompanied the vehicle carrying the blessed bodies, transforming the streets of Mashhad into a scene of unparalleled grandeur and devotion.

The sheer scale of the gathering defied description. From the moment the funeral vehicle entered Imam Reza Street, it was completely surrounded by waves of mourners who had traveled from every corner of Iran, all united in grief and determination.

Their tear-streaked faces and fervent chants filled the air, creating an atmosphere that observers described as one of the most remarkable displays of national unity in recent history.

Iraqi authorities, through the Prime Minister’s Office, separately verified the presence of around 10 million mourners in Najaf and Karbala, providing an important independent pillar for the overall calculation.

Even when applying the most conservative methodologies, Iranian officials and relevant authorities emphasize that this monumental event has surpassed every comparable gathering of the past century.

It stands without doubt as the single largest funeral procession in recorded history, a powerful and everlasting testament to the deep love and unwavering allegiance of the Iranian people and the broader Islamic Ummah for their martyred Leader.

The Leader and members of his family were martyred in a terrorist attack on February 28, carried out by the United States and the Zionist regime against the leader’s residence.

Among those martyred were new Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife, the late leader’s son-in-law; a daughter of the late leader and his 14-month-old granddaughter.

The funeral ceremonies began last Friday, with tributes from political officials from over 45 countries and scholars from more than 90 nations. This was followed by farewell ceremonies at Tehran’s Mosalla over the weekend, where millions paid their respects.

Watch Fra Hughes, reporting back From Iran, as he attending the funeral service in Mashhad for martyred Leader Imam Ayatollah Ali Khamenei :

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Millions bid final farewell as Martyr Leader is laid to rest in Mashhad

Culture & Arts

Sha’ath: Resistance axis to grow stronger after Ayatollah Khamenei.

Resistance axis to grow stronger after Ayatollah Khamenei

Iraqi mourners carry the coffin of martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Najaf, July 8, 2026.

Iraqi mourners carry the coffin of martyred Leader Khamenei in the holy city of Najaf, July 8, 2026. ( IRIB News)

Thursday, 09 July 2026

An interview with, West Asia political expert Saeb Shaath discusses why massive participation in funeral processions held in Iraq for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, goes beyond symbolic mourning, arguing that it reflects growing regional solidarity with Iran, shifting political dynamics in West Asia, and the enduring influence of Ayatollah Khamenei on the regional Axis of Resistance.

He also examines how Ayatollah Khamenei’s leadership helped unite diverse resistance movements around a common anti-imperialist agenda and what this legacy could mean for the future of the region.