Hamburg voters punish Merkel party

Voters in German city-state Hamburg punished Chancellor Angela Merkel's crisis-racked conservatives in a regional election Sunday, while the incumbent centre-left held off a challenge from the Greens according to exit polls.It was a "bitter day" for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), party general secretary Paul Ziemiak said.Turmoil in the federal party, as Merkel's designated successor stepped down following a scandal over cooperation in an eastern region with the far right, had been "a