IN THE coming days, Bettina Wulff will testify in the trial of her estranged husband, Christian Wulff, the former president of Germany who stands accused of taking bribes.

GERMANY’S president and its biggest-selling newspaper traded blows last night over whether he tried to prevent it from publishing a report on a controversial private loan, adding to the embattled head of state’s troubles.

GERMAN President Christian Wulff personally called the editor of Bild, the country’s top-selling newspaper, last month and threatened legal action if it published a story on a private home loan he received at cheap interest rates.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s wife today waded into an MPs air miles row, accusing Germany’s most popular newspaper of targeting the government ahead of next month’s general election.