An 86-year-old former commander of a Nazi unit that captured a group of British and US officers, who were then executed in a concentration camp, has been been arrested at his home in Munich.

PRESSING on with a gruelling four-day pilgrimage, Pope John Paul II brought his message of spiritual renewal to central Slovakia yesterday after a faltering start to his trip.

Weary and trembling, Pope John Paul struggled to greet the faithful today as he began a gruelling four-day visit to Slovakia that was testing his age and ailments from the start.

Five thousand policemen and 500 bodyguards have been deployed in Slovakia to guard the Pope, after authorities received a warning the pontiff would be killed on the visit.