Merkel vows to continue nuclear review

CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel pledged to press ahead with a review of nuclear power’s future in Germany after her coalition suffered a “very painful” defeat in a weekend state election dominated by Japan’s nuclear crisis.

Despite the embarrassment of losing a region her conservative Christian Democratic Union had governed since 1958, Merkel downplayed its significance for her national government and said she had no plans to reshuffle her cabinet.

The anti-nuclear opposition Greens, meanwhile, celebrated winning their first state governorship after a centre-left alliance snatched the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg on Sunday from Merkel’s coalition with the Free Democrats.