German parliament reconvenes with expanded far-right bloc

Germany's newly elected parliament, or Bundestag, convened on Tuesday for the first time since last month's federal election, with the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, taking up a record number of seats but no role in government.

The AfD, which finished second in the Feb 23 poll that ended the center-left government of (the now caretaker chancellor) Olaf Scholz, has been excluded from coalition talks aimed at forming the next government.

The conservative bloc comprising election winners the Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, and the Christian Social Union, or CSU, has instead spoken to third-placed finishers the Social Democrats, or SPD.