Germany's Social Democrats party board approves Merkel

A tentative German coalition government deal cleared a key hurdle today when the Social Democrats' party board gave the green light to the agreement hammered out in marathon talks.

The SPD, Germany's second largest party, said in a statement that its 45-member board had overwhelmingly given its blessing to formal coalition negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives following a deal in principle sealed earlier in the day.

The draft programme, outlining policy goals during Merkel's fourth term, must now be approved by 600 SPD delegates at a party congress on January 21 and then by the party's more than 400,000 rank and file members.