German minister's senior aide revealed as US leak

A senior aide to embattled German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has been shown as the person responsible for passing on information to the US embassy that helped embarrass Germany in the latest WikiLeaks disclosures.

The Free Democrats (FDP) said 42-year-old Helmut Metzner had given up his role as Westerwelle's office manager at the party headquarters after he admitted supplying details of the negotiations that led to the formation of Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling centre-right coalition last year. (Reuters)