Nairobi/Geneva - The human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Friday of a possible humanitarian disaster in Darfur, western Sudan, if the Khartoum government went ahead with its threat to expel aid organizations.

The threat by President Omar al-Bashir to withdraw work permits for 13 Western aid agencies came after the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Geneva - The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) revealed its plans Thursday to ensure all F1 teams make it through the global economic crisis safely and can participate in the sport until the end of the 2012 season.

Among the proposals presented at a press conference in Geneva is a new points-scoring system whereby the points for a race win would rise from 10 to 12, with nine points for second and seven for third.

Positions four to eight would continue to score in the current 5- 4-3-2-1 manner.

Geneva - Defiant Sudanese officials confirmed Thursday that the government had kicked several charities out of the country for "violating the law" and "passing information" onto the International Criminal Court, which they accused of being a colonialist body.

The ICC on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan.

Geneva - United Nations General Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann on Thursday condemned the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, saying it was politically motivated.

"I am sorry about the decision of the ICC. It is more a decision motivated by political considerations than really for the sake of advancing the cause of justice in the world," the Nicaraguan diplomat said in Geneva.

It would have preferable to let the ongoing peace negotiations on Darfur continue, rather than turn the issue into an international legal matter, Brockmann added.

Geneva - A staff member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) died after succumbing to wounds sustained during a shelling incident in the north of Sri Lanka, the organization said Thursday.

Vadivel Vijayakumar worked as a water technician for the ICRC.

"In recent days he was involved in ICRC-facilitated medical evacuations, helping to bring patients from the makeshift medical facility in Putumattalan to the beach and then on to the ICRC ferry for evacuation to Trincomalee," the group said in a statement.

Geneva - The humanitarian situation in north-eastern Sri Lanka has become "extremely grim," a senior United Nations official in the Asian country said Wednesday.

Gordon Wiess, the spokesman for the UN's operations in Sri Lanka warned that some 70,000 to 200,000 were trapped in a tiny enclave between a lagoon and the sea front, desperate for food, shelter and drinking water.

He said it was "unacceptable" that civilians were cut off from aid.