Geneva - The Swiss will head to the polls Sunday to vote in a referendum on free movement and access for European Union citizens to their labour market, and will have to decide whether to open up Switzerland to Romania and Bulgaria.
The latest polls indicated that the government backed motion will likely pass and voters will extend the existing deal with 25 European states and allow in the two new EU members, but only by a slim margin.
Islamabad - Ethnic tribal rebels in Pakistan's insurgency- hit south-western province of Balochistan claimed Saturday that they were holding captive a UN top official kidnapped in the region earlier this week, a local media report said.
The private news agency Online said the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), a secular and nationalist guerrilla organization in Balochistan, had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the local head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Havana - US President Barack Obama's policies on Cuba are only focused on Cuban-Americans, at the expense of residents of the island nation, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Friday.
In an article criticizing Obama, Castro said that "sooner rather than later, Obama's politics are losing their virginity."
"The almost 12 million Cubans inhabiting the island do not interest him," he said.
Washington - US President Barack Obama on Friday created a new bipartisan advisory board to develop solutions to the country's economic crisis as he warned lawmakers that immediate action was critical to pulling the US out of a serious recession.
The 17-member board, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, includes conservative and left-leaning economists from academia, labour unions and business.
"This is just the beginning of a long journey back to progress and prosperity," Obama said in prepared remarks released by the White House.
Geneva - Saudi Arabia had its rights record reviewed Friday at the United Nations and came under criticism for women's rights issues in the kingdom as well as the state practise of corporal punishment.
Delegates of various nations criticized Saudi Arabia's "male guardianship system," which they said took away women's autonomy, as well as other legal measures that created inequality between men and women.
Madrid - The Spanish government Friday approved an agreement allowing Argentinian immigrants to vote in the 2011 municipal elections, making Argentina the third Latin American country to get that right after Peru and Colombia.
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and his Argentine counterpart Jorge Taiana were scheduled to sign the agreement on Monday at the start of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez' visit to Spain.
Geneva - The Swiss will head to the polls Sunday to vote in a referendum on free movement and access for European Union citizens to their labour market, and will have to decide whether to open up Switzerland to Romania and Bulgaria.
Islamabad - Ethnic tribal rebels in Pakistan's insurgency- hit south-western province of Balochistan claimed Saturday that they were holding captive a UN top official kidnapped in the region earlier this week, a local media report said.
Havana - US President Barack Obama's policies on Cuba are only focused on Cuban-Americans, at the expense of residents of the island nation, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Friday.
Washington - US President Barack Obama on Friday created a new bipartisan advisory board to develop solutions to the country's economic crisis as he warned lawmakers that immediate action was critical to pulling the US out of a serious recession.
Geneva - Saudi Arabia had its rights record reviewed Friday at the United Nations and came under criticism for women's rights issues in the kingdom as well as the state practise of corporal punishment.
Madrid - The Spanish government Friday approved an agreement allowing Argentinian immigrants to vote in the 2011 municipal elections, making Argentina the third Latin American country to get that right after Peru and Colombia.
