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 …