News in Brief
LONDON (Reuters) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit secretary and other ministers quit one by one on Thursday, striking at the heart of a draft divorce deal with the European Union she is struggling to save.
Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.
Their departure, and the resignations of two junior ministers, shakes May's divided government. Raab is the second Brexit secretary to quit over May's plans to leave the European Union, the biggest shift in British policy in more than 40 years.
By leaving now, some suggested that Raab could be positioning himself as a possible successor to May.
Less than five months until Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the resignations put May's Brexit strategy in doubt.
EU leaders are ready to meet on Nov. 25 to sign off on the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement, but the drama is in London with some lawmakers openly questioning whether the government will survive.
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PARIS (AP) -- French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned that the trade dispute between the United States and China could escalate into a fresh Cold War.
Le Maire made the alarm-sounding comments at a Friday conference in Paris on the World Trade Organization's future.
He said there's a "real risk" that a Cold War between China and the United States could arise out of the trade tensions between the two and that every country in the world would lose out.
To counter the threat, he said the WTO needs reforming by solving its "consensus paralysis" on decision-making and by enforcing international trade rules.
President Donald Trump has imposed import taxes on Chinese goods, and the Chinese have responded with tariffs of their own.
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PARIS (AFP) -- Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar held in France since February on charges he raped two women, Thursday won conditional release as the allegations continued to be investigated, his lawyer told AFP.
In court, Ramadan said he had no intention of becoming a fugitive from justice, and said his multiple sclerosis meant he had difficulty walking after 10 months locked up.
"I will remain in France and defend my honor and my innocence," the well-known TV commentator told the judges in what was his fourth bid to secure his freedom.
"I would like you to make your decision from your conscience, not because my name is Tariq Ramadan and I'm demonized in this country," he said.
He portrayed his accusers as liars bending media attention in the case to their benefit, asking: "Who has instrumentalized the 'Me Too' movement?"
Ramadan, a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the "Me Too" movement late last year.
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MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia warned France on Thursday that it must put aside "parochial national interests" and recognize its peace efforts in the Central African Republic as negotiations continued on a contentious UN Security Council resolution.
France has presented a draft resolution that takes aim at recent Russian efforts to broker peace deals in CAR by specifying that an African-led initiative is "the only framework" for a solution.
"We are pro-actively helping the CAR, knowingly with the support of the people and we would like our efforts to be duly reflected in the French draft," Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanski told the council.
"In the CAR, there will be work for all to genuinely help the country get back on our feet," he said, adding that it was time to "set aside historical complexes, egotism and parochial national interests."
Working with Sudan, Russia in August convened talks in Khartoum of Central African militias who signed a preliminary agreement, drawing criticism from France of unhelpful meddling in its former colony.
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CHEMNITZ, Germany (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday headed to Chemnitz to talk with residents of the eastern city three months after it was the scene of violent far-right protests.
Merkel's plans included a meeting with the local basketball team and then discussions with readers of the Chemnitz Freie Presse newspaper.
The demonstrations broke out in August after the killing of a German man that authorities blamed on two recent migrants. The violence was largely directed at foreigners, but a kosher restaurant was also attacked by masked men throwing stones and yelling anti-Semitic jeers.
Seven people have been arrested on suspicion of forming a far-right terrorist organization in connection with violence that followed, and plotting attacks.
Critics say the chancellor should have visited the city earlier and that now it's too late.
***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- American prosecutors have obtained a sealed indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose website published thousands of classified U.S. government documents, a U.S. federal court document showed on Thursday.
The document, which prosecutors say was filed by mistake, asks a judge to seal documents in a criminal case unrelated to Assange, and carries markings indicating it was originally filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia in August.
A source familiar with the matter said the document was initially sealed but unsealed this week for reasons that are unclear at the moment.
On social network Twitter, Wikileaks said it was an "apparent cut-and-paste error."
U.S. officials had no comment on the disclosure in the document about a sealed indictment of Assange, the charges facing whom are unclear.
Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.
Their departure, and the resignations of two junior ministers, shakes May's divided government. Raab is the second Brexit secretary to quit over May's plans to leave the European Union, the biggest shift in British policy in more than 40 years.
By leaving now, some suggested that Raab could be positioning himself as a possible successor to May.
Less than five months until Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the resignations put May's Brexit strategy in doubt.
EU leaders are ready to meet on Nov. 25 to sign off on the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement, but the drama is in London with some lawmakers openly questioning whether the government will survive.
***
PARIS (AP) -- French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned that the trade dispute between the United States and China could escalate into a fresh Cold War.
Le Maire made the alarm-sounding comments at a Friday conference in Paris on the World Trade Organization's future.
He said there's a "real risk" that a Cold War between China and the United States could arise out of the trade tensions between the two and that every country in the world would lose out.
To counter the threat, he said the WTO needs reforming by solving its "consensus paralysis" on decision-making and by enforcing international trade rules.
President Donald Trump has imposed import taxes on Chinese goods, and the Chinese have responded with tariffs of their own.
***
PARIS (AFP) -- Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar held in France since February on charges he raped two women, Thursday won conditional release as the allegations continued to be investigated, his lawyer told AFP.
In court, Ramadan said he had no intention of becoming a fugitive from justice, and said his multiple sclerosis meant he had difficulty walking after 10 months locked up.
"I will remain in France and defend my honor and my innocence," the well-known TV commentator told the judges in what was his fourth bid to secure his freedom.
"I would like you to make your decision from your conscience, not because my name is Tariq Ramadan and I'm demonized in this country," he said.
He portrayed his accusers as liars bending media attention in the case to their benefit, asking: "Who has instrumentalized the 'Me Too' movement?"
Ramadan, a married father of four whose grandfather founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, was a professor at Oxford University until he was forced to take leave when the rape allegations surfaced at the height of the "Me Too" movement late last year.
***
MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia warned France on Thursday that it must put aside "parochial national interests" and recognize its peace efforts in the Central African Republic as negotiations continued on a contentious UN Security Council resolution.
France has presented a draft resolution that takes aim at recent Russian efforts to broker peace deals in CAR by specifying that an African-led initiative is "the only framework" for a solution.
"We are pro-actively helping the CAR, knowingly with the support of the people and we would like our efforts to be duly reflected in the French draft," Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanski told the council.
"In the CAR, there will be work for all to genuinely help the country get back on our feet," he said, adding that it was time to "set aside historical complexes, egotism and parochial national interests."
Working with Sudan, Russia in August convened talks in Khartoum of Central African militias who signed a preliminary agreement, drawing criticism from France of unhelpful meddling in its former colony.
***
CHEMNITZ, Germany (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday headed to Chemnitz to talk with residents of the eastern city three months after it was the scene of violent far-right protests.
Merkel's plans included a meeting with the local basketball team and then discussions with readers of the Chemnitz Freie Presse newspaper.
The demonstrations broke out in August after the killing of a German man that authorities blamed on two recent migrants. The violence was largely directed at foreigners, but a kosher restaurant was also attacked by masked men throwing stones and yelling anti-Semitic jeers.
Seven people have been arrested on suspicion of forming a far-right terrorist organization in connection with violence that followed, and plotting attacks.
Critics say the chancellor should have visited the city earlier and that now it's too late.
***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- American prosecutors have obtained a sealed indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose website published thousands of classified U.S. government documents, a U.S. federal court document showed on Thursday.
The document, which prosecutors say was filed by mistake, asks a judge to seal documents in a criminal case unrelated to Assange, and carries markings indicating it was originally filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia in August.
A source familiar with the matter said the document was initially sealed but unsealed this week for reasons that are unclear at the moment.
On social network Twitter, Wikileaks said it was an "apparent cut-and-paste error."
U.S. officials had no comment on the disclosure in the document about a sealed indictment of Assange, the charges facing whom are unclear.