German coalition suffers first defeat

The centre-right German government headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered its first parliamentary defeat since taking office on the 17 December 2010, after a social benefit deal was blocked by opposition-led federal states as being too mean to needy children and the long-term unemployed.

Deutsche Welle, 17.12.10: German upper house passes preventive detention reform http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6354000,00.html

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