Briefly

GERMANY

Election winner Merz starts govt talks

Germany's conservatives, led by election winner Friedrich Merz, held the first talks on Friday with the Social Democrats on forming a coalition government. "The exploratory talks began in an open and constructive atmosphere," Merz's CDU/CSU alliance and the center-left Social Democrats said in a joint statement. Finance Minister Joerg Kukies gave the participants an overview of the government finances, the parties said, adding that budget "challenges ... will now be the subject of the upcoming talks".

UNITED STATES

Private firm scores its first moon landing

US company Firefly Aerospace succeeded in its first attempt to land on the moon with its Blue Ghost spacecraft on Sunday. Carrying 10 scientific payloads, it touched down around 0835 GMT near a volcanic vent on Mare Crisium on the moon's northeastern near side. Firefly becomes the second private firm to score a moon landing, though it declared itself the first company to make a "fully successful" soft landing.

Agencies via Xinhua