bild

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen shows her letter of appointment in Berlin Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013. Germany's Parliament elected Chancellor Angela Merkel to a third term as the leader of Europe's biggest economic power on Tuesday, nearly three months after an awkward election result forced her to put together a new governing coalition. The cabinet features Germany's first female defense minister, conservative Ursula von der Leyen, and sees former Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, return to his old job. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a powerful figure in Europe's debt crisis, is staying on. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop)