LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s former first minister, Alex Salmond, is making a return to frontline politics, announcing that he will lead a new pro-independence party that will field candidates in upcoming elections. Salmond denied that the launch of his party named Alba — the Scottish Gaelic word for Scotland — would weaken the cause of independence from the United Kingdom in the May 6 Scottish Parliament election. He said Friday that the campaign is “going to be entirely positive.” Salmond was acquitted last year in a sexual assault trial.
