Germany will have its first female defence minister, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday as she announced the members of her conservative party who would take cabinet posts in her grand coalition government, dpa reported. Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen is to take over the Defence Ministry from Thomas de Maiziere, also of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is to become interior minister, a post he held from 2009 to 2011, Merkel said. The CDU will hold three other cabinet posts as Merkel begins her third term as chancellor: Wolfgang Schaeuble will remain finance minister, Johanna Wanka will keep her job as education and research minister and Hermann Groehe will become health minister.