German Chancellor Angela Merkel had almost lost her voice Saturday and cut short her weekly video message to Germans, according to dpa. "As with many of you, I've caught a cold," said Merkel hoarsely in the broadcast posted on the chancellery website. "So my voice is not too good for a video podcast." During delivery she stood, with her hands clasped, wearing a trouser suit, her usual attire. The broadcast of less than a minute was only a quarter as long as usual, with some words painfully rasped. Merkel invited Germans to instead read the prepared transcript of her remarks, in which she called for further reforms of Germany's state health-insurance and pensions system to cope with an ageing society.
