Talks on gov't enter final round

BERLIN (AP):

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats embarked Sunday on a final push for an agreement on a new German government, though negotiators appeared likely to need one more day.

The effort to put together a governing coalition is already post-World War II Germany's longest and won't finish with these talks.

A deal will require approval in a ballot of the Social Democrats' members, many of whom are sceptical about renewing the alliance that has governed Germany since 2013 after a disastrous election result in September.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, and the Social Democrats set Sunday as a deadline to wrap up negotiations, though they have budgeted two extra days as a precaution.