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German chancellor suffers uncontrolled trembling at an event in Berlin

Thursday, 27th June 2019

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday suffered another episode of uncontrolled trembling, in a second such episode this week.

The incidents have sparked questions about her health.

Angela Merkel will travel to the G20 summit in Japan despite experiencing a second bout of shaking in just over a week at a public event, her spokesperson has said.

“Everything is going ahead as planned,” Steffen Seibert told German media. “The chancellor is doing fine.”

German leader began shaking as she stood next to the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was giving a speech at a ceremony at Bellevue Palace in Berlin to formally appoint a new justice minister on Thursday morning. Footage showed Merkel being offered a glass of water, which she declined with a shake of her head.

The shaking went on for two minutes, according to a DPA photographer who was present at the event.

The photographer said the politician looked better after she began to move again.

On 18 June Merkel was seen shaking during military honours for the visiting Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. She later appeared to blame dehydration, saying she felt better after drinking some water.

The chancellor was also seen shaking during military honours in humid conditions in Mexico City on a visit in 2017.

Germany is in the midst of a heatwave, with temperatures reaching a record 38.6C (101.5F) on Wednesday.

Merkel, frequently called the European Union's most influential leader and the most powerful woman in the world, turns 65 next month.

She has said she will leave politics at the end of her term, in 2021.

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