BAGHDAD / KIRKUK / Reuters The Baghdad government recaptured territory across the breadth of northern Iraq from Kurds on Tuesday, widening a sudden and dramatic campaign that has shifted the balance of power in the country almost overnight. In the second day of a lightning government campaign to take back towns and countryside from forces of the Kurdish autonomous region, …

Bloomberg The Venezuelan opposition has been boxed in. The socialist regime’s sweeping victories in elections marred by fraud accusations left opponents with scant hope of a fair 2018 presidential vote. International pressure has failed to move President Nicolas Maduro. Nor have months of street protests. Now, opponents are splintering over the basic question of whether the ballot box is the …

Bloomberg Spain’s National Court ordered the Catalan police chief to surrender his passport after finding evidence that his force spied on its rivals in Madrid. A judge in the Spanish capital told Josep Lluis Trapero to report back to the court every two weeks, citing evidence that the Catalan police force, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, may have conducted counter-intelligence …