Berlin /AFP Germany’s ruling coalition has backed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the country’s next president, party sources said on Monday, paving the way for a sharp critic of Donald Trump to become head of state. Party leaders have been wrangling for months over whom to nominate as a potential successor to President Joachim Gauck, a 76-year-old former pastor …

  Seoul / AFP South Korean prosecutors on Monday questioned two former key presidential aides over allegations they helped a shadowy confidant of President Park Geun-Hye meddle in state affairs and secretly visit her office. Park has been engulfed by a scandal that centres on Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her personal ties with the president to coerce …

  The politician who ought to be most immune to the populist rage sweeping the world’s democracies should be Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. A former mayor who won election in Florence at the age of 29 as the radical alternative to an establishment candidate, Renzi has solid populist credentials. Moreover, Italians have already had their Donald Trump. Billionaire businessman …