Defence Minister denies he plagiarised doctoral thesis

Germany's defence Minister has rejected accusations that he plagiarised parts of his doctoral thesis.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg dismissed the allegations as "absurd" yesterday. The minister said he was willing to check whether there were any omissions or errors in some 1,200 footnotes in his law dissertation, which he completed in 2007.

A German newspaper has highlighted several tracts that it said may have been copied from other sources without credit.