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Germany’s ruling coalition collapsed on Wednesday as Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister and paved the way for a snap election, triggering political chaos in Europe’s largest economy hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election. After sacking Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats (FDP) party, Scholz is expected to head a minority government with his Social Democrats and the Greens, the second-largest party.He would have to rely on cobbled-together parliamentary majorities to pass legislation and he plans to hold a parliamentary confidence vote in his government on Jan. 15.The collapse of Scholz’s three-way alliance caps months of wrangling over budget policy and Germany’s economic direction, with the government’s popularity sinking and far-r...

After securing a second United States presidential term, Republican Donald Trump has outlined a range of proposed changes to the nation’s health-care system, including giving staunch anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the freedom to “go wild” on health, medicine and food policy. Trump secured the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency in the early hours of Wednesday, defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris in a highly contentious campaign.During the presidential campaign, Trump and Harris highlighted the deep divide between Republican and Democratic views on U.S. health policy.Harris advocated for expanding access to birth control, capping prescription drug costs and protecting abortion rights. She also strongly defended the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare...

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris called president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to concede the U.S. election and congratulate him on his victory, according to reports. Senior aides to Harris told the Associated Press and Reuters the vice-president discussed the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans in her phone call with Trump. The Associated Press cited one aide while Reuters cited two.According to Reuters, Harris is scheduled “to deliver a speech conceding the election to President-elect Donald Trump” at 4 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.Harris and Democrats were reckoning Wednesday with Americans’ rejection of their historic effort to turn the page on both Trump and the unpopular Biden administration that Harris served in.The vice-president trai...