Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was briefed on the outcome of Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia and was pleased with the results, according to Russian news agencies, amid soaring tensions between the US and Ukraine. “Yes, I have been informed. I rate them highly, there are results,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Wednesday. “In my opinion, we made the first...

Germans would be hard-pressed to find a time when their political landscape was as fragmented as it is days ahead of Sunday’s federal election. For the first time since World War II, Germany’s two traditional political locomotives are set to garner less than half the national vote. The ruling centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), expecting to tumble out of a four-year term in office – their shortest since...