An insurgent group in Iraq last night posted a video showing a kidnapped German man who has been held for over six months, as the group gave Germany 10 days to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or the hostage would be killed.

A German woman kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year has been released, but her son is still being held hostage, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today.

Muslim rage over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed spilled out of Syria today into neighbouring Lebanon where thousands of protesters – undaunted by police tear gas and water cannons – torched the Danish mission and ransacked a Christian neighbourhood.