INTERNACIONAL
Conservative leader Friedrich Merz secures German government coalition after months of political drift
- Friedrich Merz of the CDU is expected to become the next chancellor, replacing Olaf Scholz after Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and center-left Social Democrats agreed to form a coalition government.
- The coalition has already advanced plans for increased defense spending and infrastructure investment, marking a shift in CDU’s fiscal stance.
- The deal was hastened by international tensions, including U.S. tariffs and doubts about transatlantic alliances, as well as domestic political pressure from rising far-right support and economic stagnation in Germany.
Conservative and center-left parties reached a deal to form a new German government on Wednesday after weeks of negotiations, paving the way for new leadership in Europe’s biggest economy after months of political drift.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, is expected to become Germany’s next leader under the agreement, replacing outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The parties involved sent an invitation to a news conference on the coalition deal at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Merz’s two-party Union bloc emerged as the strongest force from Germany’s election on Feb. 23. Merz turned to the Social Democrats, Scholz’s center-left party, to put together a coalition with a parliamentary majority.
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The wait isn’t quite over yet
It’s still going to be a little while before parliament can elect Merz as chancellor, perhaps in early May. Before that can happen, the coalition deal will need approval in a ballot of the Social Democrats’ membership and by a convention of Merz’s CDU.
Details of the agreement weren’t immediately available.
Friedrich Merz is expected to become Germany’s next leader after the center-right Christian Democratic Union and the center-left Social Democrats reached a deal to form a new German government. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
But already last month, the two sides pushed plans through parliament to enable higher defense spending by loosening strict rules on incurring debt and to set up a huge infrastructure fund that’s aimed at boosting the stagnant economy.
That was an about-turn for Merz, whose party had spoken out against running up new debt before the election without entirely closing the door to future changes to Germany’s self-imposed «debt brake.»
The election took place seven months earlier than planned after Scholz’s unpopular coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that was increasingly marred by infighting and widespread discontent. Germany, the 27-nation European Union’s most populous member, has been in political limbo since then.
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Pressure from abroad and at home
The market turbulence caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs added to pressure for Merz’s Union and the Social Democrats to bring their coalition talks to a conclusion.
The tariffs threaten to add to the woes of an export-heavy economy that shrank for the past two years, and generating growth will be a central task for the new government.
Increasing doubts about U.S. commitment to European allies also played into the prospective coalition’s decision to enable heftier defense spending. Merz said last month that Germany and Europe must quickly strengthen their defense capability and that «‘whatever it takes’ must also go for our defense now.»
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Another factor in the haste to reach an agreement was a decline for the Union in the opinion polls, showing support slipping from its election showing, while the far-right Alternative for Germany, which finished a strong second in February, gained as the political vacuum persisted.
The prospective new coalition brings together what have been post-World War II Germany’s traditional big parties, but the Union’s election-winning performance in February was lackluster and the Social Democrats dropped to their worst postwar showing in a national parliamentary election.
Together, they have 328 seats in the 630-member lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
INTERNACIONAL
Hadrosaurio: cómo era la especie de dinosaurio que encontraron momificado con piel y cascos sorprendentes
Un equipo de investigadores de los Estados Unidos y España logró revelar la apariencia más realista del Edmontosaurus annectens, uno de los dinosaurios gigantes del Período Cretácico, que vivió entre 69 y 66 millones de años atrás.
El hallazgo de restos fósiles fue en el este de Wyoming, Estados Unidos. Fue liderado por el paleontólogo Paul Sereno, de la Universidad de Chicago. El estudio se publicó en la revista Science, de la Asociación Estadounidense para el Avance de la Ciencia.
Permitió reconstruir aspectos únicos de la piel, las crestas y los pies de este animal herbívoro, gracias a la extraordinaria conservación de varios fósiles momificados.
“Es la primera vez que tenemos una visión completa y detallada de un dinosaurio grande en la que realmente podemos confiar”, afirmó el doctor Sereno.
La investigación se centró en dos ejemplares fuera de lo común procedentes de la “zona de las momias”, un área de menos de diez kilómetros de diámetro famosa por su riqueza paleontológica.
Los dos fósiles más completos corresponden a un individuo juvenil y otro adulto joven; ambos fueron claves para conocer la cobertura tegumentaria real de estos animales que vivieron hace unos 66 millones de años.
Edmontosaurus annectens fue un dinosaurio herbívoro que vivió hace entre 69 y 66 millones de años en América del Norte. Su cuerpo podía superar los doce metros y se adaptaba a pastar plantas en manadas.
Contaba con un amplio pico sin dientes en la parte delantera, ideal para recolectar vegetación baja y blanda.
La reconstrucción más reciente revela que presentaba una piel cubierta de pequeñas escamas, una cresta carnosa a lo largo del cuello y el lomo, y cascos en los dedos de pies y manos.
Su forma de caminar era especial: usaba tanto sus cuatro patas como solo las traseras, lo que lo hacía diferente de otros dinosaurios conocidos.
Estas características lo transforman en una pieza clave para entender la evolución de los grandes dinosaurios herbívoros.
Ahora, el equipo liderado por el doctor Sereno logró interpretar restos de dos ejemplares hallados en la “zona de las momias” de Wyoming, un sitio célebre por su riqueza fósil.
Los fósiles analizados corresponden a un individuo juvenil y a un adulto joven, ambos con detalles anatómicos nunca vistos en el registro fósil tradicional.
Los expertos aplicaron tomografía computarizada, microscopía óptica y espectroscopía de rayos X sobre los huesos y la piel fosilizada.
Esas tecnologías permitieron observar las texturas y formas originales sin dañar los fósiles.
Según escribieron los investigadores, “todas las estructuras de la piel fosilizada están preservadas como una fina plantilla de arcilla que se formó en la superficie de un cadáver enterrado mientras se descomponía”.
El equipo encontró que la piel muestra una cresta carnosa y una fila de espinas, además de cascos en dedos tanto de patas delanteras como traseras.
Estas características nunca antes documentadas con tal claridad en dinosaurios ofrecieron nuevos datos sobre la evolución anatómica de los hadrosáuridos, un grupo del que se sabe poco en términos de rasgos blandos.
La máscara de arcilla preservó íntegramente la microestructura de la piel, al reproducir formas y detalles pequeños gracias a minerales como caolinita e illita.
“La conservación no dependió de ambientes marinos sin oxígeno, sino que ocurrió en un entorno fluvial perfectamente aireado, algo insólito para dinosaurios tan grandes”, aclararon los investigadores.
Entre los hallazgos importantes, el trabajo deja ver que la fidelidad en la conservación de los tejidos blandos permite aprender más sobre la biología y conducta de los dinosaurios de finales del Cretácico.
El avance ayuda a entender la variedad real de formas que pudo tener este amplio grupo de animales.
University of Chicago Medical Center
El equipo recomendó dejar de usar el término “impresión de piel” y propone “renderizado del tegumento”, que define mejor los modos de conservación de tejidos blandos.
Aclararon que no hallaron pigmentos ni proteínas originales, por lo que no pueden determinar el color auténtico del animal ni conocer detalles profundos de su composición química.
Tampoco se puede saber si la cresta carnosa fue una característica exclusiva para todos los individuos de la especie.
El equipo prevé analizar nuevos fósiles de la región y buscar restos de tejidos en sedimentos distintos. Concluyeron que el hallazgo “permite mirar de cerca cómo se veían y cómo podían vivir estos gigantes del pasado”.
INTERNACIONAL
Letitia James ‘wreaking havoc’ on New York in ways voters may not even realize, GOP challenger says
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Fox News Digital sat down with New York Republican attorney general candidate Michael Henry, who made his case on why the Democrat currently holding that office, Letitia James, needs to go and why his campaign has the message to do that.
«Two things,» Henry told Fox News Digital when asked what voters in New York tell him they are most concerned about. «Crime and affordability.»
Henry explained that New Yorkers are «fed up» with the cost of living in the state and may not realize that many of the regulatory policies that affect affordability are handled by the attorney general’s office.
«It’s really put a hamper on economic growth in the State of New York, how her and her bureau chiefs, deputy bureau chief, and the attorneys in the office, who all serve under the discretion of the attorney general, have really crippled the New York State economy,» Henry said.
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Fox News Digital interviewed NY AG candidate Michael Henry about his plan to unseat Letitia James. (Fox News Digital/Getty)
Henry expressed concern specifically about energy costs and what he called a «far-left agenda» that James has been implementing.
«We see a Democrat governor in Josh Shapiro, who’s encouraging New York energy companies to work in Pennsylvania right across the line, where you could literally throw a rock and hit a truck on the Pennsylvania border. But then the 100 years worth of energy under our feet in the southern tier of New York State, which would not only revive the economy, but the people in places like Manhattan would see probably about a 60% cost of energy go down,» Henry said.
«And Letitia James has been wreaking havoc on the daily lives of New Yorkers, and in many instances they just don’t even realize it, and this is something I’ve been trying to shine a light on, letting them know how much damage she’s doing to them and their ability to just be able to afford to live here.»
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New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul during a press conference in New York City on Nov. 6, 2024, discussing the impact of Donald Trump’s reelection as president. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Henry ran unsuccessfully against James in 2020, but his 45% of the vote was one of the best showings for a Republican in the state in decades.
Henry told Fox News Digital he lives a comfortable life as an attorney and didn’t plan on running again, but when he looked around and surveyed the situation he felt compelled to do so.
«You travel to upstate New York, you see these wind fans that don’t work, you see solar panels that break in the winter, yet we’re not allowed to use all options when it comes to energy development,» Henry said.
«Three thousand correctional officers, which is a huge employer in upstate New York, were fired by Letitia James and Kathy Hochul, three thousand families that relied on that income to take care of things like tuition or put food on the table, and they were blocked from going into other civil servant employment. You just see the war on agriculture, war on dairy farmers. There’s a 62-county drug crisis that’s been exacerbated, and if you had told me in 2022, all these issues would have happened or been this bad, I never would have believed you.»
Ultimately, Henry believes that New Yorkers need an «outsider» candidate who has «no fear of Letitia James at all.»
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Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, and Zohran Mamdani, New York City mayoral candidate, embrace during a campaign rally at United Palace in New York City on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Henry explained, «Look, let’s be honest, she wakes up every day focused on three things: targeting the president of the United States, weaponizing her office against political opponents, and ignoring the issues that matter most to hardworking families,» Henry said. «And she’s forgotten that the New York state attorney general is the people’s lawyer, and it’s not the enforcer for the Democrat National Committee.»
On the crime front, Henry hit James for «not cooperating with local law enforcement,» particularly sheriffs in Republican areas, and said New Yorkers are «fed up» on the crime issue.
James will be in court Friday morning after being charged with mortgage fraud, which she has dismissed as political, but Henry pushed back on that narrative.
«People have seen her awkwardly stumble through these press conferences off the cuff, and now we’ve seen her ethical issues, where apparently she’s not only multiple times signed documents saying she’s married to her father, she doesn’t even know what state she lives in, apparently.»
«And Letitia James can’t have it both ways. She can’t say I’ve been trained by the best and then have these discrepancies on numerous occasions in her mortgage applications. It’s either that she knew what she was doing or she lacks the basic reading comprehension skills of a middle schooner, because I could walk into a middle school and put a mortgage application on any child’s desk, and they would say to me, I’m not married to my daddy,» Henry added. «So she cannot have it both ways, and she’s going to be held accountable this time, and we’re seeing it on a daily basis.»
politics,new york,elections
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DEPORTE2 días agoUniversidad de Chile vs. Lanús, por la Copa Sudamericana: día, horario y cómo verlo por TV
- CHIMENTOS2 días ago
Adabel Guerrero confesó de qué famosa está enamorada y que le encantaría tener relaciones: «La China Suárez me sorprendió con su belleza»
- ECONOMIA3 días ago
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