Germany faces new elections as coalition talks collapse around Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel backed new elections on Monday after coalition talks between German parties collapsed over the weekend. The CDU leader, who has been Chancellor since 2005, said she would prefer fresh elections to leading an unprecedented minority government after the liberal FDP dropped out of talks. Ms Merkel had been hoping to form a coalition with the liberals and the Greens, a so-called "Jamaica Coalition" – but the chasm between the parties willing to do a deal appears to have been too great. The country's largely figurehead president Frank-Walter Steinmeier holds the power to call fresh elections, because Ms Merkel is not officially chancellor. He has called on the parties to "reconsider their attitudes" in order to avert a political crisis in what has long been the most stable country in the EU. More follows...