Germany's government collapses hours after US election

Germany's ruling coalition has collapsed after Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner just hours after Donald Trump's US election win. The coalition collapsed due to disagreements over budget policy, with Lindner opposing tax hikes and debt increases. Scholz plans a parliamentary confidence vote on January 15, potentially leading to a snap election by March 2025. Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz said there's "absolutely no reason" to wait that long. "There is absolutely no reason to wait until January of next year to ask for a vote of confidence," he said. "The traffic light coalition no longer has a majority in the German Bundestag. "And so we have to call on the Chancellor, with a joint resolution of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, to call a vote of confidence immediately, by the beginning of next week at the latest."