Amid euro crisis, Merkel beset by domestic woes

BERLIN - Just when she should be devoting all her energy to saving the euro, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is beset by political turbulence at home, in particular a crisis within her coalition ally.

Junior partners in Merkel's two-year center-right coalition, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), narrowly avoided disaster on Friday when a bid by rebels to force the party to change its stance on Europe failed.

A success for the euroskeptics could have thrown into doubt the survival of the fractious coalition already buffeted by FDP reluctance to support German aid for debt-wracked eurozone countries.