Geneva  - The death toll from the recent outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe has risen to 389, the United Nations said Friday, with a total of 9,463 cases reported.

In the least three days, 76 new deaths were reported, the UN's Children's Fund UNICEF said. The disease has also spread to more areas.

"The disease is preventable and curable," said Fadila Chaib of the World Health Organization.

The UN and its partners were bringing in more supplies, including water, fuel, hygiene kits and body bags.

Geneva/Brussels - The plan for Switzerland to join Europe's free movement Schengen area would help improve security for the confederation as well as for neighboring states, an official said Thursday.

"We want to improve the security situation in Europe," said Brigitte Hause-Suss, a spokesperson for Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.

By joining Schengen, the Swiss and the other European members, though not Britain and Ireland which remain outside the pact, would share information on terrorism, criminal threats and asylum seekers.

Brussels - Switzerland is to join the European Union's free movement Schengen area a

Geneva - The number of dead from cholera in Zimbabwe continued to rise, the United Nations said Tuesday, and so far 313 deaths have been reported in the latest outbreak of the disease.

"We are very concerned by the deteriorating health situation in Zimbabwe," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in Geneva.

The number of reported cases in the country in the past three months has increased to 7,283, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, up over 1,000 from a week before.

The most affected areas were parts of the capital Harare.

Zurich - The ruling football body FIFA on Wednesday banned Peru from international compe

London, November 25 : Swiss chemists have developed a new material from polyester fibres coated with millions of tiny silicone filaments, which they claim is the most water-repellent clothing-appropriate material ever created.

Stefan Seeger, the University of Zurich researcher who led the creation of the waterproof material, has revealed that drops of water stay as spherical balls on top of the fabric, and a sheet of the material need only be tilted by two degrees from horizontal for them to roll off like marbles.

The researcher says that a jet of water goes off the fabric without leaving a trace.

He attributes the incredible water resistance of the material to a layer of silicone nanofilaments, which are highly chemically hydrophobic.