The prospect of far-right leader Marine Le Pen winning France's presidency on a pledge to confront the EU is worrying Brussels, with France voting in April and May. Ahead of an EU leaders' summit, Le Pen went to Brussels to vow to slash France's EU budget contribution and cut short financial support for Ukraine, warning of a budget showdown and difficult times for EU chief Ursula von der Leyen if she wins. President Emmanuel Macron, who must leave office after two terms, still wields influence in the bloc, especially on foreign and security policy, though one academic says he is weak on economics. Observers say no other EU leader has taken a leadership role, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is weaker than ever after the strongest far-right win in Germany since 1945.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on kyivpost.com ↗
Related news
- Le Pen looms large as Macron enters final months on EU stage
France holds presidential elections in April and May, after which Macron must leave office because he can only serve two terms. As Macron attended an EU summit in Brussels, Le Pen travelled there the day before to call for slashing France's EU budget contribution and ending support for Ukraine, which has European officials worried she is already trying to influence EU affairs. For Macron, the threat of a Le Pen presidency has sharpened focus on what he can still achieve in his final months, and diplomats say he retains influence in Brussels despite domestic crises. One academic says Macron is strong on foreign and security policy but weak on economics, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is seen as weaker than ever after the strongest far-right win in Germany since 1945.
- Azerbaijan nears final stage of mandatory property insurance law revision
Azerbaijan's Central Bank says revisions to the mandatory real estate insurance law are in their final stages, after the draft was under review with relevant government agencies for some time. CBA Executive Director Vusal Gurbanov, speaking at the Financial Stability Report press conference, said the main aims are more transparent insurance payouts and coverage amounts set in line with property value. He attributed the decline in compulsory policies to factors including the timing of policy issuance, higher insured amounts for some types, and state-provided insurance for certain categories. Gurbanov stressed that the bill is not intended to increase the number of mandatory policies, but to improve service quality and streamline processes.
- At the White House, crypto policy vacancy looms large
Patrick Witt, who ran the White House digital assets office, has left, leaving the role vacant and unclear who will handle crypto policy. A White House official said the Clarity Act remains a priority for the president, but the newly named AI czar's remit no longer includes crypto. Earlier, Bo Hines led the office when the GENIUS stablecoin act passed, then took a job running Tether's U.S. arm, while his consulting firm Nxum received Tether payments while he was at the White House. Witt then became the face of the push for the Clarity Act in the Senate, as Democrats demanded limits on senior officials' personal crypto holdings, including the president's. Some lawmakers still suggest legislative action could come in the final weeks of the session after the November elections.
- BHP Shares Drop Below A$60 , Momemtum Test Looms Large
Related markets
Latest news
- Tether: Senator's investigation misses positive work that's led to lower Iran volumes
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says a recent Senate Democrats report, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, missed the company's work to enforce sanctions. He claims Tether froze suspicious addresses on average 4 weeks before OFAC and NBCTF sanction designations, and before Chainalysis labelled them in 99% of cases since 2023. Ardoino says these actions led to Iran-linked stablecoin volumes declining by 94%. The Senate report, which described Tether as providing a significant financial lifeline within Iran's shadow banking network, said the company did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets before 2024. Blumenthal is also probing Tether's relationship with its U.S. financial partner, Cantor Fitzgerald.
- Sandisk, Datadog, Amazon Lead S&P 500 As AI Stocks Rebound
Western Digital, Sandisk, Datadog, Twilio and Amazon led the S&P 500 on Monday as AI-related stocks rebounded. Western Digital (WDC) rose 6.1% to 352.21, still below all its key moving averages, after plunging 16.4% last week. The hard-drive maker reports fiscal Q1 results late Thursday, kicking off a round of earnings for memory-related companies.
- Tesla Rises on a Foundry Agreement With Intel as JPMorgan Upgrades the Stock
Intel shares rose 4% and Tesla rose 3% after JPMorgan upgraded Intel to Neutral from Underweight and kept its $85 price target. Tesla committed to Intel's 14A process in April, and JPMorgan credits CEO Lip-Bu Tan's execution, expects positive EPS revisions, and sees its 2028 EPS estimate about 15% above consensus. The upgrade remains cautious: Intel is down about 36% from its June peak, its share of server CPU revenue has fallen from 77% to 53% since 2022, and its outside foundry business brought in barely $1 billion of annualized revenue in the first half of 2026. Intel's capital spending has exceeded operating cash every year since 2022, so the $20 billion stock sale and an anchor customer make the factory plan more fundable, though 14A won't reach high-volume production until 2028 and neither company has disclosed the deal's value. Intel reports third-quarter results on Oct. 29.
- What Crypto Bear Market? All of These Cryptocurrencies Have Skyrocketed in Value This Year
Bitcoin is down nearly 10% year-to-date, Ethereum is down 20% and XRP is down 30%, but several altcoins have risen sharply in 2026. Hyperliquid (HYPE) is up 210% for the year with a market cap of $20 billion, helped by the launch of spot ETFs, and Zcash (ZEC) is up 128%, with Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF attracting more than $500 million in under 30 days. NEAR Protocol, repositioned for the AI agent economy, is up 240% in 2026 but still down 75% from its January 2022 all-time high. Venice Token (VVV) is up 1,300% this year with a market cap just above $1 billion. The author favors Hyperliquid, citing its popularity overseas, the recent opening of the U.S. market to perpetual futures, and implicit support from the Trump administration.
- Nscale in talks for $45 billion Anthropic AI deal as IPO looms
Nscale is in talks to secure a computing deal worth about $45 billion with Anthropic, according to Bloomberg News, which could strengthen the Nvidia-backed data center developer's bid for a roughly $30 billion valuation in its planned IPO. The proposed agreement would cover a second building at Nscale's Monarch campus in West Virginia, delivering 460 megawatts of capacity powered by Nvidia's Vera Rubin chips, and could be finalized within days, though terms could still change. Anthropic already has infrastructure agreements with Nscale worth as much as $44.6 billion, according to Nscale's IPO filing, and holds a right of first refusal on the campus's anticipated third building. Investors are scrutinizing AI infrastructure economics, and Nscale faces questions similar to CoreWeave's about financing, execution and converting its backlog into cash flow, since its contracts are future commitments rather than collected cash. Representatives for Nscale and Anthropic declined to comment.
- A bad case of when your crypto thesis is based on one guy
Turkey confirmed the arrest of Hex founder Richard Hart, who was detained in Istanbul on October 14, and said police seized 7.15 million cash, six cold wallets, 28 watches, 300 bags and seven firearms during searches across 15 addresses. The detention relates to a Finnish Interpol red notice over suspicions of gross tax evasion and assault in Finland. Hart had an SCC civil case dismissed in 2025 on jurisdictional grounds, and the SCC declined to refile it. The speaker argues that investors who buy the token based on one founder face a sharp price drop if that person runs into legal trouble, and advises against investing just because of a founder.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.