Wellington - New Zealanders began voting Saturday in a general election that could see the Labour-led coalition, which has governed for the last nine years, defeated by its conservative opponents, according to opinion polls.

Labour's hopes of surviving a considerable swing to the right in voter sentiment depend on the polling of minor parties, who could prop it up in another coalition if they return enough people to the parliament of 120 to 123 members.

Miami - Hurricane Paloma strengthened over the Caribbean and was approaching the Cayman Islands and Cuba with sustained winds of more than 150 kilometres an hour on Friday.

"Paloma is a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Strengthening is likely and Paloma is expected to become a category- two hurricane later today (Friday) and possibly reach category three intensity late tonight or on Saturday," the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.

Cairo - The Palestinian-Israeli peace process will be the main topic of a meeting on Saturday of Arab foreign ministers with representatives of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Shiekh.

"This meeting is important as it can lead to deeper understanding between the Arab countries and the Quartet on how to proceed regionally and internationally to support negotiations between the two sides," said the spokesman of Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Hussam Zaki.

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Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama on Friday called for swift steps to halt the economic downturn and to prevent the financial crisis from damaging other sectors of the economy.

"We're gonna have to act swifty," Obama said in his first public appearance since winning Tuesday's election.

Obama held a lengthy meeting with a team of economic advisors, before going in front of reporters in Chicago, to assure the public that he is prepared to quickly address the country's economic woes.

Buenos Aires - The ongoing global financial crisis has reached the Argentine car industry, with Renault's local branch on Friday suspending 1,000 workers for 10 days.

After sales fell in October, for the first in five years, the press spokesman for the Argentine Mechanics' Union SMATA, Leonardo Almada, noted that the move is set to affect "practically the whole" Renault plant in the central city of Cordoba.

Workers were to obtain 70 per cent of their regular salaries during the suspension.