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Today, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank are announcing coordinated measures designed to address the continued elevated pressures in US dollar short-term funding markets. These measures, together with other actions taken in the last few days by individual central banks, are designed to improve the liquidity conditions in global financial markets. The central banks will continue to work together closely and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures. Bank of England action The Bank of England will offer...

Excerpt - GENEVA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) started up a huge particle-smashing machine on Wednesday, aiming to re-enact the conditions of the "Big Bang" that created the universe. Experiments in the Large Hadron Collider, a 10 billion Swiss franc ($9 billion) accelerator built underneath the Swiss-French border, could unlock the remaining secrets of particle physics and answer questions about the universe and its origins.

Switzerland is well on its way to becoming the most dignified country in the world, after its federal parliament decreed that goldfish must be protected against physical and psychological abuse. From September 1, Swiss aquariums must have an opaque side to allow the fish live in a natural cycle of day and night. The new law sets rigorous standards for the treatment of all "social animals". It will be an offence, for instance, to keep only one guinea pig or budgerigar. Or one rhinoceros, apparently, because the law also covers pet rhinoceroses. The Swiss are amongst the best educated people...

GENEVA - Switzerland's foreign minister told top diplomats on Monday she favours direct talks with Osama bin Laden to tackle the threat of terrorism. Micheline Calmy-Rey, who has raised both eyebrows and hackles with her controversial style, told Swiss ambassadors gathered in the capital Bern that they needed to talk to "heavyweight political figures" on the world stage even if they are considered persona non grata by other powers. "This even goes as far as sitting down at the same table as Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden," she said. Switzerland does not have any list of banned organisations to which...

On BOARD S/Y BUSHIDO--Around 20 years or so ago, Udai Hussein, Saddam’s boy, had some of his heavies beat up a man who refused their master’s invitation to join his table in a Geneva nightclub. The Iraqi wanted to meet the man’s beautiful companion, hence the invite. Although arrested, Udai got away with it by claiming diplomatic immunity. The Swiss caved in, as they often do in such cases. As Plato pointed out, money talks. The only good thing anyone can say about Udai is that he died like a man, as did his brother. Last week a scumbag who...

Riyadh, 25 July (AKI) - A Saudi football star playing for a Swiss team has refused to play against an Israeli team for apparent political and religious reasons. Hussein Abdulghani, who plays for Swiss premier league club Neuchatel Xamax, said he would not play a game against a 'Zionist team', reported Arabic language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi on Friday. Neuchatel Xamax is reportedly planning a game with an as yet unnamed Israeli team. Team officials are said to have accepted his decision not to play in the future match against the Israeli team. Abdulghani, 31, has represented Saudi Arabia in three...

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish police said Saturday they had arrested a 57-year-old Spanish woman they claim is the leader of the Spanish cell of Colombian Marxist rebel group FARC. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert was arrested at her home in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, northeast of Madrid, they said. The interior ministry said Garcia Albert had provided logistical support for FARC and had direct contacts with Raul Reyes, the FARC number two who was killed by Colombian troops inside Ecuador earlier this year. Analysis of Reyes' computer passed on to Spanish investigators by Colombian authorities had led...

Libya's state shipping company says it has halted oil shipments to Switzerland in protest at the brief arrest of leader Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son. It threatened further action if the Swiss did not apologise for the arrest. Geneva police held Hannibal Gaddafi for two days after he and his pregnant wife allegedly hit two of their staff. The couple face charges of bodily harm, threatening behaviour and coercion. They have denied any wrongdoing over the alleged incident on 15 July. COSTLY ROW? The stopping of oil shipments comes a day after the Swiss foreign ministry complained of Libya taking "retaliatory...

Excerpt - Libya has taken "worryingly retaliatory measures" against Switzerland following the recent arrest of leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son in Geneva, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry. Col Gaddafi's government has recalled some of its diplomats from Switzerland, reduced flights between the countries, stopped processing visa requests from Swiss citizens, demanded the closure of Swiss firms in Libya and detained two Swiss citizens. Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has formally complained about the moves to her Libyan counterpart and has advised citizens not to travel to Libya. ~ snip ~

Libya's dictatoship of Kadhafi has decided to suspend its oil selling toward Switzerland after Swiss authorities arrested and briefly detained Kadhafi's son in Geneva, last week, under the charges of having beaten two employees. Khadafi's son, Hannibal, seeks revenge. The Libya National Oil Company announced Libya will cancel its oil sells to Switzerland. Libyan oil represents 48% of Switzerland's needs.

Libya has imposed sanctions against Switzerland and Swiss interests following a son of President Muammar Gaddafi being arrested in Geneva. Motassim Gaddafi and his pregnant wife were held in custody following allegations that they ill-treated two members of staff at a luxury hotel in the city. They couple have complained of the treatment they received during the two nights they spent in the cells. Libya is demanding Switzerland apologise for the incident and on Wednesday closed down offices of the Swiss food giant Nestlé. Two of the company's staff in Libya have been arrested. The Libyan ambassador to Switzerland has...

(AGI) - Geneva, 17 July - The detention of Hannibal Gheddafi, son of the Libyan President, and his wife lasted just one night. The Gheddafis, arrested yesterday evening accused of mistreating two staff of the hotel in Geneva where they were staying, were released after the payment of bail of 309,000 euro. The most serious charges were made against Colonel Gheddafi's daughter-in-law, 9 months' pregnant and admitted today to the University of Geneva hospital. The two employees of the Hotel Presidente Wilson, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman showed the injuries to the judge but the Gheddafis' lawyers...

Zurich, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- A leading government official in Switzerland wants the European nation to stop the infamous practice of "death tourism." That's where residents of other countries come to the mountainous nation to have pro-euthanasia groups help them engage in an assisted suicide.Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says the practice is giving her nation a bad name."Today somebody can come to Switzerland and already the next day can have an assisted suicide through one of these assisted suicide organizations. This should not be possible," Widmer-Schlumpf told the Sonntags Zeitung newspaper.Widmer-Schlumpf wants to see legislation introduced that would help...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

Far right groups in Switzerland have collected enough signatures to force a nationwide referendum on banning minarets, the distinctive towers of Islamic architecture. In what is being seen as a sign of growing Islamophobia in Europe, more than 100,000 Swiss citizens signed a petition to halt the construction of minarets. Under Switzerland's direct democracy rules, that level of support is enough to trigger a referendum. The Swiss interior ministry today confirmed a vote would take place, without setting a date. The petition was launched by Ulrich Schlüer an MP from the controversial Swiss People's party, which was accused of racist...

An international smuggling ring managed to acquire blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon, a former UN arms inspector is to say in a new report. David Albright, who investigated the ring led by Pakistani scientist AQ Khan, found the drawings in 2006. His report, due to be published later this week but seen in advance by the Washington Post, suggests the plans may have been sold to rogue regimes. The blueprints included key details for building a compact nuclear device. Such a device, unlike less advanced ones, could be fitted to the kind of ballistic missile used by Iran and...

6/9/2008 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Eleven members of the Afghan National Army Air Corps recently became the first graduates of the Air Corps Firefighting School May 29 at Kabul. The graduates completed four months of class work, countless hands-on exercises extinguishing various types of fires and practicing lifesaving techniques under the direction of American Airmen and firefighters. "Today is a very big day for the air corps," said Brig. Gen. Jay H. Lindell, the Combined Air Power Transition Force commander at the graduation ceremony. "You are your country's future." The increased attention given to the firefighters program will help...

Voters have rejected a proposal by the Swiss People's Party to reinstate the use of the ballot box to decide on naturalisation applications. More than 63 per cent of voters and all but one of the country's 26 cantons on Sunday came out against the initiative, which also wanted to deny the right of appeal to those whose citizenship requests had been rejected. Opposition was particularly strong in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, with up to 80 per cent of votes cast against the initiative. Five years ago the Federal Court outlawed the ballot box as a way of dealing...

A debate is raging over Switzerland's naturalisation rate in the run-up to a nationwide ballot on citizenship procedures early next month. Rightwingers argue no country in Europe approves more citizenship applications than Switzerland. But officials say the comparisons are misleading. Over the past few weeks the rightwing Swiss People's Party has been recycling arguments that proved successful four years ago when it challenged a proposal to facilitate the naturalisation of second- and third-generation foreigners in Switzerland. A large-scale poster campaign shows hands grabbing the coveted red passports with the white cross. The People's Party wants to give voters the final...

The government ordered the destruction of documents on an alleged international nuclear smuggling network involving three Swiss engineers, it has been confirmed. The head of a parliamentary control committee said the material was shredded last November. The father and sons – Friedrich, Marco and Urs Tinner - are suspected of helping to supply parts for Libya's nuclear weapons programme between 2001 and 2003 through a trafficking ring run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atom bomb. Reports say the three worked as undercover agents for the United States intelligence service. There is widespread media speculation that Washington asked...

Holes, Cheese, and Heads The Swiss, a few years ago, added a provision to their constitution that gives dignity to all living organisms using the term “Würde der Kreatur” (dignity of living beings) to apply to both plants and animals. To explain exactly what this means, the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology produced a report called "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants." There is a reason the most famous invention of the Swiss is the cuckoo clock. There are obviously more holes in their heads than in their cheese. The report appears to be one...

Editor’s Note: Today’s story comes to us from the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association. Catch and Release fishing will be banned in Switzerland from next year, it was revealed this week. And anglers in the country will have to demonstrate their expertise by taking a course on humane methods of catching fish, under new legislation outlined by the Bundesrat - the Swiss Federal Parliament. The new legislation states that fish caught should be killed immediately following their capture, with a sharp blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Under the new regulations, the use of livebait and barbed hooks...

lbert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired — and arguably corrupted — millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102. Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971. For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention. "I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It's not my fault if people abused it," he once said. The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938...

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD and thereby gave the psychedelic generation the pharmaceutical vehicle to turn on, tune in and drop out, has died. He was 102.

Albert Hofmann, who died on Tuesday aged 102, synthesised lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938 and became the first person in the world to experience a full-blown acid trip. The day, April 19 1943, became known among aficionados as “Bicycle Day” as it was while cycling home from his laboratory that he experienced the most intense symptoms. Hofmann was working as a research chemist in the laboratory of the Sandoz Company (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland, where he was involved in studying the medicinal properties of plants. This eventually led to the study of the alkaloid compounds of ergot, a...

SWITZERLAND, April 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The nation that liberalized its abortion laws in 2002 is now giving unprecedented protection to animal and plant life.In an effort to respect the needs of "social species," the Swiss parliament passed legislation last week that threatens its citizens with punishment for not providing various animals a fit environment in which they can interact and flourish.Enjoying the most extensive protection under the new laws, dogs proved to be the Swiss parliament's best friend.  Prospective dog owners will now be required to complete a course in canine treatment that will include both theoretical and...

GENEVA (AFP) — Switzerland said on Wednesday it had frozen the assets of a further 12 Iranian companies in accordance with new United Nations sanctions aimed at stopping Tehran's alleged nuclear programme. The 12 companies, and 13 individuals, have been added to an existing blacklist of 23 companies and 27 people. ] Five Iranian nationals are also banned from entering and passing through Switzerland, the country's Federal Council said in a statement. Switzerland will also ban the delivery of so-called "dual use" materials that could be used for the manufacture of nuclear plants, and the export of some drones and...

Some nations have learned the difference between good and evil, but 60 years after a lucrative stint as Adolf Hitler's favorite banker, Switzerland is still clueless. That was made clear once again when Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey went to Teheran to raise her country's profile at the signing of a $28-billion energy deal between a Swiss firm and the state-owned National Iranian Gas Export Co. She initially said her trip was to press the Iranians to clean up their human rights record and stop threatening to eradicate Israel, but it turned out she was actually going at the invitation of...

Riyadh, 2 April (AKI) - Swiss football referee Massimo Busacca vowed he would wear a whistle with the Swiss Cross symbol on it during of the Saudi championship on Wednesday, despite anger voiced in the Kingdom at the 'crusader' item. "I have respect for all religions, including Islam, but I don't see anything offensive in this and am optimistic. I will not give up my 'crusader' whistle," he told pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. Many in Saudi Arabia had called for Busacca to sport a different whistle to avoid offending Muslims. He has previously refereed several soccer matches in the Kingdom....

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Swiss bank UBS AG said Tuesday it expected to post first quarter net losses of 12 billion Swiss francs (US$12.1 billion; euro7.65 billion) and would seek 15 billion Swiss francs (US$15.1 billion; euro9.55 billion) in new capital. Switzerland's largest bank, which has been hard hit by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, also said it sees losses and writedowns of approximately US$19 billion (euro12 billion) on U.S. real estate and related credit positions. Chairman Marcel Ospel will not seek re-election at the April 23 annual general assembly of shareholders and will be succeeded by Peter Kurer, who...

Had just one of her cats disappeared last October, Isabelle Nydegger would simply have assumed it had lost its way in the nearby forest or been attacked by a dog or wild animal. But first Zeus, a 2-year-old black tabby, vanished. A few days later it was her 2 -year-old black and white tabby, Zorra. And, finally, the prize of her brood, 4-year-old Merlin, a fluffy white Siberian whose perky visage remains in her mobile phone six months later. All were gone within the first couple of weeks of the fall hunting season. The cats, Mrs. Nydegger and others are...

GENEVA — Like Paul Revere, Konrad Hummler sounded the alarm last week as he made his way by train and by plane to his bank’s branches across Switzerland. This country’s storied role as secret banker to the world’s wealthy is under threat like never before, Mr. Hummler warned. Mr. Hummler, the jaunty, blunt-spoken managing partner of Wegelin & Company, a small private bank in St. Gallen, has watched a German tax-evasion scandal evolve into a debate about banking secrecy here. Worried that the treasured discretion of Swiss banks is under assault, Wegelin’s foreign clients have been inquiring about their money....

A small country with a skilled workforce, booming exports, and enormous prosperity has become the envy of Europe. For years, prosperous and peaceful Switzerland has been underappreciated. Being small and successful, frankly, is boring to many people. Consider the Cold War spy movie “The Third Man.” In a famous scene, the shady character played by Orson Welles observes, “In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The...

Swiss FM in Headscarf on Iran Visit Provokes Outcry at Home March 19, 2008 The Associated Press IHT.com GENEVA -- Switzerland's foreign minister, already under fire for a natural gas deal with Iran, also is provoking an outcry at home because she wore a headscarf at the meeting with Iran's hardline president when the accord was signed. "Like a submissive woman," the Lausanne daily tabloid Le Matin said Wednesday in a front-page story showing a photo of Micheline Calmy-Rey wearing a white, semitransparent headscarf. "Calmy-Rey wears the veil of discord," Tribune de Geneve said in its lead headline. Numerous members...

March 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Dignitas euthanasia "clinic" has reopened its doors in a facility located next to Switzerland's largest brothel. Dignitas, which has repeatedly made international headlines for its unapologetic mission to assist the ill from around the world to kill themselves, was evicted from its previous facility in September of last year after fellow tenants complained of the constant stream of dead bodies leaving the building. Gloria Sonny, 53, a resident in the same building as Dignitas' old clinic, told the Telegraph at the time, "We call it the 'House of Horrors'.""This is meant to be...

Swiss energy giant EGL is set to sign a 25-year deal in Teheran on Monday to buy 5.5 billion cubic meters of Iranian natural gas per year, starting in 2011, for a reported €18 billion. The contract will be the second largest European gas deal, although EGL spokesman Bogdan Preda told The Jerusalem Post, "We are not releasing the value of the deal." -snip-

ZURICH (Dow Jones) — The Swiss bank UBS is considering cutting as many as 8,000 jobs to save costs, and will not rule out a possible split of its wealth management and investment banking business, a Swiss newspaper reported Sunday. -snip- Among banks worldwide, UBS is one of the worst hit by the financial markets crisis that started with the demise of the market for risky home loans in the United States. The bank has written down more than $18 billion on such assets last year, and analysts expect more to come.

As parliament prepares to debate forced marriages, calls are mounting for more to be done to stop the practice, prevalent among some parts of the migrant community. According to Lathan Suntharalingam, a local politician campaigning against such marriages, it is an integration problem which can't be solved through "multicultural do-gooding". Forced marriages are those taking place under community or parental pressure, normally among immigrants. In some cases, violence and emotional blackmail is employed both before and after the wedding. There is evidence that such unions are taking place in Switzerland. The only study on the issue so far, by the...

Quintessential Alps and Switzerland. Two views. The waterfall is the Staubbach, about 900 feet high.

Geert Wilders, popular MP whose film on Islam fuelled debate on race in Holland, wants an end to mosque building & Muslim immigration. .. adores Thatcher... 'Islam is not a religion, it's an ideology,' - Wilders, a lanky Roman Catholic, 'the ideology of a retarded culture.' ..a crash course in Koranic study. Likening the Islamic text to Hitler's Mein Kampf, wants 'fascist Koran' outlawed.. all immigration from Muslim countries halted, Muslim immigrants paid to leave & all Muslim 'criminals' stripped of Dutch citizenship and deported 'back where they came from'.. 'I have a problem with Islamic tradition, culture, ideology. ...Swiss...

AP News Alert ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Police say armed robbers steal art worth $100 million from a Zurich museum.

(AGI) - Rome, Feb 4 – Omar Bin Laden, the 26-year-old son of the leader of al Qaeda, arrived in Rome yesterday. Tonight he will participate in the television programme 'Niente di personale' presented by Antonello Piroso, at 21:00h on La7. He arrived by airplane from Switzerland under close surveillance measures and followed everywhere by his two bodyguards. Omar Bin Laden stays in a hotel in the centre of Rome with his wife. Yesterday he had dinner in a hotel close to the Vatican, after that he said he wanted to return to Italy to visit Vatican City. This morning...

Swiss change safe sex message on HIV By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press WriterThu Jan 31, 8:10 PM ET Swiss AIDS experts said Thursday that some people with HIV who meet strict conditions and are under treatment can safely have unprotected sex with non-infected partners.The proposal astonished AIDS researchers in Europe and North America who have long argued that safe sex with a condom is the single most effective way of preventing the spread of the disease — apart from abstinence."Not only is (the Swiss proposal) dangerous, it's misleading and it is not considering the implications of the biological facts involved...

Sweden's Saab says Swiss mulling Gripen fighters Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:25am EST STOCKHOLM, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Swedish aerospace firm Saab (SAABb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday that Switzerland was mulling buying its state-of-art Gripen fighter in a deal potentially worth billions of Swedish crowns. Saab said that Switzerland had requested it to tender for a contract to replace its fleet of F-5 fighters around the year 2013. Saab is one of four candidates. The Swedish firm will submit its offer in the middle of 2008 with a decision due in 2009. "There is massive interest in Gripen...

You remember this article announcing the victory of the right in elections in Switzerland, last October? No, I am not joking. You will say, of course: "was it fraud"? No. Quick summarize of the facts 1. The UDC/SVP (POPULAR PARTY OF SWITZERLAND) had focused its campaign on the reelection of its leader, Mr. Blocher, within the executive branch. 2. The UDC was then the first party of Switzerland. 3. In October, during the elections, the SVP won 29.9% of the votes, triumphant with the highest score since 1919 ! Logically, you may say that the leader in question was re-elected...

One person injured after shooting spree in Islamic centre Earthtimes, UK - Nov 13, 2007 The 23-year-old Muslim was finally overwhelmed by police after firing a dozen shots in the incident Monday evening, according to the Swiss wire agency ATS. ...

Death on wheels: The suicide service that comes to your doorBy ALLAN HALL - More by this author » Last updated at 23:29pm on 8th November 2007 British client: Reg Crew, pictured with his wife Win, died in 2003 The controversial group which assists its clients to commit suicide has launched a service which has been nicknamed "death on wheels".  Dignitas has formed mobile teams which meet those who want to kill themselves at the location of their choice.  An official and a nurse then hand the client a lethal dose of chemicals which is taken intravenously or orally. They...

European resentment of Muslims is on the rise October 29, 2007 SHELLEY EMLING AMSTERDAM Ehsan Jami sees himself as the legendary Dutch boy who used his finger to plug a leaking dike. Jami, a Dutch politician, is trying to prevent a flood of what he views as intolerant Muslim immigrants threatening to overrun the Netherlands and all of Europe. He's not alone. In France, Germany and across Western Europe, a vigorous public debate is underway over preservation of national identities, the assimilation of minorities and tolerance of different cultures. A former Muslim who was born in Iran, Jami is a...

Swiss vote after ugly campaign By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Bern Swiss voters go to the polls on Sunday after a general election campaign marred by riots and accusations of racism. Riot police were deployed when violence flared at a Bern poll rally The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), already the largest party in the parliament, is leading in the opinion polls and now expects at least 27% of the vote. But the party's campaign has focused almost entirely on immigrants. Its controversial poster, showing three white sheep kicking a black sheep out of Switzerland, brought sharp criticism from the...

Around 25 activists from the "Black Sheep" group invaded the garden of the Swedish ambassador in Berne Friday, demanding political asylum in the wake of Sunday's victory by the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP), the Swiss news agency ATS reported. The group's name refers to a controversial campaign poster used by the SVP during the election depicting three white sheep on a Swiss flag booting out a black sheep. The SVP – which campaigns against illegal immigration, asylum abuses and demands the repatriation of foreign criminals – came out of Sunday's Swiss elections the comfortable winner, with 29% of...