The cause of the talks' breakdown is disputed, but negotiations since have been less frequent and productive, both sides said.

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The city-state's ruling Social Democrats, who also run Germany as a whole, and the Democratic Socialists, as the ex-communists now call themselves, are deep into negotiations to run the capital together, after the breakdown of the Social Democrats' talks with both the Greens and the Free Democrats, Germany's liberals.

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Moreover, after a major breakdown in multilateral trade talks in Germany earlier this month, the stalled Doha Round of trade negotiations looks all but dead.

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