German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is fervently opposed to war with Iraq, will fly to London next week for talks with Tony Blair.

HELICOPTERS ferried sandbags to plug the crumbling dikes of flooding rivers in eastern Germany yesterday, as workers scrambled to protect a huge chemical complex and towns such as Wittenberg, once the home of religious reformer Martin Luther.

Volunteers are battling to save Dresden's historic buildings from record floods which were expected to peak in the east German cultural capital early on Saturday.

Danica Kirka, Prague