Steffen Meyer, Aug. 29 -- The German government denied on Friday that Berlin was engaged in negotiations to help finance Britain's Trident nuclear weapons program, pushing back against a newspaper report that had drawn immediate scrutiny across European capitals.

and did not extend to British weapons systems.

The denial came a day after The Daily Telegraph, citing anonymous sources familiar with the discussions, reported that Germany was considering lending financial support to Britain's aging Trident program as part of a broader effort to reinforce Europe's nuclear umbrella. The report suggested German officials had explored the idea as a way of reducing Europe's strategic reliance on the United States at a time when Washington's commi...