
Is Macron the West's new Putin-whisperer?
CNN
If there was one indication that French President Emmanuel Macron may be well on his way to replacing former German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the leading figure in Western Europe, it is his expanding relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Macron meets Putin face-to-face in Moscow on Monday before heading to Kyiv the following day for another in-person session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- all while as many as 100,000 Russian troops remain poised on Ukraine's frontiers.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has told multiple associates and allies that there’s no chance he will bow to President Donald Trump’s calls for him to resign, vowing to withstand several more months of the president’s unprecedented, multi-pronged assault over Powell’s refusal to lower interest rates.