Three people have died and a child is missing after a small boat capsized in the Rhine River between Germany and France, police said.

Police held back protesters with tear gas and detained two dozen people in a pre-dawn clash before a summit of leaders of 28 Nato nations today on the French-German border.

Vandals have scrawled swastikas and ”SS” initials on Jewish tombs in eastern France, an anti-Semitic attack that President Jacques Chirac has called “intolerable”.