Berlin / AFP Germany’s foreign minister said he hoped the warring sides in Ukraine’s conflict could agree to extend a shaky truce, ahead of peace talks in Berlin later Wednesday. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he also wanted negotiators to move forward on organising local elections in eastern Ukraine, warning that each round of fruitless talks risks undermining a fragile peace …

  London / AFP Queen Elizabeth II was caught on camera describing some Chinese officials as “very rude” in a rare diplomatic gaffe by the long-serving British monarch over a state visit that drummed up billions in Chinese investment. Her comments, aired on Wednesday, came just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday also made inadvertently public remarks, referring …

  Early in his tenure as director of national intelligence, James Clapper could sometimes be heard complaining “I’m too old for this [expletive]!” He has now served almost six years as America’s top intelligence official, and when I asked him this week how much longer he would be in harness, he consulted his calendar and answered with relief, “265 days!” …