Germany’s Merz fails to be elected chancellor in shock first-round parliamentary vote

Friedrich Merz, designated Federal Chancellor (CDU), is pictured during the signing of the coalition agreement between the SPD, CDU, and CSU on May 05, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.

Florian Gaertner | Photothek | Getty Images

Friedrich Merz failed to get the majority needed to become German chancellor in a parliamentary vote Tuesday.

Merz needed at least 316 votes to become chancellor and only 310 members of parliament voted in his favor.

The German Dax stock market index extended losses after the result to trade around 1% lower by 9:30 a.m. London time.

The result marks an unanticipated setback for Merz who was widely expected to secure the necessary votes and be officially sworn in later in the day.

After the result of the vote was announced the parliamentary session was halted to allow for factions to discuss among themselves. A second vote is expected at some point.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.

Source

World

A little-known startup just used AI to make a moon dust battery for Blue Origin

December 3, 2025

Artificial intelligence has created a device that turns moon dust into energy. The moon vacuum, which was unveiled on Wednesday by Blue Origin at Amazon‘s re:Invent 2025 conference in Las Vegas, was built using critical technology from startup Istari Digital. “So what it does is sucks up moon dust and it extracts the heat from […]

World

Micron stops selling memory to consumers as demand spikes from AI chips

December 3, 2025

A person walks by a sign for Micron Technology headquarters in San Jose, California, on June 25, 2025. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Micron said on Wednesday that it plans to stop selling memory to consumers to focus on meeting demand for high-powered artificial intelligence chips. “The AI-driven growth in the data center has led […]

World

Bessent says Trump admin will be able to replicate tariffs even if it loses Supreme Court decision

December 3, 2025

NEW YORK — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday predicted that the administration still will be able to implement its tariff agenda regardless of whether it prevails in a pending case before the Supreme Court. Repeating assertions he had made prior to the high court hearing a month ago, Bessent cited several sections of 1962 […]