Germany's Chancellor Merz:

I want to bring our country forward.

I am firmly convinced that the success of our reforms will not only improve our coexistence, but also our self-image and our image in the world. Germany is reform-capable.

What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness, and patience.

Trump:

German Chancellor Merz says he won’t resign:

What now needs to be done requires backbone, steadfastness and patience.

I will provide that — as chairman of the CDU and, above all, as Federal Chancellor of our country.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

We need change. Change requires strength. Not everything will receive immediate applause.

I know that these changes will also bring burdens and new uncertainties for many of you. And in some areas, the effects will only become apparent after some time.

But that is precisely why we cannot postpone these decisions now. The reforms must come.

The U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia says government employees now require special authorization for official or personal travel to Taif and Yanbu amid ongoing Houthi attacks.

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

The answer cannot be a return to the good old days. But the answer also cannot be to constantly talk down everything that is good.

The answer must be to make our country fit for the future. I want our country to once again become a country of new beginnings.

Trump will meet NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion on Monday.

The meeting will focus on issues affecting New York City and will be Trump’s first visit with Mamdani in New York.

The two have previously met twice in Washington and have developed an unexpectedly amicable relationship despite their political differences.

Source: NYT

Die Linke finished first in Berlin's state election today (~25%) with a 13-point surge, led by Elif Eralp, a 45-year-old lawyer of Turkish origin.

If she becomes governing mayor, she'd be Berlin's first Turkish-origin mayor, Germany's first female state leader with a migration background, and the first Linke politician to lead the capital.

Her campaign was compared to New York mayor Zohran Mamdani's. Her team actually exchanged ideas with Mamdani's campaign. Media have called her "Berlin's Mamdani."

Housing drove the vote.

85% of Berliners rent and advertised rents have doubled since 2014.

Her central promise is implementing the 2021 referendum to take ~240,000 private apartments into public ownership.

Coalition talks will determine whether she actually governs — a Linke-Greens-SPD bloc or a CDU-Greens-SPD coalition are both mathematically possible.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Jake and Logan Paul.

German AfD Leader Alice Weidel:

The AfD is clearly the new people's party in Germany.

We have overtaken the CDU, and people want a change of policy.

The CDU, with Friedrich Merz, with a weak chancellor, cannot continue.

In Russia’s State Duma elections, exit polls showed the ruling United Russia party leading with 49.4% of the vote in a VCIOM survey and 52.8% in an INSOMAR poll.

The Communist Party was second on 14.2%-14.8%, followed by the LDPR on 9.9%-10.7%, New People on 8.6%-9.7% and A Just Russia on 5.5%-6.6%.

Voter turnout was reported at more than 56%.

Russia's Medvedev:

The United Russia party performed with dignity.

And the citizens of our country maintain trust in our leading political force and consider it possible to entrust it with further governance at various levels of state power.

Zelensky:

I just spoke with President Trump. It was an important conversation, and we managed to discuss many things.

We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could bring about significant changes. There is a diplomatic dynamic at play.

NEW: The Trump administration is preparing sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court that could severely restrict its access to the global financial system.

The measures would ban most transactions with the ICC after a six- to seven-month grace period and could prevent it from conducting U.S.-dollar transactions.

The move would go much further than existing sanctions on individual ICC officials and follows the court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Marco Rubio has said the U.S. could dismantle the court “brick by brick,” arguing that prosecutions of officials from nonmember states threaten U.S. sovereignty.

A decision could come as soon as this week around the UN General Assembly.

Source: WSJ

French President Macron:

We must work together with Canada to secure our energy supplies and keep fuel prices under control — an extremely sensitive issue for France today.

Canadian liquefied natural gas projects can contribute, are important for our Europe, and will help open new prospects between our two countries.

European intelligence officials are warning that Russia could test NATO within “months, not years,” potentially through drone or missile attacks, false-flag provocations, influence operations or even a limited incursion into NATO territory.

However, Baltic intelligence officials say they do not currently see signs of an imminent Russian attack and warn that excessive public alarm could itself serve Moscow’s goal of spreading fear and uncertainty across Europe.

The officials nevertheless expect Russian sabotage operations to intensify. They say Moscow is increasingly shifting from random acts of disruption toward more specific targets, including railways, infrastructure supporting Ukraine and European defense companies.

Source: The Guardian

Canadian PM Mark Carney:

There are only four countries at the forefront of AI: France, Canada, China and the United States.

We must join forces to ensure an appropriate framework so that AI is safe and effective.

Canadian PM Mark Carney:

To be sovereign goes beyond being able to feed, fuel and defend ourselves.

It requires secure access to artificial intelligence, to space, semiconductors, critical minerals, clean energy.

And it’s in this context that Canada and Europe will build an alliance for the future that will strengthen our collective resilience.

Canadian PM Mark Carney:

Only a few kilometers separate Canada and France at their closest point.

Our values are even closer.

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski on Russia:

Ukraine has destroyed, it is estimated, between 30% and 40% of Russia’s refining capacity.

So if Ukraine, practically without an air force — because it does not have the operational capability to fly over Russia, for example — was able to achieve that, then I told the Russians, partly as a deterrent: watch out, because we have more combat aircraft than you do.

So if you do what nobody wants you to do, we are not going to sit there and do nothing. We will respond both defensively and offensively.

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski on Russia:

I do not know of a case in which terrorizing the civilian population produced the desired political effect. Usually, the effect is the opposite.

Please note that because of Russia’s various acts of sabotage, we now have public support for a high defense budget.