Influential German politician Hans-Jochen Vogel dies aged 94

Hans-Jochen Vogel, the former leader of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats who once tried to take on Helmut Kohl for the chancellorship, died at the age of 94 on Sunday. Chancellor Angela Merkel led the tributes, praising Vogel on Twitter as “one of the defining political figures” of postwar Germany whose achievements were “an inspiration and an example” to many. The SPD party issued a statement calling Vogel “a great Social Democrat” who worked tirelessly for “a just world and a unified Europe”.