Nationalist dominated the first round of local elections on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, winning more than 45 percent of the vote in preliminary results. The vote has been closely watched elsewhere, following Catalonia’s independence moves in Spain.

The results mark a clear victory for the current ruling nationalist coalition in Corsica. Their Pe a Corsica list earned significantly more votes during this first round than two years ago, when they swept to an unprecedented victory in regional elections. A smaller nationalist ticket received far fewer votes. But should the two unite, they would capture the majority of seats in Corsica’s assembly.

Speaking to French TV, nationalist leader Gilles Simeoni, who heads the winning ticket, said his group would represent all Corsicans, whether they supported their movement or not.

The nationalists took power in 2015, refueling, for some, long-held independence dreams on the island. Catalonia’s independence struggle has added further juice.

University of Bordeaux Corsica expert Thierry Dominici said the results were a huge victory – and suggest nationalist sentiments touch everyone in Corsica. He credited the high abstention rate to a mix of factors – including that many are waiting for next Sunday’s runoff.

Strikingly, France’s main parties scored extremely low – including the far-right National Front party which faired strongly in Corsica during the presidential elections.

That meant, Dominici said, Corsican support for the far right reflects a protest vote, rather than real support.

The Corsican results mark yet another European region tilting to more autonomy. Unlike Spain’s Catalonia region, however, Corsica’s ruling coalition is not demanding independence – rather more local control of matters like taxation and education. More die-hard nationalists continue to hope for more.

 
…

German authorities say a suspicious package containing nails that led to a bomb scare on a Christmas market in Potsdam was part of a blackmailing plot against a delivery company.

Brandenburg state Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter told reporters Sunday the package was part of a scheme to extort millions of euros from delivery company DHL. It was delivered Friday to a pharmacy on the same street as the market in Potsdam and later destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Schroeter said it most likely didn’t target the market.

Officials said the package’s sender was still at large and that an online company in Frankfurt an der Oder had received a similar package “a while ago.”

Police initially said the device wasn’t viable, but now think the package could have exploded.
…

Germany wants to support rejected asylum-seekers who voluntarily move back to their home countries with a one-time payment of 3,000 euros ($3,570).

The Interior Ministry says those who qualify can apply by a Feb. 28 deadline and they would get the money once they return home.

Migrants who agree to go back even before their asylum request is rejected have already been offered 1,200 euros per adult and 600 euros per child under a different program for almost a year. They are now eligible to apply for both programs.

But the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday that 8,639 migrants participated in the returnee program between February and October, even though there are about 115,000 rejected asylum-seekers in Germany -many of whom can’t be deported for humanitarian reasons.
…

Romanian protesters clashed with riot police Saturday when they stopped construction workers from building a Christmas fair at the site of anti-corruption demonstrations in Bucharest.

Victory Square saw big street protests at the beginning of the year following attempts by the ruling Social Democrats to decriminalize some corruption offenses. It has been a gathering place for largely peaceful protests since.

Further demonstrations have been announced on social media as parliament gears up to approve a judicial overhaul that has been criticized by thousands of magistrates, centrist President Klaus Iohannis, the European Commission and the U.S. State Department.

Earlier this week, Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea, a senior Social Democrat member, said she would stage a Christmas fair for most of December in the square — a decision that Social Democrat Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said was not “the most inspired.”

On Saturday, protesters began dismantling the scaffolding and fences for the fair, waving flags and chanting “We won’t give Victory Square up,” and “Firea, don’t forget, this square is not yours.”

Three protesters were taken to a police station, riot police spokesman Georgian Enache told state news agency Agerpres. He added one of them was accused of hitting another citizen.

“We are asking Bucharest city hall to abandon immediately … the move to fence in Victory Square,” protest activists said in a statement on the Facebook page “Corruption Kills.”

“We urge citizens to protest firmly but nonviolently. We must stop this treacherous and rudimentary attempt by Mayor Gabriela Firea to discourage protests at a time when they will be crucial for the future of this country.”

“This means the beginning of anarchy,” Firea said in a statement later. She said she would find another place to locate the fair.
…

Greece’s finance minister said Saturday that an agreement had been reached between the heavily indebted country and its creditors on its progress in implementing reforms.

The agreement on the so-called Third Assessment of Greece’s latest bailout program will allow Greece to receive fresh funds next year, after implementing workplace reforms, speeding up the settlement of bad loans, tightening up rules for family subsidies and selling off state-owned power plants.

European monetary affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici also announced that a “staff-level agreement” had been reached, meaning that although creditor representatives were involved, the European Union’s finance ministers must approve the agreement, which they are expected to do Monday.

Finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos said Greece would have to vote on at least two major bills by January 22 to implement the agreement.
…

Voters on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica head to the polls Sunday for the first round of territorial elections, with a nationalist ticket projected to score big.

The campaign might not have attracted much attention but for the Spanish region of Catalonia, where independence aspirations have grabbed world headlines and turned attention to other autonomy-minded regions.

Candidates from seven political lists will be on Sunday’s ballot. But the main nationalist ticket, Pe a Corsica (For Corsica), is surging.

The elections aim to fuse Corsica’s two administrative territories into one, but they’re about much more than bureaucracy. They’re expected to solidify the power of Corsica executive council head Gilles Simeoni and other nationalists, who won elections in 2015 for the first time, refueling centuries-old independence dreams — at least for some Corsicans. Catalonia’s example has given them another reason to hope.

The big question, said University of Bordeaux Corsica expert Thierry Dominici, is not whether the nationalists will win, but by how much.

Dominici said Pe a Corsica supporters hope to win the majority of votes during Sunday’s first round, making a second-round runoff unnecessary. They could then compare themselves to Catalonia and demand more autonomy from France, or even at some point a referendum on full independence.

Dominici and many other experts think such dreams are unrealistic. Besides sharing strong cultural identities, including languages, rich and teeming Catalonia and relatively poor and sparsely populated Corsica have little in common.

French subsidies

“Corsica receives a lot of subsidies from the French government, and Corsica is a special situation concerning taxes,” said political analyst Philippe Moreau Defarges. “And many Corsicans don’t want to lose that.”

He also noted that Corsica’s main economic lifeline, tourism, is highly dependent on mainland France.

Sunday’s elections do underscore a major shift in Corsican politics. A decades-long armed independence struggle formally ended in 2014, although it lost credibility much earlier. A year later, a mix of pro-independence politicians — opposed to armed violence — and more moderate autonomists won regional elections, toppling the island’s traditional clannish power structure.

So far, Dominici said, the nationalists have gotten good reviews. He described council head Simeoni, a moderate nationalist, as a local variation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who exploded traditional French party politics with his own election this year.

Macron and his government have been strikingly silent about the Corsica vote and nationalist demands for more autonomy over such matters as taxes and education. Moreau Defarges said Paris wants to lie low — for now.

France wants “to preserve French unity, the territorial integrity of France,” he said.

But if Pe a Corsica scores a major victory in the polls, the Macron government will be pressured to respond.
…

Pope Francis talked to a group of Bangladeshi priests and nuns about the “terrorism of gossip” and how it can destroy religious communities on Saturday, before returning to the Vatican.  

The leader of the world’s Roman Catholics spoke from his heart to the crowd at Dhaka’s Holy Rosary Church.

He abandoned the speech he had prepared and instead gave a spontaneous 15-minute address about the highs and lows of living in a religious community.

In the laughter-filled monologue, he urged his audience to tend to their religious vocations “with tenderness” and warned them about the havoc gossip “bombs” can wreak when detonated in a closed religious  life.

Francis said he was speaking from personal experience and urged the nuns and priests to “Please, bite your tongue” which means to consider your words carefully before speaking.

Pope Francis asked for forgiveness from Rohingya Muslim refugees for all of their suffering Friday, using the politically sensitive term “Rohingya” to describe the persecuted – a term he had not uttered during his trip that began in Myanmar.

“The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” he said after meeting refugees brought to the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka from Cox’s Bazaar, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have settled after fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The pontiff blessed the Rohingya refugees during an emotional meeting in which he held their hands and listened to their stories.

Earlier Friday, Pope Francis ordained 16 priests at a huge outdoor Mass in the Bangladeshi capital. An estimated 100,000 people attended the Mass in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan Park.

Before visiting Bangladesh, the pontiff spent four days in neighboring Myanmar, where he had been criticized by human rights activists for not specifically mentioning the Rohingya.

The Rohingya are a minority ethnic group that has been denied basic rights for decades in the majority Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which views them as immigrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that many families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Their situation has worsened since August, when the military launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine state in response to attacks on Myanmar police outposts on Rohingya militants.  The campaign, including reports of mass rapes and indiscriminate killings, triggered a mass exodus of more than 620,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, which the United Nations has described as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

The pope has denounced the treatment of the Rohingya in previous public remarks, but his advisers counseled him not to speak about the issue while in Myanmar, for fear of a backlash against the 650,000 Catholics in the country.  

Myanmar Bishop John Hsane Hgyi went even further Wednesday, casting doubt about the reported atrocities against the Rohingya, and urging critics of the Myanmar government to go to the scene “to study the reality and history” of the issue and learn the truth.  

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Wednesday that Pope Francis has not lost his “moral authority” on the issue, and suggested he may have been far more direct during his private talks with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing.
…

Pope Francis visited a home in Dhaka founded by Mother Teresa for orphans, unwed mothers and destitute elderly on Saturday as he wrapped up his trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The pope, who leaves for Rome later Saturday, was surrounded by children and nuns wearing the traditional blue-and-white habit of the woman who died in 1997 and became a saint in 2016.

Mother Teresa, who started the Missionaries of Charity to serve “the poorest of the poor,” opened the home in the early1970s to look after Bengali women who became pregnant as a result of rape by Pakistani soldiers during the war of independence.

Today the home, in one of the world’s poorest cities, looks after orphaned and abandoned children, unwed mothers and sick elderly people.

Francis, who has made outreach to the poor and other people on the margins of society a priority, visited some of the bed-ridden sick.

​Pontiff says Rohingya

Francis said he was very pleased by an inter-religious meeting Friday night, where he held an emotional encounter with Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and then used the word Rohingya for the first time on his current trip, saying they had God within them and should be respected.

Previously, in Myanmar, he followed the advice of Myanmar Church officials who said his use of the word could prompt a backlash against Christians and hurt Myanmar’s fragile path to democracy.

That had disappointed rights groups such as Amnesty International.

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not recognize the stateless Rohingya as an ethnic group with its own identity.

Best relations among religions

At the Saturday morning meeting at the home founded by Mother Teresa, the pope praised Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country where Catholics make up less than 1 percent of its around 169 million people, for having what he called some of the best inter-religious relations in the world.

As he has done in similar encounters, Francis told the priests and nuns gathered in Dhaka’s Holy Rosary Church that he was ditching the eight-page speech that he had prepared and would instead speak to them from his heart. 

“I don’t know if it will be better or worse, but I promise it will be less boring,’’ he quipped. 

And then for the next 15 minutes, Francis had the crowd in stitches, mixing paternal advice on how to tend to religious vocations (‘‘with tenderness’’) with gentle warnings about the havoc that gossip “bombs” can wreak when lobbed in closed religious life. 

History’s first Jesuit pope has frequently lamented the damage gossip can do within the church, where vows of obedience, strict hierarchies and closed communities can breed jealousies and resentment. 

The Bangladeshi edition was far more jovial in tone, and many in the pews nodded along as Francis delivered one zinger after another to make his point. It was a humor-filled end to a tense diplomatic trip.

His last event in Bangladesh will be a meeting with young people at a college founded by Catholic priests after the war of independence in the early 1970s left the new country with a dearth of places of higher education.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
…

Physical therapists can be a vital part of getting injured people back on their feet. But the therapy they recommend can sometimes be less than precise. Some new technology now being used in Italy could be a valuable tool for helping people recover from their injuries. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
…

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on their first official royal visit since announcing their engagement.
Webvideo by Jon Spier.
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reacting angrily after testimony in a New York trial implicated him in an alleged multi-million-dollar scam to evade U.S.-imposed sanctions against Iran. His reaction is adding to concerns Ankara is on a collision course with U.S. courts that could have financial and political repercussions.

“We have trade and energy ties with Iran. We did not breach the sanctions (on Iran). Whatever the verdict is, we did the right things,” Erdogan was reported to have said to his ruling party executives Thursday.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy head of the Turkish state-owned Halkbank, is on trial, accused of facilitating an elaborate scheme to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran. Prosecutors allege the scheme involved billions of dollars and involved senior government members.

During testimony Thursday, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, the prosecution’s star witness who has pleaded guilty in the case, accused Erdogan and his then-finance minister, Ali Babacan, of being aware of the sanctions evasion scheme. Zafer Caglayan, a former economy minister and Erdogan ally, is also indicted in the case but remains at large.

Turkish media, which are heavily influenced by the president, have criticized the trial as being politically motivated and aimed at undermining Erdogan. Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag joined in the condemnation. “The objective of this trial is to destroy their credibility and harm them in the eyes of the Turkish public and the world. That is clear,” Bozdag said, speaking to reporters Thursday.

Such conspiracy theories play well in a country that is traditionally suspicious of the United States. “Some people in Turkey do not think the American judiciary is as independent as it’s made out to be. We’ve seen cases before where this actually proved to be the case,” notes international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University

With a combination of hostility toward the United States among the president’s supporters and a compliant media, Erdogan is widely predicted to be able to contain any political fallout from the trial.

Suspicions were heightened further by Turkish prosecutors Friday when they issued an arrest warrant for Graham Fuller, the former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in connection with a failed coup last year.

Some analysts suggest the Turkish president might even turn the ongoing New York case to his advantage by playing the victim at the hands of a more powerful aggressor, a move that often plays well among the electorate. The financial markets, however, may not be so forgiving.

In the run-up to the trial, the Turkish lira suffered heavy declines, which could continue because of the prospect that some Turkey’s state banks could face massive fines, if convicted. Thursday’s testimony saw two other state banks implicated for sanctions evasion along with Halkbank. “If big bill penalties are prepared for several Turkish banks, that would obviously shake the Turkish financial industry,” warns Soli Ozel.

There is precedent for such fears. Several European banks have already been hit hard for Iranian sanctions violations by U.S. courts, most notably the Paris-based BNP Paribas Bank that was fined $9 billion.

Turkish state banks such as VakifBank have strongly rejected accusations of wrongdoing. “VakıfBank has always acted in compliance with laws and related legislation and shown utmost care and diligence to act in accordance with the laws and the related legislation,” read a statement released Friday.

Given the strong pushback by Erdogan and the Turkish banks, the question increasingly being asked is whether Ankara would pay any fines imposed on its banks by U.S. courts for sanctions violations. Failure to do so would raise not only political but financial consequences.

“The political risk scenario we are talking about could be something else,” warns economist Inan Demir of Nomura Bank. “It could inflict greater pain than the recent depreciation episodes that we’ve seen in Turkey. It could mean more significant tightening of the external funding conditions for Turkey. This could mean the external financing constraints turn binding on Turkey. That would have significant effects on the currency and growth,” said Demir. Underpinning Demir’s concerns is that Turkish banks and companies have to pay back around $170 billion in loans in the next 12 months.

Erdogan is also facing growing domestic pressure. The main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, on Friday produced what  it said was evidence to support their accusation the president’s close family, including one of his sons and brothers, along with members of his inner political circle, deposited more than $15 million into an offshore bank account. Erdogan has demanded that CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu produce evidence to back up the claim made Tuesday.

The government says the accusations are part of another conspiracy against the president. Erdogan Thursday repeated his charge that Kilicdarolgu and his party have committed treason and pose a threat to Turkey. The leader of the second largest parliamentary opposition pro-Kurdish HDP party, lawmaker Selahattin Demirtas, has already been in jail for more than a year on terrorism charges.

 
…

German police have destroyed a suspected improvised explosive device in Potsdam, a small city on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, Berlin.

A local report said the suspicious package was delivered Friday to a pharmacy near a Christmas market. Police were called and the area was evacuated.

Brandenburg state police said they inspected the package and confirmed that it was a possible IED that was successfully defused. Reports said the package contained nails and some kind of powder.

Brandenburg state Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schroeter told reporters the powder will be analyzed. He said it is not clear whether the package was a real weapon.

Streets in the area were closed off as the 40-by-50-centimeter device was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Police warn that there may be more such packages in the area.

The incident takes on special significance in light of last year’s deadly terror attack on a Christmas market in a wealthy shopping area of Berlin. On December 19, 2016, a hijacked truck driven by a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia went off the road and into the market held near a historic church on the Kurfurstendamm shopping avenue. The incident left 12 people dead and dozens more injured..

Security measures were in the spotlight as Berlin’s Christmas markets officially opened on Monday. A temporary memorial to the victims of last year’s attack is set to be replaced by a permanent one on December 19, at the historic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on the site of the market that was attacked.

Potsdam, a small but historic city, is the capital of Brandenburg state. It lies about 40 kilometers southwest of Berlin.
…

Turkish officials are working overtime to discredit testimony at a New York trial implicating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme designed to help Iran skirt international sanctions.

The officials have described the proceedings as a “mockery” and “theater” aimed at overthrowing the Turkish government, even suggesting that Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, is “pulling the strings” behind the prosecution. U.S. officials and prosecutors strongly deny the allegations.

However, the trial has exacerbated the United States and Turkey’s strained relations, which have been deteriorating since a Turkish coup attempt in July 2016. Turkey has been frustrated in its attempts to extradite Gulen, a one-time friend of Erdogan whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the coup.

Center of trial

At the center of the trial is Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who was originally the most prominent of nearly a dozen people charged in the case. He could have faced up to 70 years in prison before he agreed to plead guilty to charges of money-laundering, bribery and evasion of sanctions.

Zarrab now is the prosecution’s star witness against the only defendant in custody, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy general manager of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank.

“Cooperation was the fastest way to accept responsibility and to get out of jail at once,” Zarrab told the court Monday. He testified that he continued to pay bribes even after he was jailed in the United States, paying guards for cellphones, liquor and women.

Using flowcharts to show how the deal worked, Zarrab testified Tuesday that he paid 50 million euros ($59 million) in 2012 to former Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan as he sought to establish himself as the prime intermediary in lucrative gold-for-oil trafficking involving Turkish and Iranian banks that evaded U.N. and U.S. sanctions. He said he also paid off Mehmet Attila, a former deputy general manager at Halkbank and a co-defendant in the case.

On Wednesday, Zarrab testified that Caglayan had told him the illegal trade was approved by Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, and former Economy Minister Ali Babacan.

Criticism of case

Turkey has gone on an all-out offensive against Zarrab and the prosecutors in the case.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told Turkey’s Anatolia News Agency that the judicial process is a “plot against Turkey and President Erdogan,” saying Zarrab had become “a false witness under duress.”

“A theater is being staged in New York by the courts,” Bozdag said.

Erdogan, for his part, denied any wrongdoing at a meeting of his ruling AKP party Wednesday.

“We have energy and trade relations with Iran,” said Erdogan, who has moved his country closer to Russia and Iran in recent months. “We didn’t violate the sanctions against Iran. Whatever comes out of this trial, we always did what was right. We didn’t promise anything to the United States of America. The world doesn’t consist of America only.”

A day earlier, Erdogan angrily rejected allegations by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, that he and his relatives have used offshore bank accounts to hide ill-gotten wealth.

Talk of ‘treason’

Erdogan accused the opposition leader and his party of “treason.” “If you strike me, be prepared to be struck back,” he threatened.

Kilicdaroglu said Erdogan’s brother, son and executive assistant made transactions worth around $15 million to offshore company Bellway Limited in the tax haven Isle of Man in December 2011 and January 2012.

The Turkish government has cracked down hard on its critics and decimated what once was a free-wheeling media, jailing hundreds of journalists and opposition legislators.

The state-run media has carried virtually no coverage of the trial other than the government’s charges of unfairness. Residents instead have been getting the news through international media online.

 VOA Turkish contributed to this report.
…

Germany’s president brought together Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of the center-left Social Democrats, Martin Schulz, on Thursday night with the aim of breaking the impasse over the formation of a new government.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the party leaders together after talks between Merkel’s conservative bloc and two smaller parties to form a previously untried coalition collapsed.

Schulz, Merkel and her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer agreed to meet at Germany’s presidential palace to explore the possibility of forming a so-called grand coalition like the one that makes up the outgoing government.

Schultz had initially refused to consider another “grand coalition” with Merkel after a disastrous showing of the Social Democrats in the election on Sept. 24, saying the Social Democrats needed to go into opposition. But he reversed course after Steinmeier’s appeal, and said his party is now open to holding exploratory talks.

Merkel this week said she hoped to talk with the Social Democrats “in a serious, engaged, honest way and obviously with the intention of success.”

Schulz sounded more skeptical, however, saying the talks hosted by Steinmeier would be about “if and in which form” they would continue discussions and “if it even makes sense to continue to talk with one another.”

He added that his party members would have to have a final say over any agreement.

Even if the two sides do agree to continue, they’ll first have to negotiate the prerequisites for coalition talks, then carry out the coalition talks themselves, meaning it will likely be several months before a new government is formed.

If Merkel can’t put together a coalition, the only options would be a minority government or a new election.

Meanwhile, she continues to head a caretaker government made up of her conservatives and the Social Democrats.
…

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he bribed a witness to give false testimony at a trial four years ago where he eventually was acquitted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

The trial for the 81-year-old, four-time premier is set for February in the Tuscan city of Siena, not long before Berlusconi is set to try to reclaim control of the Italian government in new elections.

Berlusconi, leader of the center-right Forza Italia party, is accused of paying a piano player at his wild Bunga Bunga parties to lie at his trial about Berlusconi’s involvement with the prostitute, Karima El Mahroug, a 17-year-old Moroccan-born belly dancer who called herself Ruby the Heart Stealer.

Berlusconi has denied all charges in the case and maintained that the parties at his home near Milan were nothing more than elegant dinner parties.

He was originally convicted of paying to have sex with a minor and handed a seven-year prison sentence. But the verdict was overturned by an appellate court in 2014, which said there was no proof that Berlusconi knew the prostitute’s age.
…

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he would draw up a list of extremist organizations to convey to Saudi Arabia after its crown prince pledged to cut their funding.

Saudi Arabia finances groups overseen by the Mecca-based Muslim World League, which for decades was charged with spreading the strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to modernize the kingdom and cleave to a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam.

“He never did it publicly, but when I went to Riyadh (this  month), he made a commitment, such that we could give him a list and he would cut the financing,” Macron said during an interview with France 24 television.

“I believe him, but I will follow up. Trust is built on results,” Macron added.

The crown prince has already taken some steps to loosen Saudi Arabia’s ultra-strict social restrictions, scaling back the role of religious morality police, permitting public concerts and announcing plans to allow women to drive next year.

The head of the Muslim World League told Reuters last week that his focus now was aimed at annihilating extremist ideology.

“We must wipe out this extremist thinking through the work we do. We need to annihilate religious severity and extremism which is the entry point to terrorism,” Mohammed al-Issa said in an interview.

Macron, speaking from Abidjan, said he had also sought commitments to cut financing of extremist groups from Qatar, Iran and Turkey.

The French leader will make a quick trip to Doha on Dec. 7, where he will discuss regional ties and could sign military and transport deals, including the sale of 12 more Rafale fighter jets.

Qatar has improved its ties with Iran since Saudi Arabia and other Arab states boycotted it over alleged ties to Islamist groups and its relations with Tehran.

Macron said he still intended to travel to Iran next year, but wanted to ensure there was a discussion and strategic accord over its ballistic missile program and its destabilization activities in several regional countries.

 
…

Iceland’s opposition leader Katrin Jakobsdóttir will become the country’s new prime minister, after her Left-Green Movement on Wednesday agreed to form a coalition government, state broadcaster RUV reported.

Her party, which emerged as the second biggest party in snap parliamentary elections Oct. 28, entered coalition talks with the Independence Party, the main partner in the current government coalition, and the Progressive Party two weeks ago.

Current Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the right-wing Independence Party called the snap election in September, after less than a year in government, as a scandal involving his father prompted a government ally to drop out of his ruling coalition.

Economic rebound

The Nordic island of 340,000 people, one of the countries hit hardest by the 2008 financial crisis, has staged a remarkable economic rebound spurred by a tourism boom.

The formation of a broad coalition government could bring an end to political instability triggered by a string of scandals.

The previous snap election took place late in 2016, after the Panama Papers revelations showed several government figures involved in an offshore tax haven scandal.

Coalition criticized

Still, some Left-Green members and voters have criticized the party’s plan to enter a coalition with Benediktsson and his Independence Party.

Two of Left-Green’s mandates did not support the new coalition, giving the three parties a total of 33 of parliament’s 63 seats.

Jakobsdóttir, 41, campaigned on a platform of restoring trust in government and leveraging an economic boom to increase public spending.

She failed to form a left-leaning government earlier this month, but said on election night she was open to forming a broad-based government.

While both the Left-Greens and the Independence Party parties agree that investment is needed in areas like welfare, infrastructure and tourism, they disagree over how it should be financed.

The Left-Greens want to finance spending by raising taxes on the wealthy, real estate and the powerful fishing industry, while the Independence Party has said it wants to fund infrastructure spending by taking money out of the banking sector.

Benediktsson will become finance minister in the new government.
…

Broadcast reporters for Russian state-funded TV channel RT will no longer be able to report daily from the U.S. Capitol.

A committee that governs Capitol Hill access for broadcast journalists has withdrawn credentials for RT after the company complied earlier this month with a U.S. demand that it register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law applies to people or companies disseminating information in the U.S. on behalf of foreign governments, political parties and other “foreign principals.”

The action also comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation allowing Russia to register international media outlets as foreign agents, an act seen as the Kremlin’s retaliation for the Trump administration decision on RT. The new rules require disclosures to the Russian government and are seen as stigmatizing the news outlets as promoters of American propaganda.

In Washington, C-SPAN’s Craig Caplan informed RT that its credentials were being withdrawn after a unanimous vote of the executive committee of the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents’ Galleries.

Caplan, the chairman of that committee, wrote that gallery rules “state clearly that news credentials may not be issued to any applicant employed by ‘any foreign government or representative thereof.’ ” He said the FARA registration made the network ineligible to hold news credentials, and their withdrawal is effective immediately.

Many news outlets with ties to foreign governments are required to similarly register. English-language newspaper China Daily is registered due to its affiliation with the Chinese government, for example. But the pressure on RT has angered Russian officials, who have said they will retaliate with restrictions on U.S. news outlets.

The letter was sent to Mikhail Solodovnikov of RT’s U.S.-based production company, T & R Productions. RT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have alleged RT served as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin as part of a multi-pronged effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia denies interfering.

 
…

Pope Francis spoke of the need for “forgiveness” and avoiding “revenge” at a mass attended by tens of thousands of people in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, on Wednesday.

He skirted direct mention of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority for the second time in his four-day visit, after talking generally of religious tolerance at a meeting with diplomats Tuesday.

Some 150,000 Catholics from across the country gathered at Kyaikkasan sports ground for the service, some arriving the night before to ensure their places.

“Today I am very blessed — not only me but all of Myanmar,” said Sister Lucy, a 22-year-old nun from far-flung Chin state, who got to the area at 5 a.m.

“We never dreamed that we would see his Excellency, but today we can see him,” she said.

In his first public mass in the country, Francis spoke of the many people in Myanmar who “bear the wounds of violence, wounds both visible and invisible.

“We think that healing can come from anger or revenge. Yet the way of revenge is not the way of Jesus,” he said.

The pope, an outspoken advocate for refugees, has defied the expectations of many in the West, who anticipated he would make public remarks on the Rohingya crisis.

More than 620,000 Rohingya, members of a long-persecuted Muslim minority, have fled to Bangladesh since August following a massive army crackdown.

Myanmar dismisses their stories of mass rape and killings as exaggerated, and the army has cleared itself of any abuses.

Previously, Francis has been an advocate for the minority, referring to them on occasion as “our Rohingya brothers and sisters.”

But papal advisers have counseled him not to speak about the issue while in Myanmar, for fear of a backlash against the some 650,000 Catholics in the country.

“This is the first time the pope is coming,” said Robert Nathan, one of about 70 Catholics born in Myanmar who traveled back for the celebrations.

He said Francis was right not to raise the plight of the Rohingya. “The government needs to sort out that problem,” he said.

But human rights advocates have urged him to speak out on behalf of the Rohingya, who are widely reviled as illegal immigrants within Myanmar.

“If the pope doesn’t use the word Rohingya, racist nationalists will see it as a victory, if he does, they will be upset and may protest. Which is better?” Mark Farmaner, head of Burma Campaign UK, said on Twitter.

Many in the audience in Yangon were happy he chose not to reference the crisis. He has said his primary purpose for the visit was to support the Christian population. The country recently established diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

Sister Lucy, the nun from Chin state, said she was happy Francis endorsed the charity work of Catholics in the country in his speech on Wednesday.

“He’s encouraging and appreciating. It helps us to keep up our work,” she said.
…

European and African leaders are gathering Wednesday in Ivory Coast for a summit focused on issues that affect both continents, including economic cooperation, job creation, migration, and peace and security.

The two-day European Union-African Union summit in Abidjan is bringing together heads of state from 55 AU member states and 28 in Europe.

“We strive to enhance societal and political resilience on the continent for the benefit of current and future generations,” AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Kwesi Quartey said at a ministerial meeting ahead of the summit.

Governments on both continents have in the past few years faced the challenge of migrant flows through North Africa and across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, with debates over resettlement and how to improve safety along the route that leaves thousands of people dead each year.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that the summit is not itself a meeting on migration, but that the issue has to be addressed.

“We cannot close our eyes on the common responsibility we have to protect lives, save lives, open also regular channels for migration and mobility, offering economic alternatives to our young people in Africa, but first and foremost to dismantle the criminal networks that are making money out of sometimes slavery,” she said.

The EU said the summit will address a commitment to preparing young people for job opportunities by investing in education, science and skills development. There will also be a focus on promoting trade within Africa, as well as peacebuilding and preventing conflict

“I think that today the security challenges we are facing, starting from radicalism and terrorism to trafficking and criminal organizations, are binding us together and there are only common solutions if you want to have effective solutions,” Mogherini said.
…

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has condemned what he called Russia’s continued behavior toward its neighbors, especially Russia’s interfering in election processes and promoting non-democratic ideals. An analysts tells VOA’s Zlatica Hoke that the U.S. president’s support is crucial for the success of Tillerson’s mission.
…

Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab has pleaded guilty to unspecified charges in connection with an Iran sanctions busting scheme and is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, officials said on Tuesday.

“I can confirm that the defendant has pleaded guilty,” said Nick Biase, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Zarrab was arrested last year and charged with conducting hundreds of millions of dollars of business transactions on behalf of the Iranian government and other Iranian entities between 2010 and 2015.

Eights others, including a former Turkish economy minister, Mehmet Zafer Caglayan, and a former deputy general manager of Halkbank, one of Turkey’s largest banks, Mehmet Atilla, have been indicted in the case.

All but Atilla remain at large. Atilla’s trial started on Monday with jury selection.

Zarrab has agreed to testify at Atilla’s trial as part of his guilty plea. Biase said Zarrab’s testimony could come as early as Tuesday.

Zarrab was released from a federal detention facility to an undisclosed location on November 8, sparking speculation he was cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for leniency.

The case has become a flashpoint in increasingly strained relations between the U.S. and Turkey. Turkish officials have called the case politically motivated and demanded Zarrab’s release.

Zarrab is alleged to have close ties to the governments of Turkey and Iran.

Sentencing has not been scheduled.
…

Britain’s Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle will be married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in May next year, Kensington palace said Tuesday.

“Her Majesty The Queen has granted permission for the wedding to take place in the chapel. The Royal Family will pay for the wedding,” the palace said in a statement, adding that further details about the wedding would be released “in due course”.

The couple officially announced their engagement a day earlier, posing for photographs on the grounds of Kensington Palace hours after the announcement. The two were engaged in London earlier this month, according to a statement.

Markle is best-known for her work in the television drama “Suits”.

The prince and the actress made their first public appearance in September in Toronto at the Invictus Games, a sports event for wounded veterans.

WATCH: How London reacted to news of royal engagement
…

The engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dominated newspaper front pages and morning news shows in Britain on Tuesday, as royal-watchers awaited details of the couple’s spring wedding and royal relatives offered congratulations.

The grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and the American actress have announced they will marry in 2018. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says they have chosen a church wedding, and the palace is expected to reveal details of the venue later Tuesday.

Markle’s future sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge, who is married to Prince William, said she was “absolutely thrilled.”

“It’s such exciting news,” Kate said as she visited a museum in London. “It’s a really happy time for any couple and we wish them all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment.”

Prince Charles’ wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, said she was “delighted” her stepson was marrying the U.S. actress.

“America’s loss is our gain,” she said.

Markle’s divorced status would once have barred her from marrying the prince in church. Harry’s father Prince Charles, who is heir to the British throne, married Camilla in a low-key civil ceremony in 2005 because both bride and groom were divorced.

Newspapers hailed news of the engagement as a breath of fresh air and symbol of a modernizing monarchy.

The Daily Telegraph said in an editorial: “A divorced, mixed-race Hollywood actress who attended a Roman Catholic school is to marry the son of the next king. Such a sentence could simply not have been written a generation ago.”

The Daily Mail, which devoted its first 17 pages to the engagement, said the couple would give the royal family “the injection of vigor and exuberance it so desperately needs.”

In the couple’s first joint interview Monday, 33-year-old Harry said Markle immediately fitted in with his family. He said when she visited Buckingham Palace to meet the queen, “the corgis took to her straight away.”

WATCH: How Harry met Meghan

The ex-soldier prince and the 36-year-old star of TV show “Suits” revealed that Harry proposed over a roast chicken dinner at his London home, after months in which they tried to keep their long-distance relationship out of the public eye.

Clearly happy in each other’s company, the beaming couple recounted how they met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend, and immediately clicked.

“The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was sort of confirmation to me that everything, all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect,” Harry said.

“It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life. I fell into her life.”

 
…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will focus on expanding business ties and trying to regulate migration with Africa during an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan this week, as she comes under pressure at home to make progress faster on both fronts.

Merkel is taking a break from her more than month-long drive to form a new government to attend the summit, keen to demonstrate Germany’s continued ability to act on the foreign policy front, and to underscore her commitment to Africa.

She will join with French President Emmanuel Macron at the summit to focus on education, investment in youth and economic development to prevent refugees and economic migrants from attempting the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.

Libya is now the main departure point for mostly African migrants trying to cross to Europe. Smugglers usually pack them into flimsy inflatable boats that often break down or sink.

The chancellor told a conservative event on Saturday that she would press for expanded trade ties and investment, while urging African leaders in bilateral talks to accept the return of their citizens who had no right to stay in Europe.

The trip is important for the German leader amid widespread criticism of her 2015 decision to allow in over a million migrants, then mostly from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

She is under pressure at home to avert another migration crisis after losing support to the far right in the Sept. 24 election. Germany is likely to adopt an immigration law of some kind in the aftermath of election losses for mainstream parties.

Experts say the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could see further gains in any new election next year if Merkel fails to convince the Social Democrats to renew the “grand coalition” that ruled for the last four years.

A year after Merkel made Africa a cornerstone of Germany’s presidency of the G20 industrialized nations, illegal migration from Africa remains a concern, with rights groups blasting the EU’s failure to address conditions in migrant camps in Libya and elsewhere.

Merkel has also faced criticism from German companies, who say they risk losing out in the face of burgeoning interest in the region from rivals in France, China, the United States, Britain, India and Turkey.

Germany’s trade balance with African countries expanded 11.2 percent to 13.8 percent in the first half of 2017 after declining slightly in 2016.

“German industry remains underrepresented in these markets of the future,” said Christoph Kannengiesser, director of the German-African Business Association. “Compared to other international firms, German companies are noticeably behind, due to insufficient support from the government.”
…

The U.S. State Department on Monday expressed concern about planned legislation it said could weaken Romania’s fight against corruption.

The proposals threaten “the progress Romania has made in recent years to build strong judicial institutions shielded from political interference,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

The statement urged Parliament “to reject proposals that weaken the rule of law and endanger the fight against corruption.”

Justice Minister Florin Iordache, however, told public broadcaster TVR that the proposals wouldn’t damage the independence of the justice system. He said lawmakers would take into account U.S. concerns.

Romanian magistrates, the general prosecutor and the anti-corruption prosecutors’ agency have also criticized the proposals.

Romania has been praised for efforts to clamp down on high-level corruption in recent years.  However, the left-wing government wants to revamp the justice system, which has sparked protests. On Sunday, tens of thousands demonstrated across Romania.

One proposal is to legally prevent Romania’s president from blocking the appointment of key judges. President Klaus Iohannis says he will use constitutional means to oppose the plan.
…

Polish police issued a public appeal for witnesses Monday after unknown attackers smashed windows at a Muslim cultural center in the capital Warsaw, while prosecutors opened a probe into a far-right protest in the south of the country over the weekend.

About a dozen windows were shattered overnight at the Muslim center, which opened in 2015 and includes a mosque, a meeting center, a shop and a restaurant. No one was hurt.

“I am 100 percent sure this was a racist, anti-Muslim attack,” Muslim community leader imam Youssef Chadid told a news conference.

He blamed it on “not very friendly” atmosphere in Poland now that misrepresents Islam and appealed to the government to speak against attacks on Muslims.

“If the government says nothing on the issue, there will be no progress,” despite declarations of tolerance, Chadid said.  

Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek said security footage was being reviewed to help identify the culprits, and appealed for people who might have any information about the attack to come forward.  At least two people are seen in the footage, Muslim leaders said.

Warsaw’s Muslim community is made up of about 22,000 people with two mosques, including the one at the center that was attacked. About 500 people come to pray in the center’s mosque, the leaders said.    

Acts of hatred and xenophobia are being reported more frequently in Poland since the Law and Justice party came to power two years ago. The government promotes Catholicism and refuses to take in non-Christian refugees as part of an EU relocation plan, citing security concerns.

In a separate incident, prosecutors have opened an investigation into a brief demonstration Saturday by a handful of right-wing radicals in the southern city of Katowice. The protesters hung pictures of six European Parliament lawmakers from Poland who have supported a resolution condemning the government on symbolic gallows.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo condemned this “act of aggression and intolerance” and insisted the lawmakers were safe in Poland.

 
…

Ramzan Kadyrov, the outspoken leader of Russia’s Chechnya republic, said he was ready to step down, leaving it for the Kremlin to choose his successor.

Kadyrov, a 41-year-old father of 12 whose interests vary from thoroughbred horses to wrestling and boxing, has been accused by human rights bodies of arbitrary arrests and torture of opponents, zero tolerance of sexual minorities and tough political declarations that have embarrassed the Kremlin.

A former Islamist rebel who had led Chechnya since 2007, he was endorsed by President Vladimir Putin in March last year to carry on in the job, while being warned that Russian law must be strictly enforced in the majority-Muslim region.

Asked in a TV interview if he was prepared to resign, Kadyrov replied: “It is possible to say that it is my dream.”

“Once there was a need for people like me to fight, to put things in order. Now we have order and prosperity … and time has come for changes in the Chechen Republic,” he told Rossiya 1 nationwide channel in comments aired early on Monday in central Russia.

Asked about his would-be successor, Kadyrov replied: “This is the prerogative of the state leadership.”

“If I am asked … there are several people who are 100 percent capable of carrying out these duties at the highest level.” He did not elaborate.

Kadyrov’s unexpected statement comes as Putin, 65, is widely expected to announce he will run for his fourth term as president in elections due in March.

The former KGB spy is widely expected to win by a landslide if he chooses to seek re-election, but some analysts have said his association with politicians like Kadyrov may be exploited by opponents during the campaign.

Chechnya, devastated by two wars in which government troops fought pro-independence rebels, has been rebuilt thanks to generous financial handouts from Russia’s budget coffers. It remains one of Russia’s most heavily subsidized regions.

Describing Putin as his “idol,” Kadyrov said in the interview: “I am ready to die for him, to fulfill any order.”

Kadyrov also strongly denied a Chechen link to the killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015.

In June, a Moscow court convicted five Chechen men of murdering Nemtsov, one of Putin’s most vocal critics.

Nemtsov had been working on a report examining Russia’s role in Ukraine. His killing sent a chill through opposition circles.

“I am more than confident … these [Chechen] guys had nothing to do with that. According to my information, they are innocent,” Kadyrov said in the interview.
…

Thousands have protested in Romania’s capital and other major cities Sunday against planned changes to the justice system they say will allow high-level corruption to go unpunished and a tax overhaul that could lead to lower wages.

Protesters briefly scuffled with mounted police in Bucharest, and they blew whistles and called the ruling Social Democratic Party “the red plague,” in reference to its Communist Party roots and one of the party’s colors.

Thousands took to the streets in the cities of Cluj, Timisoara, Iasi, Brasov, Sibiu and Constanta to vent their anger at the left-wing government. In Bucharest, thousands marched to Romania’s Parliament.

Sunday’s protest was the biggest since massive anti-corruption protests at the beginning of the year, the largest since the fall of communism in Romania. Media reported tens of thousands took to the streets around the country, but no official figures were available.

Demonstrations earlier this year erupted after the government moved to decriminalize official misconduct. The government eventually scrapped the ordinance, after more than two weeks of daily demonstrations.

Prosecutors recently froze party leader Liviu Dragnea’s assets amid a probe into the misuse of 21 million euros (about $25 million) in European Union funds.

The European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, says the money was fraudulently paid to officials and others from the European Regional Development Fund for road construction in Romania. It asked Romania to recover the funds.

Dragnea denies wrongdoing and has appealed the ruling to freeze his assets. He is unable to be prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging.

Vasile Grigore, a 42-year-old doctor, said “we don’t want our country to be run by people who are being prosecuted, incompetent and uneducated.”

It was the latest protest this year over government plans to revamp the justice system. One proposal is to legally prevent Romania’s president from blocking the appointment of key judges. President Klaus Iohannis says he will use constitutional means to oppose the plan.

Demonstrators also oppose a law that will shift social security taxes to the employee. The government says it will boost revenues.

Anca Preoteasa, 28, who works in sales, accused the government of wanting “to take over the justice system so they can resolve their legal problems, but we won’t accept this.”
…

Leaders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party agreed on Sunday to pursue a “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats (SPD) to break the political deadlock in Europe’s biggest economy.

Merkel, whose fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed, was handed a political lifeline by the SPD on Friday.

Under intense pressure to preserve stability and avoid new elections, the SPD reversed its position and agreed to talk to Merkel, raising the prospect of a new grand coalition, which has ruled for the past four years, or a minority government.

“We have the firm intention of having an effective government,” Daniel Guenther, conservative premier of the state of Schleswig Holstein, told reporters after a four-hour meeting of leading members of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

“We firmly believe that this is not a minority government but that it is an alliance with a parliamentary majority. That is a grand coalition,” he said.

The meeting came after the conservative state premier of Bavaria threw his weight behind a new right-left tie-up.

‘Best option’

“An alliance of the conservatives and SPD is the best option for Germany – better anyway than a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens, new elections or a minority government,” Horst Seehofer, head of the Bavarian CSU, told Bild am Sonntag.

An Emnid poll also showed on Sunday that 52 percent of Germans backed a grand coalition.

Several European leaders have emphasized the importance of getting a stable German government in place quickly so the bloc can discuss its future, including proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms and Brexit.

Merkel, who made clear on Saturday she would pursue a grand coalition, says that an acting government under her leadership can do business until a new coalition is formed.

The youth wing of Merkel’s conservatives raised pressure on the parties to get a deal done by Christmas, saying if there was no deal, the conservatives should opt for a minority government.

In an indication, however, that the process will take time, the CDU agreed on Sunday evening to delay a conference in mid-December that had been due to vote on the three-way coalition.

The SPD premier of the state of Lower Saxony said he feared there was no way a decision would be reached this year. “It is a long path for the SPD,” said Stephan Weil on ARD television.

Merkel is against going down the route of a minority government because of its inherent instability, but pundits have said one possibility is for the conservatives and Greens to form a minority government with informal SPD support. The Greens have said they are open to a minority government.

Policy spats

Even before any talks get under way, the two blocs have started to spar over policy priorities.

Merkel, whose conservatives won most parliamentary seats in a September 24 vote but bled support to the far right, has said she wants to maintain sound finances in Germany, cut some taxes and invest in digital infrastructure.

She has to keep Bavaria’s CSU on board by sticking to a tougher migrant policy that may also help win back conservatives who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The SPD needs a platform for its policies after its poorest election showing since 1933. Leading SPD figures have outlined conditions including investment in education and homes, changes in health insurance and no cap on asylum seekers.

Most experts believe the SPD has the stronger hand and several prominent economists said they expected the SPD to wield significant influence in a new grand coalition.

“If there is a grand coalition or even if there is toleration (of a minority government) I would expect more emphasis on the SPD’s program,” Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo institute, told business newspaper Handelsblatt.

That would mean higher state spending and smaller tax cuts than would have been agreed with other potential partners.

The SPD is divided, with some members arguing that a grand coalition has had its day.

The SPD premier of the state of Rhineland Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, said she preferred the idea of the SPD “tolerating” a minority government over a grand coalition, making clear that the party would not agree to a deal at any price.
…