A Swiss criminal court convicted Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a power broker in international sports, of forgery on Friday in a trial over whether he used a bogus Kuwaiti coup plot to gain an advantage over political rivals. The sheikh had denied all the charges in the case, which has …
Read More »Gunmen kidnap Swiss national in southern Nigeria
Nigerian gunmen have kidnapped a Swiss national after opening fire on his police escort in the southwest of the country, police said on Sunday. Kidnappings occur mostly in the northwest and central states of Nigeria where heavily armed criminal gangs operate and foreign workers are also occasionally targeted for abduction …
Read More »Climate change sees Swiss Alps add over 1,000 lakes: Study
Climate change has dramatically altered the Swiss Alp landscape — at a quicker pace than expected — as melting glaciers have created more than 1,000 new lakes across the mountains, a study published Monday showed. The inventory of Swiss Glacial lakes showed that almost 1,200 new lakes have formed in …
Read More »Switzerland orders son of Gaddafi’s oil chief to pay $1.5 mln in bribery case
A Swiss court ordered the son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s oil minister to pay $1.5 million in a corruption case on Friday, a decision that his lawyer said he may appeal. The case involving Mohamed Ghanem, the CEO of a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank and the son of Shokri …
Read More »Swiss reject law to help country meet Paris carbon emissions goal
Swiss voters rejected a trio of environmental proposals on Sunday, including a new law intended to help the country meet its goal for cutting carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. A new CO2 law was narrowly rejected, with 51.6% of voters opposing it in a nationwide referendum …
Read More »Swiss vote on tax hikes to tackle climate change
Swiss voters are casting ballots in a referendum on a proposed “carbon dioxide law” that would hike fees and taxes on fuels that produce greenhouse gases, as their Alpine country experiences an outsized impact from the fallout of climate change. The proposal would revise and strengthen an existing law that …
Read More »Nestlé launches luxury KitKat bars.
“In the United States, KitKat bars are made by Hershey under license from Nestlé.” Swiss chocolate giant Nestlé has announced a luxury, handcrafted version of the popular chocolate bar for the United Kingdom, in time for the Christmas season. The opulent eight-finger bar allows customers to choose from 1,500 flavor …
Read More »Swiss police use water cannon, tear gas at Cameroon protesters.
Swiss police fired water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades at Cameroonian protesters outside UN headquarters in Geneva Saturday as the crowd surged towards a luxury hotel hosting Cameroon’s president. Parts of the “city of peace” resembled a war zone, with police wearing gas masks and black riot gear chasing …
Read More »Swiss to return $133 million to Uzbekistan after money-laundering probe.
The Swiss attorney general’s office (OAG) on Monday announced it was returning 130 million Swiss francs ($133 million) to Uzbekistan which it seized during an investigation involving a relative of the daughter of the country’s former president Islam Karimov. The OAG did not name the relative who was convicted on …
Read More »UBS fined €3.7bn in a tax fraud case.
Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined €3.7bn (£3.2bn; $4.2bn) in a French tax fraud case. A court in Paris found that the bank had illegally helped French clients hide billions of euros from French tax authorities between 2004 and 2012. UBS said it had consistently contested any criminal wrongdoing …
Read More »Vatican’s Swiss Guards wear new 3D-printed helmets
For more than 500 years, Swiss Guards have protected the Pope at the Vatican wearing metal helmets which scorched their skin in the hot Roman sun — but those days are over for the 120 members of the Holy See’s private army. The old metal helmet has been replaced by …
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