GENEVA - UP TO 51 million jobs worldwide could disappear by the end of this year as a result of the economic slowdown that has turned into a global employment crisis, a United Nations agency said on Wednesday.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that under its most optimistic scenario, this year would finish with 18 million more unemployed people than at the end of 2007, with a global unemployment rate of 6.1.

DAVOS (Switzerland) - CONFIDENCE among heads of the world's top companies meeting in Davos has tumbled to a new low, with the prospect of a long recession torpedoing faith in corporate prospects.

The findings from a poll of more than 1,100 CEOs sets a grim backdrop to a four-day meeting of the world's business and political elite in the Swiss ski resort, which begins on Wednesday.

MALAYSIAN private flight school Elite Flying Club has suspended all flights following Monday's crash involving Singapore permanent resident Mr Sanjay Purushottam.

A school administrator told The Straits Times that it is making efforts to contact all its members to inform them of the suspension due to investigations into the crash.

COLOMBO - SRI Lanka has pledged not to launch attacks inside a 'safe zone' set up as a place of refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped by the fierce fighting between the military and Tamil rebels, the government said on Wednesday.

The announcement came after repeated reports of army forces firing artillery into the zone, which the government set up on the edge of rebel-held territory for ethnic Tamil civilians to seek shelter from the fighting. Scores of civilians were killed in those attacks, a health official said.