Germany's Scholz ready to hold confidence vote this year

Germany's embattled Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he would be ready to ask for a confidence vote this year to pave the way for snap elections.

Mr Scholz, whose coalition collapsed on Wednesday, said that "asking for the vote of confidence before Christmas, if all sides agree, is no problem at all for me".

Previously, he had spoken of a mid-January confidence vote which under German election rules could lead to a late-March election, half a year earlier than previously scheduled.