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 ...