Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Friday that current Family Minister Ursula Von der Leyen is to succeed Franz Josef Jung as labour minister, following his resignation earlier in the day. Von Der Leyen, from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, is a popular politician who previously introduced generous state child- benefit payments.
Jung, formerly defence minister in the earlier Merkel cabinet, stepped down earlier Friday amid accusations that he had withheld evidence of civilian casualties in a German-ordered airstrike in Afghanistan on September 4.
