Geneva - The seven major emerging economies should fight against protectionism and further liberalize their economies and trade policy, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report released Thursday.

Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa - known collectively as the BRIICS - have reduced many barriers to trade in the last two decades but, the report said, still have more work to do on the "second generation" of reforms, including reducing import tariffs.

Geneva  - Israel on Thursday refused to address UN criticisms aimed at its policies in the Palestinian territories, sparking diplomatic tensions.

Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, said his country would act on recommendations from the Human Rights Council to improve internal compliance with UN standards on such issues as torture, minority rights, women's issues and prisoner's rights.

Geneva - Switzerland saw double-digit drops last month in its exports, a backbone of the economy, statistics released Thursday showed.

Exports declined to just over 14 billion Swiss francs (12.5 billion dollars), a 16.3 per cent drop in real terms, while imports fell 6.7 per cent, bringing the trade surplus to 731 million francs.

While all sectors saw declines, the metals industry was hit hardest and its exports fell over 36 per cent while textiles experienced a drop of 30 per cent.

Geneva - An aid worker was killed in the conflict area in northern Sri Lanka, the humanitarian organization CARE International said Wednesday.

R. Sabesan, aged 24, worked for CARE and was hit in a shelling Tuesday in the so-called no-fire zone. He later died of his wounds as he was unable to access medical care, the aid group said.

"The toll this war is taking on civilians is devastating," said Nick Osborne from CARE in a statement. "Humanitarian workers trapped in the conflict zone are just as much at risk as anyone else."

Geneva - A new shortened draft declaration for an upcoming UN conference on racism which deletes direct references to Israel may be enough to woo back countries threatening to boycott the summit, officials hoped on Wednesday.

Both Israel and the US left the previous summit, in Durban in 2001, over criticisms of Israel, and Israel and Canada were threatening to boycott the upcoming conference in Geneva over the same issue.

Geneva  - Bugatti celebrated its 100th birthday by unveiling a Bugatti Veyron Bleu Centenaire special edition at the Geneva Motor Show, taking a cue from the traditional Bugatti with an exclusive colour combination.

The special model, which is a one-off edition, combines "sprint blue matt" and "sprint blue gloss" colours and parts of the engine are also in the traditional Bugatti Blue.