Germany's Merkel denies misleading public over nuclear dump

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday denied she had lied to the public about the suitability of a permanent location for the country's central nuclear waste dump when she was environment minister in the 1990s.

In a rare five-hour appearance before a parliamentary inquiry, Merkel rebutted allegations that the then government had put political considerations before scientific findings when it decided to focus the search for a waste dump only in Gorleben in northern Germany. (Reuters)