LONDON – The latest on world reaction to the U.S. presidential election (all times local):
12:00 p.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on winning the U.S. election and offer her country's cooperation.
Merkel's spokesman says the German leader spoke to Trump by telephone late Thursday.
Spokesman Georg Streiter told reporters in Berlin that Merkel stressed the common values of Germany and the United States.
Immediately following Trump's election victory, Merkel had offered the new U.S. administration "a close partnership" on the basis of "democracy, freedom, respect for the law and the dignity of human beings regardless of their origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation and political opinion."
Her comments were widely seen in Germany as a rebuke to Trump's rhetoric during the election campaign.
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11:25 a.m.
A powerful Iraqi cleric whose followers once fought U.S. troops says Donald Trump's election victory is a sign of American decline.
Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite who brought thousands of anti-government protesters into the streets of Baghdad earlier this year, urged Americans in a Friday statement to resist Trump's intolerant views.
He says: "We advise the American people not to be affected by the radicalism of their president, and they should not allow him to impose his influence."
Al-Sadr's militia, known as the Peace Brigades, is among the largest of several government-sanctioned Shiite armed groups battling Islamic State forces. He says his group considers America "as the founder of terrorism, by its acts and behavior."
He added: "Peace be upon the American people, those who like moderation and who want peace and peaceful coexistence between religions and ethnicities."
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10:30 a.m.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami says that President-elect Donald Trump should apologize to the Iranian people for calling them terrorists during his campaign.
The senior religious scholar, in a Friday sermon broadcast live on state radio, said Trump should "respectfully apologize to the nation."
Khatami warned Trump about confronting Iran, saying he should know better than to play with "the tail of the lion."
The cleric said that Tehran had successfully foiled and frustrated several of Trump's White House predecessors.
He said Iran's stance on the U.S. election is to avoid intervention or involvement in another country's internal affairs.
He said, "We respect the people of other countries and we respect their elections."
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6:30 a.m.
Japan's defense minister says his country already pays enough for U.S. troops based there, a response to repeated demands by President-elect Donald Trump that countries hosting American forces should pay more.
Trump's remarks during the election campaign have raised concern in Japan about a possibility his administration may seek Japan's increased spending for American forces.
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada stressed that the presence of U.S. troops in Japan serves as a key deterrence in the Asia-Pacific region and they should stay.
Japan pays about 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) a year — or about 70 percent — in so-called host-nation support for 50,000 U.S. troops.
Inada said Friday: "I believe it's enough. We pay what we are supposed to cover."
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