No Explosives in Package Sent to Merkel Office

German police Wednesday gave the all-clear on a suspicious mail package that had arrived at Angela Merkel's chancellery building after detecting no explosives inside.

Police had closed off the front entrance from 0730 GMT and sent explosives experts to check the package in a cordoned-off area in the snow outside, but reopened the area around 0945 GMT, said a federal police spokesman.

The operations of the chancellery were not affected since there are other entrances, and Merkel's top ministers held a morning cabinet session as usual.

National news agency DPA reported that a police sniffer dog had reacted to the package for unknown reasons and sparked the scare.