Germans vote in elections threatening fresh blow to Merz

Voters in the German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin head to the polls in regional elections where far-right and far-left gains could send fresh shock waves through Berlin and rock the government of embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz has scheduled a crisis meeting of his centre-right CDU party leadership to discuss the first results as they come in, cleared his calendar for the following days and is skipping a trip to the UN General Assembly to deal with potential aftershocks.