Bern  - Switzerland will reopen negotiations with the US on their bilateral taxation agreement, the Swiss Federal Council confirmed Wednesday - but warned any new treaty may be subject to a referendum.

The first meet is set to take place on April 28 in Bern.

The move follows Switzerland's announcement last month that it would relax its notorious banking secrecy laws and adopt more international standards on taxation and transparency in response to an international crackdown against so-called tax havens.

Wiesbaden, Germany  - German exports continued their drastic decline in February, with a year-on-year drop of 23.1 per cent, as the global recession continued to take its toll on the German economy, data released Wednesday showed.

Exports reached a total of 64.8 billion euros (85.4 billion dollars), the National Office for Statistics said. Imports also fell by 16.4 per cent, to a total of 56.2 billion euros.

Seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous month, while imports dropped by 4.2 per cent.

New York  - With global economic misery escalating, the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday called for a global financial crisis meeting in June that it hopes will involve the leaders of all its members.

The General Assembly approved the plans by consensus in New York. Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann appealed to all leaders of the 192 member states to come in person instead of sending lower ranking representatives, according to his spokesman.

Munich  - The economic slump in the euro zone has worsened, economists from three nations said Tuesday in a new study.

"Despite the deployment of government stimulus packages, the economic outlook remains gloomy," said the joint report by the IFO Institute of Germany, Insee of France and the ISAE economic research institute of Italy.

The group said the decline had become steeper since the start of this year and the euro zone was now in a serious recession.

Hanoi  - Vietnamese private businesses Tuesday expressed mixed feelings at a government decision to raise the minimum wage at some companies by 20 per cent.

The government announced Monday that the minimum wage for workers at state-owned companies and at private companies in the service sector would rise from 540,000 dong to 650,000 dong (31 to 37 dollars) per month. The raise takes effect May 1.

"This decision conflicts with the government's efforts to support business," said Pham Thi Lieu, deputy director of the MSA garment company in Hanoi.