Angela Merkel takes oath for 4th term as German Chancellor

Germany's parliament elected Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor, putting an end to nearly six months of political drift in Europe's biggest economy.Lawmakers voted 364-315 to re-elect Merkel, Germany's leader since 2005, who ran unopposed. The coalition of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats has 399 of the 709 seats in parliament. Merkel will head a much-changed new Cabinet, with the governing parties — which are traditional rivals — keen to send signals of renewal after a September election in which all lost significant ground. There are new faces in the most important posts, the finance, foreign, economy and interior ministries.