Basel - Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, said it was confident it would meet full year targets after reporting an 8 per cent growth in sales in the first-quarter.

Last month Roche bought for 46.8 billion dollars the remaining 44 per cent stake in the US biotech firm Genentech that it did not already own.

The Swiss company said in July it would set out its plan for the rest of the year to include Genentech, including bringing a head of the US company to the Roche board.

Ljubljana - Stand still, play dead, because the beast can outrun, outjump and out-climb any human: These instructions were broadcast in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana Thursday morning, as the search for a brown bear roaming in the city began.

The animal had first been sighted at 4 am (0200 GMT) in the central city park. An alert was issued and a search launched after a head-count in the Ljubljana zoo confirmed that both resident bears were safely locked up.

Police said the bear probably became lost after crossing from the hilly woodlands across the highway belt encircling the city and warned people to stay away from the area of the sighting.

Zurich  - The Swiss banking giant UBS said Wednesday it will take a first-quarter loss of almost 2 billion Swiss francs (1.7 billion dollars) and will cut 8,700 jobs worldwide by 2010.

"Unfortunately I am not able, as yet, to offer you any good news," Oswald Grubel, chief executive officer of the UBS Group, told shareholders at the annual meeting while pledging to return to profitability.

The crisis, he said, "was not over," and would likely lead UBS to being a smaller bank. Previously at the UBS rival Credit Suisse, Grubel took over his role in February.

Zurich - The Swiss banking giant UBS said Wednesday it will take a first quarter loss of almost 2 billion Swiss francs (1.7 billion dollars) and will cut 8,700 jobs worldwide by 2010. "Unfortunately I am not able, as yet, to offer you any good news," Oswald Grubel, Chief Executive Officer of the UBS Group was expected to tell shareholders later at an annual meeting. He took over his role in February this year.

Most of the new losses were in further writedowns and cash outflows in its wealth management divisions.

Geneva - Somali pirates are in danger of again threatening food supplies for the war-ravaged East African country, the UN food agency warned on Tuesday. "Piracy is a constant concern for the World Food Programme," said spokeswoman Emilia Casella - noting that
90 per cent of the aid to Somalia is delivered by sea.

The Maersk Alabama with its American crew were captured last week

as they were delivering food aid to Africa. More than half of the 200 containers on the ship were destined for the WFP.

Chur, Switzerland - Icy Alpine streams, jagged peaks and lovely landscapes - all this and more awaits passengers on the Rhaetian Railway's Bernina Express. Beginning its journey in Chur, capital of the Swiss canton of Graubuenden, the train winds its way up the Alps to the Bernina Pass, more than 2,000 metres above sea level. While passengers are still admiring the 4,049-metre peak known as Piz Bernina, the train starts its steep descent into the mild climate of Italy's Valtellina, an Alpine valley.