Peace reigns, but Trump doesn’t stay silent for long

Perish the thought — the leader of the free world silenced by a disgruntled worker deactivating his Twitter account. The world was a quieter, happier place for it, even if the bliss lasted all of 11 minutes. Before he was disconnected (on Twitter, that is) and before heading off on a romp around Asia, Donald Trump added his 10c worth on terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan. Initially Trump wanted the suspect — who is alleged to have ploughed a pick-up truck into passers-by in Manhattan, killing eight people — sent to the notorious military prison at Guantanamo Bay. He later backed off, saying he wanted the death penalty, which legal critics said might prove to be Saipov’s best chance of staying alive.

Elsewhere, Spain moved to frustrate the Catalan independence movement, ordering that nine secessionist leaders be held in custody on Thursday pending a potential trial over the region’s independence push.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his government last week. Puigdemont later travelled to Belgium with four associates and ignored an order to appear before the high court to answer charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds relating to the region’s secessionist drive.