IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Germany

Coalition with Merkel 'not automatic'

The leader of Germany's Social Democrats, or SPD, said on Friday he had ruled out no option for forming a new government but stressed that a rerun of the outgoing "grand coalition" with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives was not a done deal. Germany, Europe's political and economic powerhouse, has been struggling to build a new government since a Sept 24 national election. Merkel's conservative bloc and the SPD lost support in that vote, while an anti-immigrant party surged into parliament, seriously complicating the coalition arithmetic.