Switzerland

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Smugglers Caught Sneaking $134B in Bonds Out of Italy

(Newser) - Two Japanese citizens were detained last week after allegedly trying to take $134 billion in undeclared US bonds from Italy to Switzerland, Bloomberg reports. Both countries are investigating the incident. “Italian authorities are in the midst of the investigation, and haven’t yet confirmed the details, including whether they...

Pitt Drops $1M for Painting
 Pitt Drops $1M for Painting 
Jun 9, 2009 6:13 PM CDT

Pitt Drops $1M for Painting

(Newser) - Brad Pitt played the role of big-time art collector today at the Art Basel fair in Switzerland. Pitt spent about $1 million on a 9-foot painting by Neo Rauch, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 1998 racetrack painting, Etappe, "depicts a swirling view of a driver behind a red,...

Bardem May Join Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love
 Bardem May 
 Join Roberts 
 in Eat, Pray, Love 
GOSSIP ROUNDUP
Jun 8, 2009 10:17 AM CDT

Bardem May Join Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love

(Newser) - Javier Bardem is in talks to join Julia Roberts in the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, reports Variety. Roberts is slated to play the author, and Bardem would play love interest Felipe, whom the real-life Gilbert eventually married. Brad Pitt is producing. Elsewhere:

800 Brits Sign Up for Suicide at Swiss Clinic

(Newser) - Some 800 Brits have signed up to commit suicide at a controversial Swiss clinic, reports the Guardian. The terminally ill patients have become members of Dignitas so they can travel to Zurich when the time comes to take a drug overdose. The number of British residents crossing the border for...

Nabbed Oracle Spy Rocks America's Cup

Cup holders accuse American billionaire of sending spy squads to snoop on yacht

(Newser) - Skulduggery has once again hit the world's foremost sailing race with charges that a spy for US billionaire Larry Ellison's BMW-Oracle team was nabbed snooping on a rival, the Times of London reports. Spokesmen for Alinghi, the Swiss holders of the America's Cup, say they caught the spy sneaking around...

UBS Refuses to Hand Over Names of US Tax Cheats

Bank charges IRS is trying to trample on Swiss laws

(Newser) - Swiss bank UBS has rejected a demand from the IRS that it cough up the names of 52,000 suspected American tax evaders, the Times of London reports. The bank—which paid out $780 million to avoid prosecution for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes—said the lawsuit by the...

'Sick' Worker Fired for Facebooking

Worker claims company spied on her

(Newser) - Hint to employees: If you say you're sick, don’t use Facebook. A Swiss woman was fired for doing just that, the BBC reports. She claimed her migraine prevented her from working on her computer and asked to lie in a darkened room—where she accessed Facebook through her iPhone....

Iranian Prez Dropped Holocaust Denial From UN Speech

Ahmadinejad had called it 'ambiguous and dubious'

(Newser) - It didn't stop a mass walkout, but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually toned down the speech he gave at a UN racism conference yesterday, the UN said today, dropping language denying the reality of the Holocaust. In the original text of his speech, he said of Western nations: "Following...

Israel Yanks Ambassador to Switzerland

Outraged as Iranian, Swiss leaders meet at UN racism conference

(Newser) - Israel has angrily called home its ambassador to Switzerland after that country's president met with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of a politically charged UN meeting on racism that began today, the Times of London reports. On Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day, Switzerland’s “guest of honor is a racist...

UBS Announces $1.7B More Losses, 8,700 Job Cuts

Bank blames US tax fraud case for some of its 1Q losses

(Newser) - Bad times are continuing for UBS in the wake of last year's record loss, the Guardian reports. The troubled Swiss bank reported a $1.75 billion loss in the first quarter, and announced plans to ax 8,700 employees—11% of its global workforce—sparking rumors that it plans to...

Obscure Swiss Architect Wins Pritzker Prize

Zumthor 'reaffirmed architecture’s indispensable place'

(Newser) - You’ve probably never heard of him, but tomorrow Peter Zumthor will receive what’s considered the Nobel Prize of architecture, the New York Times reports. His work isn’t flashy or well-known, but he “develops buildings of great integrity—untouched by fad or fashion” that have “reaffirmed...

Federer, Galpal Tie Knot
 Federer, Galpal Tie Knot 
Apr 12, 2009 10:56 AM CDT

Federer, Galpal Tie Knot

Tennis star and longtime girlfriend tie the knot on 'joyous' spring day

(Newser) - Roger Federer is now playing only doubles in his off-court life: The tennis ace and former WTA player Miroslava Vavrinec were married yesterday, People reports. The couple, who met at the 2000 Olympics, are expecting a baby this summer. After what he called "an incredibly joyous occasion," the...

Clinic Wants to Help Healthy Woman Kill Self

Swiss founder argues option shouldn't be only for terminally ill

(Newser) - The founder of a Swiss assisted-suicide center thinks the Brits are too narrow-minded about the service he offers—it should be available to everyone, not just the terminally ill. The center has sparked an uproar in Britain over plans to help a healthy woman kill herself, the Times of London...

10 Tax Havens Agree to Curtail Bank Secrecy

Brown will announce G20 deal with Switzerland, Monaco

(Newser) - Ten tax-haven nations—including Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Monaco—will share information with other countries about suspected tax dodgers in a deal to be announced at this week’s G20 summit, the Telegraph reports. The deal is a coup for PM Gordon Brown, who is hosting the summit and who has...

Swiss-Italian Border Moves as Glaciers Melt

Alpine borderlines changing along with the climate

(Newser) - The rapid melting of Alpine glaciers has prompted Swiss and Italian authorities to redraw the border between the two nations, the Independent reports. Authorities believe the border will need to be moved by hundreds of feet in some places as glaciers have shifted and permafrost has disappeared, changing the course...

Nude Hikers Shock Sleepy Swiss Town

Deep in the Alps, a village encounters influx of naked visitors

(Newser) - Appenzell is a remote, conservative town in the Swiss Alps; it has just 5,600 residents, makes famed cheese, and finally awarded women the right to vote in 1990. Yet in recent years, a growing number of Swiss and foreign visitors have taken to hiking through the mountains wearing nothing...

No Room at the Zoo: Baby Hippo May Meet His Maker

Zookeepers deny little Farasi will be put down

(Newser) - Farasi, the hippopotamus calf that has dazzled Switzerland since his birth last November, needs a new home, fast. Otherwise, he could become animal chow for the Basel Zoo's carnivores, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 220-pound hippo, who beat out Roger Federer to be named 2008’s “Swiss of...

Swiss Ditch Bank Secrecy Rules

(Newser) - Switzerland might not be a haven for tax evading ne’er-do-wells for much longer. The country agreed today to ease its banking secrecy laws, eliminating the distinction between tax fraud and tax evasion on foreign accounts. Previously, the Swiss cooperated with foreign governments only on tax fraud, which is a...

Liechtenstein to Open Tax Books; Pressure's on Swiss

International pressure bends EU nation, but Switzerland is the prize

(Newser) - Liechtenstein, bowing to international pressure, said today it would adopt international standards on transparency in tax matters, turning the screws on other tax havens like Switzerland, the New York Times reports. Yesterday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development added Switzerland, Luxembourg, and others to a list of tax havens...

'Twitter Rescue' Fails Snowboarding Music Man

Twitter leads to two men missing in Alps whiteout, one dead

(Newser) - The first-ever "Twitter rescue" saved the life of a snowboarder in the Swiss Alps, but failed a 29-year-old British music entrepreneur whose body was found at the foot of a 66-foot cliff, reports the Daily Telegraph. Cheery "tweets" from a female companion noting "am having the best...

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