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Germany

CSU reaffirms Merkel ties

Bavaria's Christian Social Union party moved swiftly on Friday to deny it planned to dissolve its decades-old alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, after a report to that effect appeared on a hoax Twitter account. Hans Michelbach, deputy head of the CSU faction in the federal parliament, said the report was "rubbish". Earlier, a Twitter account claiming to be that of the Hessischer Rundfunk state broadcaster had said CSU Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had announced the end of the alliance in an internal message. Minutes later, the broadcaster confirmed the account was fake.