Switzerland

A Swiss engineer suspected of selling nuclear equipment to Libya has been arrested in South Africa, the Swiss authorities said on Sunday, confirming a media report. The German newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported earlier that the man, who was not named, has been accused of importing and exporting equipment for enriching uranium, a stage in the development of nuclear weapons.

The lives of up to half a million people living with Aids in Africa can be saved each year if they are also treated for turberculosis, two United Nations agencies said on Tuesday. They said about eight million of about 25-million Africans who live with HIV — the virus that causes Aids — also carry the germs that cause TB.

The United Nations said on Wednesday it is still lacking two-thirds of the money it needs to meet emergency aid needs in Sudan for the rest of the year, particularly in the war-torn western Darfur region. Families who were forced to flee their homes and abandon their fields have completely missed this year’s planting season.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=121075">After exodus, refugees dig in</a>

Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) early on Sunday resuscitated talks that collapsed nearly a year ago when they agreed on an outline for a pact on some of the major disagreements, including ending farm subsidies. The WTO’s 140 member nations approved the framework by consensus after gruelling talks in Geneva.

European Union ministers on Friday gave the green light to negotiate a global-trade liberalisation treaty based on a revised text produced on Friday morning, which will force the bloc to abandon all export subsidies on farm goods. The group gave EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy a mandate to thrash out a deal.

Some members of the World Trade Organisation are outraged at secret debates among five key players on how to salvage global trade talks, with one delegate warning on Thursday that a price will be paid. Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States wrapped up two days of closed door talks at midnight on Wednesday.

Farmers’ groups from the European Union, Japan and Canada said on Monday they are very worried about the direction in which talks on bringing down global trade barriers are heading. Representatives of a coalition of farmers’ federations said their concerns focus on the drive for market access by bringing down tariffs.

The United Nations food agency is flying urgent aid to tens of thousands of Congolese who have been expelled from Angola amid reports of executions, rapes and forced separations of families. The Angolan government is expelling Congolese who have been working illegally in diamond mines, along with their families.

A ”horrible tragedy” is unfolding in North Korea where up to 7% of the population has reportedly died from a lack of food over the past decade, a United Nations expert on the right to food said on Wednesday. Millions more will stay hungry unless the international community makes urgent donations to the World Food Programme.

The United Nations is preparing an inquiry into grave human rights abuses in Côte d’Ivoire during an anti-government protest a week ago, a spokesperson said on Friday. ”The allegations speak of summary and extra-judicial executions, rape and sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detention,” he said.

Sir Peter Ustinov, the Oscar-winning actor who later earned a reputation for his humanitarian work with the United Nations, has died. He was 82. In a movie career lasting about 60 years, Ustinov appeared in roles ranging from Emperor Nero to Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

The estate of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien has won the rights to the use of the domain name www.jrrtolkien.com in a United Nations ruling. The World Intellectual Property Organisation ordered the name handed over to the company that holds the rights to the British author’s works.

The worldwide Red Cross launched its 2004 appeal on Tuesday, earmarking the largest-to-date slice of its budget to fight diseases such as HIV/Aids that kill millions more people than natural disasters every year. More than 40% of the appeal will help the 13-million people who die annually from infectious diseases.

The World Health Organisation confirmed on Tuesday that 11 people who died recently in northwestern Congo had been infected with the Ebola virus and 105 more people are under surveillance in case they develop the highly infectious disease, for which there is currently no cure.

Swiss aviation authorities launched an investigation on Wednesday after radar screens monitoring flights in the area of Switzerland’s busiest airport went blank for 20 minutes. The air traffic controllers on duty responded quickly and immediately adopted emergency working procedures.

Fake drugs, which can be useless, harmful or deadly, are on the rise as they are easy to make and sell cheaply, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday as it launched a campaign to fight the problem. Up to 25% of medicines consumed in developing nations are believed to be counterfeit or substandard.

Finland was ranked the most competitive country in the world by the World Economic Forum on Thursday, edging out the United States from the top spot in its annual survey thanks to a healthy Finnish economy, efficient public institutions and technology-driven industry.