Geneva - Somalia is the scene of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world and its citizens have been victims "of most terrible human rights and humanitarian law abuses," the United Nations expert on the east African country said Wednesday.

Geneva- The United Nations was marking Tuesday the 50th day that John Solecki, who worked for the organization in Quetta, Pakistan, was being held in captivity.

Solecki was abducted on February 2 this year, in an attack that killed another UN staff member. His health was said to be deteriorating and the UN was worried about his medical condition.

Currently, 19 UN staff members are under arrest, detained or missing, around the world, said UNHCR, the refugee agency that employs Solecki.

Geneva - Airlines will suffer losses of 4.7 billion dollars in 2009, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday, downgrading a previous forecast.

"The state of the airline industry today is grim," Giovanni Bisignani, the head of the IATA, said.

A forecast at the end of last year had predicted a 2.5 billion dollar loss.

The IATA also revised its estimate losses for 2008 from 5 billion dollars to 8.5 billion, citing a particularly bad fourth quarter.

Zurich - Swiss Life, the largest insurance company in Switzerland, announced Tuesday it was forming a strategic partnership with German insurer Talanx.

Talanx was to purchase up to a 9.9 per cent stake in Swiss Life and a 8.4 per cent share in MLP, a German pension specialist, from Swiss Life.

The news came as Swiss Life announced a 345 million Swiss franc (306.9 million dollars) net profit for 2008 and said it had a solid capital base.

Geneva/Berlin - Switzerland and Germany are friendly neighbours and big commercial partners, but a war of words over banking secrecy is shaking the relationship, and few punches are being pulled.

Fights between friends and family can be nastier than enemies.

The row started a week ago, when Peer Steinbrueck, Germany's finance minister, said in an off-the-cuff remark that so-called tax havens were running scared, like Native Americans fleeing mounted troops.

Geneva - Holcim, a Swiss cement supply company, said Monday it had opened international arbitration proceedings against Venezuela, after the South American government failed to pay compensation for the nationalization of its branch there last year.

Along with two other foreign-owned cement companies, Holcim's assets were seized by Caracas in the summer, the company said in statement.

In violation of an agreement between the company and Venezuela, the Swiss firm was never compensated and the government cut off all contact by October.