Breaking News: German Treason Probe Row Escalates.

Germany's justice minister has demanded the sacking of the chief prosecutor in a deepening row over a treason investigation into a

website.
The prosecutor, Harald Range, had earlier accused the minister, Heiko Maas, of interfering in the inquiry.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Netzpolitik.org revealed state secrets in articles about plans to step up state surveillance.
The case sparked street protests over press freedom.
The outcry put the government on the back foot, with senior officials stressing that Germany was committed to press freedom.

'Intolerable'

Earlier on Tuesday, in a rare clash between the German judiciary and the state, Mr Range said the government had asked him to drop an independent investigator from the inquiry, who concluded that one of the articles published did amount to a disclosure of a state secret.
The request, said Mr Range, amounted to "an intolerable encroachment on the independence of the judiciary".
He said that while the freedom of press was valuable it was not "limitless".

But now the justice minister has said he no longer has confidence in the chief prosecutor and will request his dismissal.
Mr Range is 67 and was due to retire next year. Munich's chief public prosecutor, Peter Frank, has been named as his successor.
The state investigation, into two journalists at the website, is currently paused.
The journalists involved have called for the case to be dropped. Their articles looked at plans to expand the country's domestic surveillance of online communication.
Source: BBC