Berlin- The German Par

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was publicly non-committal Wednesday over Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's reported interest in becoming secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Rasmussen, who visited her in Berlin, has been described in the news media as a candidate to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as the highest official of the alliance from August this year.

Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seizing the initiative in facing up to the global financial crisis, as the host of talks Sunday with her European counterparts.

With the prospect of German elections in September, clouded by the country's biggest economic downturn in 60 years, Merkel has stepped

out of her previous inertia and summoned the heads of Europe's biggest economies to find common ground.

Erfurt, Germany - A German state premier whose support is vital to Chancellor Angela Merkel is to remain out of action for half the year after suffering grave head injuries in a skiing accident, doctors predicted Tuesday.

Dieter Althaus, 50, was in collision with a woman skier on January 1 while both were making downhill runs in the Riesneralm resort in Austria's Styria state. The woman, Beate C, 41, was killed.

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel has not yet picked the board

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.