Singapore - The Singapore government will not bail out a multi-billion-dollar casino project by financially troubled Las Vegas Sands, the Channel News Asia (CNA) reported Wednesday.

But the government is considering reviewing the timeline of the Marina Bay Integrated Resort project, which is scheduled to be completed next year, reported CNA, citing Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran.

Nevertheless, Iswaran has not ruled out involvement in the project by government-linked companies, saying these were commercial entities and it depended on their business sense.

Munich - Hypo Real Estate, the German finance company which nearly collapsed in September, reported a third quarter pre-tax loss of 3.1 billion euros (3.8 billion dollars) on Wednesday.

The deficit, which was greater than analysts expected, was due mainly to 2.5 billion euros in writedowns for its Dublin-based subsidiary Depfa, the company said in a statement.

The loss came after a profit of 237 million euros for the same period of 2007.

Paris - Ten people arrested for a recent series of attacks on French railway lines are said to belong to a small left-wing extremist group intent on carrying out acts of disruption, French media reported on Wednesday.

Five of the 10 suspects - including the alleged leader of the group, a 34-year-old names Julien - were living in a small village in the department, or region, of Correze in central France when they were taken into custody early Tuesday. Others were arrested in Paris and Rouen.

Baghdad - The death toll from a car-bomb in a square in central Baghdad rose to nine on Wednesday, al-Arabiya TV reported.

The explosion, which took place in Nasr Square, also injured 12 passers-by.

In north-eastern Baghdad, nine civilians were injured, including two women, when a bomb struck their minibus in Shab district, a police source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Shanghai - Andy Roddick withdrew from the Masters Cup shortly before his match on Wednesday, citing an ankle injury he suffered during training the day before.

The American, who lost his opening match to Andy Murray, will be replaced in the Red group by Radek Stepanek.

The American dropped his bombshell a few hours before he was due to take to the court against Roger Federer.

Vienna - Bank Austria, part of the Italian UniCredit group, said Wednesday its profits fell by 1.2 per cent to 1.74 billion euros (2.21 billion dollars) in the first three quarters of 2008, due to growth in Central and Eastern Europe and relaxed accounting rules.