Germany's SPD at odds over coalition plan

Leading members of Germany's Social Democrats yesterday voiced scepticism over a preliminary coalition agreement reached with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, days after the hard-fought deal was hailed as a breakthrough. Berlin's SPD Mayor Michael Mueller said he was "very critical" about entering into another government with Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc after all three parties slumped to their worst results in decades in last September's election.