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.

CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel returns from a two-week break to the front line of the debt crisis amid a clamour over the conduct of Germany’s president that threatens to damage her own standing and detract from her efforts to defend the euro.

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.

Pope Benedict XVI has begun the first state visit to his German homeland, seeking to stem the tide of Catholics leaving the church while acknowledging the damage caused by the clerical sex abuse scandal.

GERMANY’S President celebrated the country’s new-found national pride but also stressed that more needs to be done to integrate Muslim and other immigrants as he marked the 20th anniversary of reunification yesterday.

Germany’s new president was sworn in today as Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to put behind her an internal rebellion that turned his election into a near-disaster.

The government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a tough test with today's election of the country's new president.

POLICE in the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombasa are investigating the cause of a fire that swept through four beachfront hotels last night, forcing 650 European tourists to flee.