‘Finding Merkel’

WHERE is Angela Merkel? That question is preoccupying German media after the chancellor’s husband was spotted on holiday in northern Italy without his wife.

In past years paparazzi have got pictures of Mrs Merkel and Joachim Sauer hiking in the Alps but so far this summer they have had to settle for him along with his son from a previous marriage.

The mass-selling daily Bild trotted out speculation ranging from a family visit in eastern Germany to some kind of cloak-and-dagger work.

“Where is the chancellor hiding?” ran its headline. “At a summer residence or with her 90-year-old mother in Uckermark? Marital crisis? Clinic? Secret mission?”