GENEVA (AFP) - (AFP) - Switzerland has blocked 27 million francs (31.8 million dollars, 21.9 million euros) worth of assets linked to the Syrian regime, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said Sunday.
Financial sanctions and travel restrictions were imposed against 23 key players in the Syrian regime in May, including President Bashar al-Assad, intelligence chief Ali [...]
JERICHO, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Near the ancient West Bank town of Jericho, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor is creating a masterpiece of his own in a bid to save the Middle East's biggest mosaic.
Recruited by the Palestinian Authority and UNESCO, the 67-year-old has developed a unique shelter that should both protect the stunning mosaics inside Hisham's Palace and keep them accessi [...]
DUBAI (AFP) - Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said on Monday it will increase flights between June and August to five European cities -- Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Manchester and Milan.
The Emirati carrier said in a statement, "it would boost frequencies on five key European routes in 2011, and increase capacity on a range of other routes... as it takes delivery of new aircraft."
The carrier will [...]
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against 10 businesses linked to Iranian weapons programs, including eight on the Isle of Man, one in Switzerland and one in Malaysia.
The firms are affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and Bank Mellat -- which have already been targeted for their role in aiding Iran's weapons of mass destruction [...]
DUBAI (AFP) - A Swiss motorcycle racer was killed and a second was in a critical condition after they collided on a circuit in Dubai, The National daily reported on Saturday.
"Pascal Grosjean, 39, from Switzerland, had won the Sportbike Championship Race 1 and was completing a warm-down lap when he was hit from behind by another rider," Tony Jordan, the English-language daily said.
Grosjean an [...]
BRUSSELS (AFP) - EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton agreed to resume long-stalled nuclear talks between world powers and Iran on December 5, and suggested they be held in Austria or Switzerland.
Ashton's office said she "has agreed to their proposal to begin talks on December 5" and "now looks forward" to meeting Tehran's chief negotiator Saeed Jailili to discuss the country's nuclear programm [...]
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran summoned Swiss ambassador Livia Leu Agosti on Thursday to protest against US sanctions targeting eight senior Iranian officials, the state news agency IRNA news agency reported.
"Ms Livia Leu Agosti, the Swiss ambassador who manages US interests in Iran, was summoned to the foreign ministry over the illegal sanctions," IRNA said of the order issued by US President Barack Oba [...]
ABU DHABI (AFP) - UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan returned home on Friday after undergoing unspecified medical treatment in Switzerland, the official WAM news agency reported.
"The president is cured," the dispatch said, without elaborating.
On August 18, WAM said Sheikh Khalifa, also the ruler of the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi, had "undergone comprehensive medical tests, after [...]
TEHRAN (AFP) - Two top Iranian clerics said anyone desecrating the Koran must be killed, Fars news agency reported, as hundreds of people protested on Monday outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran.
"From the point of view of Islamic jurisprudence, strong objection to such thoughts is mandatory and necessary and killing the people who have committed this act is compulsory," Ayatollah Hossein Nouri [...]
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian authorities briefly detained the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Livia Leu Agosti, while she was on a trip three days ago to North Khorasan province, state media reports said on Saturday.
Agosti was detained on Wednesday by provincial security forces "because her identity was not established at the time," said the website of Press TV, the Iranian channel in English, cit [...]
Passengers jump out of plane in India after bad landing
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