Minister at the Chancellor's Office Bohl and Environment Minister Merkel lauded the decision as a giant step forward. The Bonn opposition parties and the environmentalists' organisations on the other hand called the promises insufficient. Speaking in Berlin today, Schulz said the state elections last Sunday had shown that restricting yourself to a coalition with the SPD was a strategic trap for the Greens. He called for an approach that made reform goals the focus and a decision for a coalition partner subservient to those goals. Hostage drama in Trier A hostage situation involving a number of people said to number between seven and ten occurred this morning in Trier.
Unconfirmed reports say that there are children among the hostages.
The heavily armed male perpetrator is said to have barricaded himself in Kaiseresch near the autobahn Trier-Koblenz. According to police, the drama had begun in the small town of Hermeskeil in the Hunsrueck ranges, which the man left by car. At the Berlin Regional Court, a trial started today against two former Stasi members accused of two bungled assassinations in West Germany and West Berlin. Neiber's part of the trial will be held separately - his physical condition does not allow him to stand trial at the moment. However, the head of Stasi Main Section 8 will have to face the court.