BERLIN, April 11 — The leaders of both Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) and Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) said today they were both ready to run as the conservative bloc’s German chancellor candidate in a September election.

"(CSU leader) Markus Soeder and I had a long conversation before today. We declared our willingness to run for the chancellorship,” CDU leader Armin Laschet told a joint news conference, adding they would settle on the candidate soon. — Reuters