Germany today refused to endorse Tony Blair’s warning about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and said it remains opposed to war, joining France and China in reacting sceptically to a report the United States called “frightening.”

Germany’s justice minister has decided to step down after coming under fire for allegedly making an indirect comparison between US President George W Bush and Adolf Hitler, it was reported today.

Some 3,000 right-wing extremists marched through central Berlin today for a march against an exhibition on Nazi-era crimes by the German army.