GERMANY: A pensioner has started digging in Germany’s western Ruhr region for the Amber Room, a priceless work of art looted by Nazis from the Soviet Union during World War Two and missing for 70 years, but says he needs a new drill to help him.

European Union leaders and Russian president Vladimir Putin were debating economic, political and trade ties at a Brussels summit today, with human rights groups pressuring the EU to persuade Moscow to ease its crackdown on rebels in Chechnya.