Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel and her prospective coalition partners stepped up the pace of talks to end Germany’s political impasse, setting a nine-day timeline for a final deal on a government platform. Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc and the Social Democratic Party agreed on Friday to try to wrap up negotiations by February 4. If that goal is met, the SPD ...

VIENNA / Reuters The Syrian opposition will not attend a peace conference Russia is hosting next week, a spokesman said on Saturday, dismissing the meeting as an attempt by the Syrian government’s close ally to “sideline” the current United Nations peace process. He was speaking at the end of two days of UN-brokered talks between the Syrian government and opposition, ...

Bloomberg Kenya’s opposition National Super Alliance said it has evidence that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga won the nation’s Aug. 8 presidential election. The alliance has a document containing “authentic, unpolluted, unadulterated” data that shows Odinga and his running mate, Kalonzo Musyoka, were the legitimate winners of the vote, Nasa Senator James Orengo told reporters Friday in the capital, Nairobi. ...