Politics

Bloomberg A US grand jury has approved the first charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign, according to multiple news reports. The charges are sealed under orders from a federal judge and it’s unclear who’s implicated, CNN reported, adding that arrests could come as soon ...

Bloomberg An uneasy calm prevailed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and the west of the country after two days of running battles between the security forces and supporters of the main opposition, which boycotted a court-ordered repeat of presidential elections. Opposition leader Raila Odinga pulled out of the October 26 rerun, after the electoral commission failed to heed his demands to ...

Bloomberg At least 26 people were killed on Saturday when al-Shabaab militants detonated two car bombs in Mogadishu, according to police in the capital of the horn of Africa nation. Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was expected to hold a meeting with feuding politicians at Nasahablod Hotel where the first car bomb exploded, while the second blast occurred near the ...

Bloomberg Normal weekend routines like shopping, soccer and strolling prevailed in Catalonia even as the first test of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s decision to take over the breakaway region approached, with Catalans weighing compliance versus defiance. When schools and government offices open on Monday, teachers and civil servants will decide whether to follow the ousted Catalan leaders’ calls to ...

Bloomberg Iceland faces politically tumultuous times after the conservative ruling party emerged weakened in a snap vote, with new parties entering parliament in the nation’s third election in four years. The Independence Party will win about 25.3 percent of the vote, down from 29 percent last year, a count of about 45 percent of the vote showed. Its closest challenger, ...

Bloomberg The European Union agreed to start internal preparations for the possibility of Brexit negotiations failing to reach a breakthrough at a crunch December summit, as the former British envoy to the EU said the UK’s trade goals were unrealistic. At a meeting in Brussels, the EU’s 27 governments without Britain approved work to start on their response to the ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s effort to form a new government hit a snag as negotiators diverged on European policy and climate change, highlighting the complexity of the unprecedented multi-party talks. While Merkel’s Christian Democrats, her CSU Bavarian sister party, the pro-market Free Democratic Party and the Greens committed to a “strong and united Europe,” negotiators remained apart on the ...

Bloomberg Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered the suspension of military operations in areas disputed with the country’s Kurdish minority, the first sign of a rapprochement since their vote for independence last month. The 24-hour ceasefire will allow a joint Iraqi and Kurdish team to deploy federal Iraqi forces to the areas, Abadi said in a statement on Twitter. The ...

Bloomberg A moment of triumph, the declaration of Europe’s newest independent state, has quickly become the cold reality of what Catalonia’s separatists were always likely to face in their historic collision with Spain. Within hours of the parliament in Barcelona voting to break away, the would-be Catalan Republic was hit by the might of the Spanish state. Rather than leaving ...

Bloomberg Kenya is no closer to resolving months of political turmoil after millions of opposition supporters boycotted a Supreme Court-ordered repeat of its presidential election, raising the likelihood of another legal challenge to the outcome. Less than half of registered voters cast ballots, down from the 79 percent turnout for Aug. 8 elections that the court annulled because proper procedures ...