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Revelations before the trip of a covert U.S. Internet surveillance program, code-named Prism, caused outrage in a country where memories of the eavesdropping East German Stasi secret police are still fresh.

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They lost 1.4 million votes and ceded "safe" seats in their east German stronghold to Angela Merkel's conservatives, but the radical Left are smiling about an election outcome that may finally upgrade them from pariahs to the political mainstream.

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Yes, Angela Merkel wins. Her 42 percent vote, impressive as it was with many parties contesting, left her with the biggest bloc of 311 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag, but five seats short of a needed majority. So instead of the previous more-or-less like-minded partner, further to the right on most issues, she must try to forge an alliance with her main election opponents, the Social Democrats.

Thousands of Germans opposed to government surveillance of Internet users gathered in Berlin during the weekend in the what organizers called the largest anti-spying protest of its kind.

Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, demanded an explanation from Washington, saying that if confirmed, US behaviour "was reminiscent of the actions of enemies during the cold war".