French President Macron:

We will use the measures available under our laws to prevent new events of this kind.

Those who want to create disorder in city centers next Saturday will be prevented from doing so.

French President Macron on Trump:

When I see leaders who are in the middle of election campaigns, whether in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic, who sometimes naively repeat AI-generated content or spread what certain groups want people to believe about what happened in France, they are campaigning at our expense.

We don't need that. We already have difficulties, and we are dealing with them methodically, respectfully, but also with determination and firmness.

And we will see this through to the end.

French President Macron:

Our legal system already contains measures allowing prefects, depending on the local situation, to impose curfews and prohibit gatherings.

If the situation justified it, a state of emergency could be declared.

Kremlin:

All proposals brought by Witkoff will be reviewed and assessed by Putin.

Kremlin:

The decision to release Hubbard was made by Putin on humanitarian grounds.

Trump:

Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week.

Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family.

A Venezuelan-Italian billionaire banker received a full pardon from President Trump in January, weeks after his daughter’s new company hired Alina Habba under a contract worth more than $50 million.

Julio Herrera Velutini had been charged in 2022 in a Puerto Rico bribery case alongside the island’s former governor.

The felony charges were later dropped, and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation.

His daughter, Isabela Herrera, gave $3.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. She also pledged $2.5 million to Trump’s White House ballroom project.

In late October 2025, she registered a Florida company with no clear business. Days later, it hired Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer and then a Justice Department adviser, as general counsel.

People familiar with the deal said they believed she was hired to help secure the pardon, which Trump granted on 15 January.

Habba denied any link, calling the insinuation “false.”

The White House said she had nothing to do with the pardon.

Source: NYT

BIG: France’s 10-year borrowing cost briefly rose above 5% on Wednesday for the first time since 2002.

The yield touched about 5.002% before easing back to around 4.98%.

The gap over German bonds widened to roughly 160 basis points, a level last seen during the 2011 eurozone debt crisis.

Investors are losing confidence in France’s ability to control its public finances.

Public debt stands at about 119% of GDP, and the deficit is running above 5%.

Last weekend’s violent protests have added to doubts about whether austerity is politically possible.

Moody’s is due to review France’s credit rating on Friday.

Photo: Le Monde

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel on Ukraine War:

Military spending and defense spending, as the word says, should be invested in our own defense capabilities.

Germany is now in the position of being the main financier of Ukraine, also giving away our ammunition and everything.

The other European states are pulling back. Trump is out already.

This policy is very harmful to Germany's national security and also to the other European states.

Reporter: I think everyone would like the war in Ukraine to end.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel: Not our government, actually.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel on Russia:

While we impose one sanctions package after another, Donald Trump talks with Vladimir Putin about the delivery of further diesel, oil and gas.

We would like to have the same thing for Germany because we need to lower our energy costs.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel on Ukraine War:

This is our stance: It is not our war. It is very dangerous, and it is very costly, especially for us.

Germany has spent over €100 billion on the war in Ukraine.

This is quite dangerous and endangers Germany as a state because right now we could already be a target.

Reporter: There was a foiled, luckily, attack on Leipzig Airport from the Russians.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel: Well, to be honest, I'm not an eyewitness to that. What evidence do we have?

With this so-called attempted drone attack, we haven't seen any evidence in parliament.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

What we have in the sea is the destroyed Nord Stream pipelines, and that was a state terrorist attack on German infrastructure.

It was very harmful to Germany, destroying energy infrastructure worth almost €30 billion and cutting off Europe, especially Germany, from Russian gas.

We need to follow the facts. The facts about the terrorist attacks on Nord Stream are ignored by our politicians, while for the other allegations, evidence is missing.

We ask for evidence, and there's no evidence.

Zelensky:

They’re not winning on the battlefield. That’s why they want to use any kind of pressure on us to push us from our land.

It’s not fair. We can’t just leave our country, our houses. It’s our children. So we speak about staying where we stand.

Let’s move to diplomacy. It’s a great idea, the ceasefire of the President of the United States.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

There is a history of NATO's encroachment toward the Russian border. Russia emphasized this problem several times.

Why did nobody listen to Russian concerns when missile systems were being placed near its borders, especially in Romania, capable of carrying nuclear devices?

Zelensky:

I spoke yesterday with Secretary Rubio. By the way, now intelligence works. Thank you so much.

It was very dangerous for us not to get early warning information about ballistic attacks from the Russian side. Right now, it works.

About Starlink, Starshield — it’s still limited, but the Secretary told me that he will work with his team on this, to unblock this question. God bless, it will be done.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel on Ukraine War:

Prolonging the war and launching drones deep into Russia, destroying refineries, destroying houses and buildings near Moscow, is a huge provocation.

It doesn't help when a country carries out drone attacks against a country that has nuclear weapons.

It doesn't make sense. It's very risky, and it's very stupid.

We need to put pressure on Zelensky to have the willingness to end the dying and this very risky strategy for the entirety of Europe.

Interviewer: Would you accept a peace deal that freezes everything the way it is right now, where you still keep 75 percent or more of your country? Regardless of how it started, would you accept where it is right now?

Zelensky: Yes.

Reporter: Do you see Russia as a threat beyond Ukraine? Do you think it is a threat to European countries, to NATO members?

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel: I think it's not a question about being a threat or not being a threat.

Germany's foreign policy should be evaluated by the criterion of whether it serves our national interest or not.