Wiesbaden, Germany - Plans for a provincial alliance between Germany's co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD) and the small opposition Left party foundered Monday, with dissenting legislators in the state of Hesse saying they would not vote for it.

The fragile link-up, drafted by the state SPD leader Andrea Ypsilanti, had been described by opponents as possibly a model for a federal government after a general election in September next year.

Wiesbaden, Germany  - Social Democrats (SPD) moved a step closer Saturday to ousting Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in the German state of Hesse and forming a government with the help of a far-left party.

A regional SPD congress approved plans for a minority coalition with the Greens and asked party leader Andrea Ypsilanti to stand for election as premier in the regional legislature on November 4.

Wiesbaden, Germany  - After months of political manoeuvring, a German Social Democratic (SPD) leader on Friday unveiled details of her legislative takeover bid in the central state of Hesse.

Andrea Ypsilanti said she would invite legislators to elect her as premier on November 4, leading a minority coalition government with the Greens and counting on the votes of the Left party.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) immediately accused Ypsilanti of breaking a pre-election promise not to ally with the Left, which embraces former East German communists and western leftists.

Wiesbaden, Germany - Pathologists have identified all 14 foreign tourists aboard a Twin Otter plane that crashed, killing 18 people, in Nepal this month, German federal police said Thursday.

Four Nepalese people were killed in the crash on October 8 at Lukla in the Himalayas.

Medical records from the tourists' homelands were used to identify the foreigners' remains.

Germany's BKA federal police sent a pathologist, a dentist and a police physician to Nepal to confirm the identities of 12 Germans and two Australians killed.

Wiesbaden - Buttons makes a difference: Positioned precisely in upholstery or leather, they give a sofa or chair a sense of dignity.

Known as Chesterfield, the style in which the evenly-spaced buttons form a pattern, originated in Britain. To Ursula Geismann of Germany's furniture industry association it conjures up images of dark and heavy furniture.

Wiesbaden, Germany - Consumer prices in Germany rose 2.9 per cent in September compared to the same month of last year, according to provisional data from six federal states released Friday.

In August, the annual inflation rate was 3.1 per cent.

The Federal Statistics Office said seasonal factors such as a fall-off in holiday rental bookings and package tours contributed to the slower price rise.