Crypto News: Macron’s Indian mission

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From a wintry Munich to sweltering Mumbai, the contrast could hardly be sharper.

The atmosphere was thick with transatlantic foreboding at the weekend's Munich Security Conference, where Emmanuel Macron delivered a stark message urging Europeans to wake up and reduce their dependence on the US.

The mood is expected to be lighter in India, where the French president arrives today.

According to his advisers, the trip to Mumbai and New Delhi is designed to cement France's relationship with the world's most populous country at a time when multilateralism is under strain, and to further diversify Paris's global partnerships.

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, at an informal European Union (EU) leaders retreat at Alden Biesen Castle in Rijkhoven, Belgium, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. EU leaders are to discuss ways to bolster the single market amid new geoeconomic challenges. Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg — Macron at the European Union leaders meeting in Rijkhoven, Belgium, on Feb. 12.

A key objective will be advancing talks on a potential mega-deal for more than 100 Rafale fighter jets, a contract that could be worth tens of billions of euros if sealed with the Indian Air Force.

Macron will also attend an AI summit — reciprocating after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was his guest of honor at France's AI gathering last year. Common standards that offer an alternative to AI models shaped by the US or China is the president's goal.

Also on the agenda are a long-running push for potential nuclear-reactor sales along with closer cultural ties — including a possible partnership between the Cannes Film Festival and Bollywood.

The broader aim is to help French businesses expand beyond their reliance on Beijing and Washington.

France sees a shared ambition of greater sovereignty and strategic independence, particularly in defense. The presidential delegation reflects those priorities, with executives from the likes of Dassault Aviation and Eutelsat.

Modi has his own bumpy relationship with Donald Trump's America, after India was initially hit with punitive US tariffs over Russian oil purchases.

During the French leader's visit two years ago, hundreds of billboards lined the route showing Modi and Macron embracing.

With geopolitics in even greater turmoil, they have good reason to embrace even more tightly now. — Ania Nussbaum

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, left, greets Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Thursday, July 13, 2023. India's Defence Acquisition Council approved the purchase of French submarines and fighter jets as the South Asian country diversifies purchases of military hardware beyond Russia and positions itself as a bulwark against China. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg — Macron and Modi in Paris in July 2023.

Global Must Reads

Russia's Black Sea coastal region came under heavy weekend drone strikes, while Ukraine's city of Odesa experienced water and power outages after a Russian attack, as the two sides prepare for fresh US-led peace talks in Geneva tomorrow. Russia is becoming increasingly reliant on foreign fighters in the war as its forces sustain more losses than they're able to replace, UK Defence Secretary John Healey said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he proposed terms for any de-escalation deal with Iran during a meeting with Trump last week. Tehran shouldn't possess enriched material or nuclear enrichment capabilities and its range of ballistic missiles should be limited, he said. Geneva is expected to host a second round of Iran-US talks this week following indirect negotiations in Oman.

Iran's leadership is under intense pressure. Its bloody crackdown in the face of widespread popular anger and threats by Donald Trump of another US attack have left it with few options for survival. — WATCH: Why Iran's leaders face a dangerous moment.

As Indonesia's stock market plummeted in late January, a furious President Prabowo Subianto met with key cabinet ministers and demanded to know if local tycoons and their businesses were responsible, and if foreigners were trying to mess with him and the country, sources say. Read this inside view on the response to the country's worst equity rout since 1998 and what it may indicate about Indonesia's direction under Prabowo.

Lebanon's government signaled it's open to expanding its role in the US-led task force monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and stepping up efforts to disarm the Iran-backed militia, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in an interview. Trump, meanwhile, said founding member countries of his Board of Peace have pledged more than $5 billion toward humanitarian efforts and reconstruction in Gaza.

Claudia Sheinbaum's decision to halt oil shipments to Cuba is testing her standing within Mexico's ruling party just over a year into her presidency, even as she staves off confrontation with Trump. Mexico's political left has seen Cuba as a source of inspiration ever since Fidel Castro and Che Guevara hatched the 1959 revolution in the nation's capital.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is better known for her strong progressive stances than her foreign-policy views over the course of her seven years in the US Congress, but her appearance at the Munich Security Conference suggested a shift in approach and fueled speculation of a presidential run in 2028.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Nuclear deterrence is set to be a hot topic at the conference. Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg — Ocasio-Cortez at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

South Africa's second-largest political party faces internal pressure to quit the ruling coalition, but doing so would damage its growth prospects and be a "big mistake," its outgoing leader John Steenhuisen said.

The US military boarded an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel for thousands of miles, saying it tried to circumvent Trump's energy blockade in the Caribbean against sanctioned ships.

Japan continued to object to a Chinese claim that Tokyo was returning to militarism, saying the assertion doesn't reflect reality and that it had lodged a protest over the remarks.

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Chart of the Day

While the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was over in a matter of hours, at minimum cost to the American taxpayer, the US military's continuing posture in the Caribbean is costing billions. Bloomberg calculations show the operational price tag of the ships deployed there hit more than $20 million a day at its peak from mid-November until mid-January.

And Finally

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered an about-face on NATO membership, Sweden is starting to consider another historic shift: adopting the euro. While the debate is in its early stages, a subtle but notable shift is taking place as conditions change. In 2003, when voters rejected Europe's common currency in a referendum, the focus was on the krona's ability to act as a buffer for the largest Nordic economy, but now geopolitical concerns have added a new dimension.

TOPSHOT - A JAS 39 Gripen C/D fighter aircraft of the Swedish Armed Forces taxis past a US KC-135 Stratotanker military tanker aircraft at Lulea-Kallax Airport, Sweden on March 4, 2024 during the NATO Nordic Response 24 military exercise, a Norwegian national exercise carried out in northern Sweden, Norway and Finland with associated airspace and waters. In order to increase the Armed Forces' military capability, Swedish units participate in the exercise, which is an integral part of the NATO exercise series Steadfast Defender, NATO's biggest military exercise since the Cold War. The Western military alliance has said some 90,000 troops will take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise designed to test its defences in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. Steadfast Defender will be composed of a series of smaller individual drills and will span from North America to NATO's eastern flank, close to the Russian border. (Photo by Anders WIKLUND / TT News Agency / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo by ANDERS WIKLUND/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: ANDERS WIKLUND/AFP — The Gripen fighter jet, which is made by Sweden's Saab, is exported to militaries around the world.

Thanks to everyone who answered Friday's quiz question, and congratulations to Shane Brereton, who was first to correctly identify Ghana as the African nation that reintroduced legislation that seeks to jail LGBTQ people.