Merkel's conservatives and Greens to start coalition talks in western state

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats agreed on Wednesday to hold coalition talks with the Greens in one western state, a party spokesman said, potentially fuelling a debate on whether the two could form a national government next year. An alliance between the two parties in the wealthy state of Baden-Wuerttemberg could be seen as a template for a national government after an election in 2017. The environmentalist Greens became the strongest party in a state for the first time in