Lausanne, Switzerland  - Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a two-year ban imposed on him for doping by the Anti-doping Tribunal of the National Olympic Committee of Italy (CONI) last month.

Ricco tested positive for the blood-booster CERA (Continuous Erythropietin Receptor Activator), described as third-generation EPO, after the fourth stage of the race, on July 8.

However, the 25-year-old admitted to EPO doping three days after the positive result and decided against calling for his B-sample to be tested.

Geneva - An organization representing 900 Swiss companies has signed an agreement to crack down on commercial child sex tourism, an official with the Swiss Federation of Travel Agencies said Monday.

"We want our members to inform their clients and partners in different countries about the protection of children there," Sandra Gonzales with the SVR, the federation's German initials, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The organization also called on tourists to report any illegal activities at their holiday destinations to the Swiss Federal Police, via an online form that was first made available over the summer.

Geneva - Continuing fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted the UN to make plans to transfer 60,000 displaced people to a new camp farther away from the front lines, officials said Friday.

The new site is located about 15 kilometres to the south-west of the existing camps. Most of the transferees will have to make their way on foot.

"The voluntary transfer will be complicated," said Ron Redmond of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He added the transfer was expected to start next week.

"We hope to complete it very quickly, within a few days," Redmond said.

Zurich - Swiss banking giant UBS AG reported Tuesday its first profit in four quarters.

The world's biggest wealth manager, which has emerged as one of the major victims of the recent round of financial turmoil triggered by the US mortgage market meltdown, reported a third-quarter profit of 296 million Swiss francs (256.3 million dollars).

The Zurich-based bank said last month it planned to raise 6 billion Swiss francs from the government and it planned to shift 60 billion Swiss francs of toxic assets to a special Swiss central bank fund.

Zurich - The weak global economy has affected third-quarter profits at the world's largest recruitment firm, Adecco, sending them sharply down by 23 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2007, to 168 million euros (212 million dollars).

Revenue dropped by 6 per cent over the same period to 5.1 billion euros, the company reported Tuesday in Zurich.

Revenue fell by 9 per cent in the United States and Canada, the second most important market.

Zurich - Switzerland's reinsurance giant Swiss Re reported a surprise third-quarter loss Tuesday, slipping 304 million Swiss francs (259 million dollars) into the red after registering a profit of