Geneva - The oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran said Monday their target goal for the price of oil was between 60 to 75 dollars a barrel.

"The days of oil as a primary fuel source for the people of the world are far from over," Saudi Minister of Petroleum Ali al-Naimi said.

His Iranian counterpart, Gholam Nozari, concurred with the assessment on the ideal price a barrel of oil should fetch on the market.

Geneva - The situation in northern Sri Lanka is "desperate," United Nation's top human rights official Navi Pillay said Friday, criticizing both the government and the Tamil rebels.

"The current level of civilian casualties is truly shocking, and there are legitimate fears that the loss of life may reach catastrophic levels, if the fighting continues in this way," Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

Geneva  - The Swiss watch group Swatch reported Thursday net income of 838 million Swiss francs (723.6 million dollars) for 2008, a drop from the previous year's earning.

The company reported 5.96 billion francs in gross sales, a record, but its income was down from 2007's net income of over 1 billion.

"A noticeable drop in demand in the last months of 2008 mainly at wholesale level reduced the momentum in most brands and markets," the company said in its report, noting that even luxury items did not escape the downturn.

Geneva - The former prosecutor of criminal tribunals in Rwanda and Yugoslavia has backed a recent international arrest warrant against the president of Sudan, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The support from Louise Arbour comes despite the fact that aid groups have subsequently been kicked out of the country in retaliation for the warrant.

Arbour, who has also served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said international justice has made "irreversible" progress in recent years.

Geneva  - Mercedes launched the E-Class Coupe in Geneva just three months after bringing out the saloon version, describing the two-door as the world's most aerodynamically efficient series-production car.

Featuring no B-pillars and fully retractable side windows, Mercedes says the coupe has a drag coefficient with a Cd-figure of only 0.24. The new, four-cylinder engine consumes up to 17 per cent less fuel while at the same time offering more performance and torque.

Geneva  - Nissan's luxury brand Infiniti has announced that it will launch a "visionary" concept, designed in collaboration with fashion giant Louis Vuitton to celebrate the 20th birthday of the luxury segment, at the Geneva Motor Show.

Revealing only a minor detail of the Infiniti Essence, the car maker said the concept will indicate what customers could expect in the near future.