Free Republic

Three accused eco-terrorists went on trial under heavy security in Switzerland's highest criminal court Tuesday for an alleged plot to blow up an IBM nanotech research center near Zurich. The trial in the Federal Criminal Court for an Italian couple and Swiss man living in Italy opened after a one-hour delay because of the extraordinary security taken by Swiss police, who cordoned off the area with metal barriers. The three defendants — 35-year-old Costantino Alfonso Ragusa, his 29-year-old wife Silvia Ragusa Guerini and their 26-year-old Swiss friend Luca "Billy" Cristos Bernasconi — had been detained after being arrested last year...

Authorities Conclude Switzerland Likely Used as Base for Financing, Logistical Support for 9/11 Attacks by Al-Qaida By Daniela Sigrist Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 24, 2004 BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Investigators have concluded that Switzerland was likely used as a base for financing and logistical support for the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, the country's attorney general said Thursday. Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher said authorities plan to begin court proceedings in the coming weeks in three terror cases, capping investigations started four days after the 2001 suicide hijackings in New York and Washington. A special task force initially was charged...

Attorney General Holder heads to Zurich, Switzerland tomorrow to lobby to bring the World Cup to the U.S. in 2022.Justice Dept. says Holder is making the trip to Zurich at the request of Pres. Obama to show US commitment to host World Cup in 2022. Pres. Obama lost U.S. effort in '09 to host 2016 Summer Olympics. WH hopes Holder's mission to Zurich doesn't end up a Swiss miss.Perhaps we'll find out more about the World Cup mission from Holder's cables in the next WikiLeaks document disclosures.

It looks like police in Zurich are subscribing to the "if you can't beat them, build them little huts to do the nasty in" theory of prostitution control. Only in Europe. Prostitution has become such a problem in Switzerland that Zurich officials have made proposals to add "sex boxes" to the city. The idea itself is adopted from German cities like Essen and Cologne, and will be a way for prostitution to continue on behind closed, uh, doors. The boxes will serve as quickie drive-throughs, so-to-speak, and will free up city streets from unsightly acts that haunt Zurich residents whose...

Swiss hold 8 over Saudi suicide bombs Alison Langley in Zurich, and Brian Whitaker Saturday January 10, 2004 The Guardian The Swiss authorities have arrested eight people in connection with suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. The arrests on Thursday were part of a national operation by 100 police officers who raided homes in Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Vaud and Aargau and questioned about 20 suspects. Those arrested are suspected of providing logistical support for a series of attacks by Islamic militants on housing compounds in Riyadh last May which killed 35 people, including nine assailants. Officials said all the suspects were...

ZURICH, Oct 31, 2001 (AFX-UK via COMTEX) -- Switzerland has blocked 24 banking accounts suspected of funding terrorist network, said the Swiss federal prosecutor's office. The amounts found on the accounts and the names of the accounts holders were not disclosed. The account holders are part of the second list of names published by the US authorities on Oct 11 suspected of having links with the Sept 11 attacks. A presumed 29-year old islamist activist of Tunisian or Algerian origine was also extradited to Italy on Monday, after having been arrested in Zurich on September 24, said the Swiss ministry ...

The most recent studies by researchers at ETH Zurich show that in the 1940s Swiss glaciers were melting at an even-faster pace than at present. This is despite the fact that the temperatures in the 20th century were lower than in this century. Researchers see the main reason for this as the lower level of aerosol pollution in the atmosphere. In Switzerland, the increase in snow in wintertime and the glacier melt in summertime have been measured at measurement points at around 3,000 metres above sea level – on the Clariden Firn, the Great Aletsch glacier and the Silvretta glacier...

(1) Vienna (2) Zurich (3) Geneva (4) Vancouver and Auckland (tie) (6) Dusseldorf (7) Munich (8) Frankfurt (9) Bern (10) Sydney

<p>WASHINGTON - At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute at least $1 million each to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up during the last three decades.</p>

Swiss prostitute Griselidis Real will keep the company of theologist Jean Calvin and writer Jose Luis Borges in the afterlife Former Swiss prostitute and human rights activist Griselidis Real was buried next to theologist and religious reformist Jean Calvin at the famous royal cemetery in Geneva, media report on Tuesday. Griselidis Real died in 2005 and seeing how she gave up on her career of a prostitute, she became famous by establishing a charity institution in the 70s with which she helped male and female prostitutes. - Writer, painter and prostitute – is her epitaph and the decision on moving...

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

An El Al jet taxiing before takeoff at Ben Gurion International Airport filled with smoke on Sunday, forcing passengers and crew to flee the aircraft on emergency slides, airport officials said. The 128 passengers and crew members on the Zurich-bound 737 were evacuated after smoke began billowing out of vents on the plane, airport spokesman Yiftach Kramer said. No one was hurt in the mishap, the cause of which was still unknown, he said. "The plane started taxiing before takeoff, and while it was taxiing the plane filled with smoke and there was a burnt smell," passenger Shlomi Safran told...

Zurich is best city to live inBy Joanna Bale Switzerland tops the league table for the best cities in the world, with Zurich and Geneva ranking first and second, according to a report published yesterday. Baghdad ranks the lowest, behind two of the poorest countries: Brazzaville in Congo-Brazzaville and Bangui in the Central African Republic. Swiss cities were found to offer particularly good health services, banking services and low levels of crime. Each city is evaluated for personal safety, public services such as health, education and transport, as well as political, social, economic and environmental factors. The ratings, published by...

Man Kills Air Traffic Controller After Family Dies In Crash POSTED: 2:42 pm EDT October 26, 2005 ZURICH, Switzerland -- A Russian architect whose family died when two planes collided acknowledged in court Tuesday that he later killed the air traffic controller who had been on duty, but said he could not remember doing it. Vitaly Kaloyev said he never wanted to cause physical suffering to anybody and only sought an apology from the head of the air navigation service Skyguide, whom he called the "main culprit" in the July 1, 2002, air crash that killed his wife and children....

<p>Gerald Stanhill was reviewing solar radiation records in the late 1980s when he stumbled onto something that amazed him: Days were growing dimmer.</p> <p>"It was difficult to believe," said Stanhill, an Israeli government scientist. "So I started looking around for other continuous, long series of solar radiation measurements to make sure it wasn't an error."</p>

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - German authorities are wondering why "Miami Vice" star Don Johnson was trying to cross the Swiss border with a suitcase crammed with $8 billion worth of share certificates, bonds and credit notes. The border stop occurred on Nov. 6 when Johnson was traveling from Zurich to Germany. He was accompanied in his black Mercedes-Benz by three men: an investment adviser, a personal assistant and a mystery man. German police have been on heightened alert in recent years, stopping motorists in an attempt to halt money laundering via Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Johnson tells The New York...

The US has closed its consulates in Zurich and Geneva after receiving intelligence warnings that terrorists were planning attacks against them. Israel Radio reports a US consulate spokesperson in Switzerland saying that threats against US interests and property were received , but declined to give further details.