Voting starts in Berlin

Polling began in Berlin Sunday for a state election expected to yield another setback for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her governing coalition. Polling stations in the German capital opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) for a vote widely expected to return the colourful Social Democrat mayor for the last decade, Klaus Wowereit. While Merkel's conservatives look set to place second or third in the left-leaning metropolis, her junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats, may crash out of the state legislature for the fifth time in a poll this year.