Schroeder cancels Italian holiday

GERMAN leader Gerhard Schroeder has cancelled his Italian summer holiday after a Rome minister labelled German tourists “hyper-nationalistic blondes”.

Italian Junior Minister Stefano Stefani has refused to apologise for his outspoken attack, in which he also accused Germans of being rowdy beach invaders.

The row followed last week’s European parliament outburst by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who compared a German MEP to a Nazi prison guard.