AP:
German voters handed conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term and a chance to create new centre-right government Sunday, while her centre-left rivals suffered a historic defeat in the national election.
Merkel succeeded in ending her "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats led by challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current foreign minister, according to television projections. She can now form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats, who performed very strongly.
