French foreign minister quits over Mideast gaffes

France’s foreign minister resigned on Sunday after a series of gaffes during the Middle East revolutions which president Nicolas Sarkozy has decided made her a political liability. The president will make his second cabinet reshuffle in 100 days as he seeks to reassert his country’s standing on the international stage following its tarnished image over close links between ministers and fallen north African dictators. Michèle Alliot-Marie had come under fire over a series of blunders linked to the discredited regime of Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, the former Tunisian president, with which opposition groups and the media have made hay. Her...