A relative of Adolf Hitler's has asked for the removal of the tombstone marking his parents' grave.

Academics say the time has come for some of the taboos surrounding Hitler's book in Germany to fall.

A ground-breaking exhibition about Adolf Hitler has explored the relationship between the Führer and the German nation.

"Adolf Hitler has left us -- after a very short visit," concluded Die Welt am Sonntag after an attack on a wax figure of the Nazi leader.

He sits hunched over his desk, one leg hooked under his chair, gazing with the concern of a businessman who has realised the books are looking bad.

Britain criticised as obscene the presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at this week's global food summit in Rome, saying he had inflicted shortages on millions of his own people by his "profound misrule". Mugabe flew into Rome late on Sunday, making his first official trip abroad since elections condemned by Western leaders as fraudulent.

Plans to include an Adolf Hitler figure in the new Berlin branch of Madame Tussauds wax museum are being condemned by critics, who say displaying the dictator is tasteless and could attract neo-Nazis. Madame Tussauds argues Hitler is part of German history and deserves a place in the exhibition near the Brandenburg Gate.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe flew into Rome for a global food summit on Sunday, his first official trip abroad since elections condemned by Western and opposition leaders as fraudulent. A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: "It is a matter of concern to us and we would prefer that he did not attend."

Former United States president Jimmy Carter has said Israel holds at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a US president has publicly acknowledged the state's atomic arsenal. Asked how a future US president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, Carter put the risk in context by listing atomic weapons held globally.

When Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi inaugurated Eritrea's plane-shaped Fiat Tagliero service station in 1938, he stunned onlookers by pulling out a gun. There, the story behind Africa's finest piece of Futurist architecture goes hazy.