European Union telecommunications ministers today agreed on a plan in principle to cut mobile phone roaming fees, officials said today, with the likelihood of lower prices by the end of spring.

Germany expects as many as 1.5 million guests at this summer’s World Cup finals, an official said today, as organisers stepped up efforts to polish their welcome with a national “friendliness campaign.”

A leading German conservative today said he was confident the country’s two biggest parties would succeed in forming a governing coalition, but he pressed Angela Merkel’s claim to replace Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s justice minister was under fire today for comparing President George Bush’s methods to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.