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.

Lugano, Switzerland - The southern Swiss city of Lugano, on the shores of Lake Lugano in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, blends grandezza and la dolce vita with Swiss precision. In spring, snow-capped Alpine peaks and Mediterranean palms are mirrored side by side in the lake. So, too, do the city's languages, cultures and mentalities merge in a way that is truly unique.

"Signora" Lugano is, in short, a study in contrasts: modern and narrow-minded, industrious and indolent, effervescent and drowsy, and, despite some architectural eyesores, still beautiful.

Suven Life Sciences, a Drug Discovery and development company, has finished the phase I clinical trial for its new molecule, SUVN 502 in healthy volunteers.

In a filing, Suven Life Sciences said, “The company has completed its Phase I multiple ascending dose study of SUVN-502 in healthy volunteers.”