Jonathan Rugman , Foreign Affairs Correspondent

In Barcelona thousands of protesters gathered outside a courthouse to demand the release of a dozen regional officials detained for their part in organising a Catalonian independence referendum. Now the constitutional court is planning to fine 22 electoral officials up to 12,000 euros a day for their defiance.

Across Mexico, rescuers are struggling to free people trapped in the rubble of buildings brought crashing down by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the country yesterday. The head of the country’s civil defence agency has confirmed that at least 225 people are known to have died, among them 21 children and five adults in…

In the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria has claimed its first casualty, on the island of Guadeloupe. The Prime Minister of Dominica said we have “lost everything that money can buy”after the storm hit it, and other islands are now bracing themselves for the worst.

America’s attempt to drum up support for new sanctions against North Korea has run into trouble with the Russians. Vladimir Putin said sanctions were “useless and ineffective” and called for dialogue with Pyongyang. But North Korea signalled that it will never negotiate on its nuclear programme and warned that more missile tests, which it described…

What are the next moves for nations trying to deal with the increasing threat from North Korea’s new-found, long-range missile capability?

The Sri Lankan government has denied its ambassador to Brazil is on the run, after a human rights group filed war crimes charges against him there.

The North Koreans have said President Trump talked “a load of nonsense about fire and fury” and they’ve responded with a threat of their own: to launch missiles into the sea off the US territory of Guam in the Pacific. Mr Trump has begun a meeting with his national security advisors, after his administration stood…

Police in France have shot and wounded a man after a dramatic motorway car chase near Boulogne. The incident came after the same car was driven into a group of soldiers in a suburb of Paris, injuring six of them. There have been six previous attacks on French security forces so far this year and…

There were cheers from ANC members of Parliament tonight after the South African President Jacob Zuma managed to survive a no-confidence vote – held, for the first time by secret ballot. But dozens of ANC MPs joined the opposition to vote against Zuma, who’s faced a series of corruption allegations and has presided over an…

Major developments in the North Korean nuclear standoff. Reports in the US media claim Pyongyang has successfully constructed a miniaturised nuclear warhead which could fit inside the type of missile it’s been testing. And experts fear those missiles are capable of reaching the US mainland.

The future of South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma now rests in the hands of MPs – and they’ll be allowed an anonymous vote. Opposition leaders said the decision to hold tomorrow’s no confidence vote by secret ballot was “groundbreaking”.

Now as President Trump heads to his golf resort in New Jersey tonight for a 17 day holiday – there will be no break for the special prosecutor investigating whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the election campaign. Instead Robert Mueller has upped the pressure – using a Grand Jury as part of his…

President Trump has grudgingly signed a bill to impose new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea – measures agreed overwhelmingly by Congress last week. He’s criticised the legislation as ‘deeply flawed’. It curbs his power to roll back penalties on Russia, and hurts his hopes of improving relations with the Kremlin.

President Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from his position as communications director – just ten days after he was brought into the White House staff.

Crisis, what crisis?  Donald Trump has denied allegations of chaos inside the White House as he held a Cabinet meeting with his new chief of staff John Kelly. On their immediate agenda, a series of potential flashpoints from the unrest we’ve just reported in Venezuela and Russia’s decision to expel hundreds of US diplomats, to…