Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government still hopes to avoid a complete nationalization of troubled mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate (HRE), a Berlin spokesman said Monday.

The government believed that a complete state takeover of a bank would be the final resort in efforts to help stabilize a financial house under pressure, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.

Speaking on German television over the weekend, Merkel had declined to rule out nationalizing HRE, which has emerged as one of Germany's most high-profile casualties of the financial crisis triggered by the US mortgage market upheaval.

Ludhiana, Feb. 16 : Having contributed his bit as an Olympian, Hardeep Singh Grewal, who used to play as India''s center-half in the team, is helping a new crop of youngsters to rise in hockey.

Hardeep believes the success of Indian hockey at the international stage depends training a new crop of motivated youngsters.

Moscow - In the first visit ever by a Bolivian leader to Moscow, President Evo Morales on Monday secured agreements from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for investment in the gas sector and to help fight drug trafficking in Moscow.

Morales said he was seeking Russia's help in fighting drug cultivation. He said Bolivia, the third-largest producer of cocaine- making plants, was in need of Russian helicopters and other aircraft, since the United States stopped supporting efforts to eradicate illegal coca farming.

Singapore - Senior officials of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on Monday emphasized the importance of averting pressure on governments to take measures restricting trade by helping individuals and businesses to tide over the financial crisis.

"There was a strong consensus that restrictions on trade and investment would only deepen and prolong the economic downturn," said Ravi Menon, a top official at Singapore's Trade and Industry Ministry and chairman of the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, which takes place from February 13 to 26.

New Delhi, Feb. 16 : US President Barack Obama''s Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, met National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday, and was reportedly briefed about the situation prevailing in South Asia from an Indian perspective.

Holbrooke told reporters here after his meetings that he was in New Delhi to seek the Indian leadership''s assessment of the situation in the region and to brief the latter about his visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively.

Pyeongchang, South Korea - The result of Sunday's chaotic men's pursuit race at the biathlon world championships in Pyeongchang could be contested in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Russian media said on Monday.

The appeal jury of the sport's controlling body IBU on Sunday changed an earlier decision by race organizers to penalize the race winner Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and several other biathletes for leaving the track early in the race.