Free Republic

A Swiss news site has said that the Turkish treasury has moved 19 tons of gold to Switzerland from the United States in an attempt to dodge potential sanctions. BZ Basel said the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, which is officially extraterritorial, with not even Swiss police being able to enter, had taken the shipment from Fort Knox. The news site speculated that one reason for Turkey removing the reserves from the United States could be fear over possible economic sanctions on the country’s state owned bank Halkbank, which faces a likely fine following revelations that it allowed Iran to...

Transgender people should be able to change their first name and gender easily without bureaucracy getting in the way, the Swiss government believes. On Thursday, it announced plans to modify the Swiss civil code to make such changes easier to register. It means that anyone who is convinced that the gender they have been assigned in the civil register is not the right one for them should be able to change both gender and first names by means of a simple declaration. No medical examination will be required for changes to the register. Under the plans — which are now...

Faith Whittlesey, President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Switzerland, who helped popularize the message of the “Reagan Revolution” and advocated for a staunch, traditional conservatism for decades, passed away Monday at 79. Whittlesey, lately of Delray Beach, Florida, succumbed to a long bout with cancer in Washington, DC, surrounded by family and friends.

Roman Polanski To Collect Festival Honor In Zurich Director Roman Polanski is to collect a career honour at the Zurich Film Festival, two years after his arrest in the city on child sex charges. Organisers say the 78-year-old will attend the gala to receive his award which he was set to pick up in 2009. Swiss police arrested Polanski on his arrival in the country over his 1977 US conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He was held for 10 months before Swiss courts decided not to extradite him. The tribute ceremony to present Polanski with his lifetime...

Shania Twain apologized for her comments and clarified she does "not hold any common moral beliefs with the current President": I would like to apologise to anybody I have offended in a recent interview with the Guardian relating to the American President. The question caught me off guard. As a Canadian, I regret answering this unexpected question without giving my response more context I am passionately against discrimination of any kind and hope it’s clear from the choices I have made, and the people I stand with, that I do not hold any common moral beliefs with the current President...

Switzerland has long been one of the safest and well governed countries in the world. Switzerland had historically few firearms restrictions and high rates of gun ownership. Until 1996, the firearms laws in Switzerland were entirely an affair of the local cantons. Gun laws in Switzerland were generally less restrictive than in the United States. Most firearms were not registered. It was easy to purchase handguns and automatic rifles. Cannon required an approximate $5 registration which could be obtained at the local police office. Cannon breech blocks were required to be stored separately from the cannon. Before 1998, pistols...

If a drone is invading your personal privacy, you are entitled to shoot it down and aren’t liable for damages, according to new findings by Swiss lawyers. Drones are increasingly popular with private individuals in Switzerland for recreational use and to take aerial videos, but the remote-controlled craft can also be used by for spying on individuals or taking unauthorized photos — for example of people sunbathing on their balcony. Until now, legal opinion has held that victims of drone surveillance cannot defend themselves; but Basel lawyers Jascha Schneider-Marfels and Sebastian Kaufmann say that according to their interpretation of the...

A new platform composed of left-wing politicians, police officers and psychiatrists is pushing for Switzerland to follow the European Union in tightening controls on guns. Representatives of the Social Democratic Party (SP), the Swiss police officers association VSPB/FSFP and the Swiss federation of psychiatrists and psychotherapists FMPP joined forces on Thursday ahead of a debate on the issue in parliament, the Tribune de Genève reported. The EU parliament approved a revised gun law last year designed to close security loopholes and introduce tighter controls on blank-firing and inadequately deactivated weapons like those used in the Paris terror attacks. On March...

Prime minister says it's not up to him to determine who the Aga Khan invites to his residences Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talked about the then-incoming Trump administration and the general state of the world when the two of them were on the Aga Khan's private island in late 2016. During an interview this week with The Canadian Press, Trudeau shed a bit more light on his direct interactions with Kerry, who happened to be at the spiritual leader's island in the Bahamas at the same time as the prime...

The $2 million cashier's check was drawn at a St. George bank Nov. 5, 2010. From there, it was sent by FedEx to a Los Angeles attorney who represented Ireland-based Full Tilt Poker. Made out to "Mail Media LTD" — a Full Tilt-owned entity used to launder online-gambling funds — the millions then were deposited at Basler Kantonalbank in Switzerland, where Mail Media had an account. And from there, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings is investigating whether it went into a Marshall Islands account in the name of Searchlight Holding Inc. to benefit, or even bribe, Harry Reid, the once-powerful...

The Egyptian Parliament issued a warning that methods of annihilation and exile Turkey utilizes in Afrin are reminiscent of the Armenian Genocide. The Egyptian Parliamentary committee on the matters of Arab countries issued a statement and stressed that the invasion of Afrin is “an ethnic cleansing”. The statement warned against an ethnic cleansing against Kurds in Rojava and Southern Kurdistan and stressed that Turkey’s attacks against Afrin and Shengal are attacks against the independence of Syria and Iraq. The statement also pointed out the massacres and exile involved in the invasion of Afrin and said the events are reminiscent of...

Geneva Canton Court has approved the building of an Armenian Genocide Monument. The monument will be opened on the 103rd anniversary of the genocide. The Geneva Canton Court has said the final word on the discussions on the monument the public wanted to erect in Geneva for years to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide, but were prevented by Turkey’s diplomatic pressure. The court ruled that the appeals to prevent the building of the monument are baseless and that the monument can be erected inside the Trembley Park in Geneva. The monument project prepared by Parisian Armenian Melik Ohanyan...

The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 homicides with firearms. The country's overall murder rate is near zero. Switzerland hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself. The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 homicides with firearms. The country's overall murder rate is near zero. The National Rifle Association often points to Switzerland to argue that...

An Israeli company located in Judea and Samaria is working to combat the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement through a monthly box subscription that allows supporters throughout the world the opportunity to be part of the Israel experience. Aryeh Powers, the director of marketing for Lev HaOlam, told Breitbart News that these gift boxes — which include items that are boycotted by anti-Israel entities as part of the BDS movement — reach thousands of people worldwide. “We send thousands of packages to people in multiple countries per month,” he said. These packages are sent to over 40 countries...

Citizens from more than 30 countries around the world appealed to the UN Secretary-General to suspend UN Human Rights Commissioner Zaid Ra'ad al-Hussein after calling Judea and Samaria communities a "war crime", following the latest report he issued regarding the pace of construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. "While tens of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Syria, and while women's rights are being disregarded in Iran, the Human Rights Commissioner is issuing a report on the settlement movement in Israel, which details construction information, calling it a war crime", mentioned the letter. "The Commissioner' s obsession with...

I have long believed that success leaves clues. It makes sense to pay attention to those clues in order to duplicate that success. When most of us think about Switzerland, we think of great cheese, fine chocolate, and excellent time pieces. They are also famous for their neutrality. Maybe we Americans should take a closer look. They do a number of things right and we might learn something from them. Yes, they make excellent cheese, chocolate and watches. They produce some pretty good wine as well. But, did you know that they spend 30% less than we do on...

American activists hijack Bannon's Zurich visit to raise money for gun safetyA group of Americans in Switzerland is using Steve Bannon’s first public speaking engagement in Europe to raise funds for gun violence prevention. Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s former right hand man and co-founder of far-right US news site Breitbart, will speak in Zurich on March 6th. The former White House Chief Strategist has repeatedly warned Trump against backing gun control, even after the mass shooting in Las Vegas in which 59 people died and 515 were injured. Now campaign group Action Together: Zurich, is turning Bannon’s appearance in...

The time to plow is over for the seeds are bearing fruit for I have gone before you as David in the Valley of Breakthrough . So speak and declare My Words of Righteousness given to all those that believe on Me for "Truly" The Harvest is ready to be brought into the Storehouse That is , "My Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven" for "Truly" You "ARE " My Keepers of My Love and ONE True Light EMMANUEL ( God with us ) JOHN 4:34-38 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will...

Switzerland has been taken to task by the human rights group Amnesty International for its tough treatment of asylum seekers and migrants. The country was violating international legal principles by returning migrants and asylum seekers with rejected asylum claims to countries where they are in danger of persecution, Amnesty said in its annual report published on Thursday. The human rights group cited the examples “of people with failed asylum claims or undocumented migrants” being sent back to countries including Sri Lanka, Turkey and Sudan where they were at risk of “serious human rights” violations. In its report into the state...

Tensions between Switzerland and the European Union over a planned institutional framework accord continued to simmer on Wednesday with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker saying the Swiss government was responsible for the current stalemate in the negotiations. “I have met with the [former] Swiss president [Doris Leuthard] eight times since coming to office, and have always indicated that an institutional framework accord is necessary,” said Juncker. “It was promised on many occasions, but has not materialized.” “I remain, despite that, a friend of Switzerland — although I have always noticed on holidays that when I met Swiss people, they have...