A roadside bomb tore through a Nato vehicle in Afghanistan, killing six Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter, officials said.

EU defence ministers meeting in Austria today struggled to finalise plans to send hundreds of troops to Congo, where the UN has requested peacekeeping back-up as the vast African nation prepares for elections designed to end years of civil strife.

GERMANY’S biggest political parties reached a deal last night to form a coalition government, sealing an accord that would make Angela Merkel the nation’s first woman chancellor.