Politics

Bloomberg Carles Puigdemont’s removal from Catalonia’s political scene to a German jail forces the separatist movement to take a decision: keep bickering on the way ahead, or set aside outstanding differences and form a regional government. The former Catalan president’s detention in Germany on Sunday was hailed by anti-separatist forces as a decisive blow against the push for Catalan independence. ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is poised to take his most aggressive actions yet against Russia on Monday, when he’s likely to announce the expulsion of dozens of diplomats in response to the nerve-gas attack on a former Russian spy living in the UK. The move, all but certain to provoke retaliation by President Vladimir Putin’s government, comes as Trump has ...

Bloomberg Police detained former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont as he crossed into Germany from Denmark by car, bringing his eventual return to Spain to face trial a step nearer. Puigdemont was attempting to return to Belgium after a visit to Finland, his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas said by phone on Sunday. A spokesman for the police in Germany’s northern state of ...

Bloomberg After outmaneuvering establishment parties to emerge as lead negotiators in Italy’s search for a new government, the populist pair Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini seek to win enough support this week to justify their rival claims for the premiership. Di Maio of the Five Star Movement and Salvini of the anti-migrant League, each short of a majority after ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, is discussing the possibility of bringing forward elections set to be held next year, according to three people familiar with the talks. The ANC is considering the move amid a wave of positive sentiment following the rise of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of Africa’s most industrialised country. He succeeded Jacob Zuma, ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his apology on Sunday for a cronyism scandal as opposition lawmakers warned it would hamper his ambitions of changing the country’s pacifist constitution. Public anger over the revelation that Finance Ministry officials doctored documents relating to the discounted sale of public land to a school operator with connections to Abe’s wife sent his ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is preparing to expel dozens of Russian diplomats from the US in response to the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in UK, two people familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Trump agreed with the recommendation of advisers and the expulsions are likely to be announced on Monday, the people said, though they cautioned ...

Bloomberg Catalonia’s parliament suspended a vote to name a new president because the separatist candidate is in jail, extending the political limbo in a region divided by a campaign to split from Spain. Speaker Roger Torrent said he wouldn’t hold the vote on Jordi Turull’s bid because he was jailed by a judge investigating his role in an attempt to ...

BEIRUT / Reuters The Syrian army paused its bombardment of Douma, the last rebel bastion in eastern Ghouta, after midnight, a war monitor said on Saturday, as insurgents prepared to leave the rest of their former enclave. Thousands of fighters and their family members departed neighbouring Harasta by bus after a deal with the government to surrender the town. Insurgents ...

Bloomberg Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi pledged to remain united after a virulent clash over relations with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, with the prospect of a pop- ulist Five Star-League government alarming investors. Center-right alliance leaders Salvini, Berlusconi and Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy party said in a joint statement after meeting ...