Switzerland

Switzerland: Saudis could recognise Israel if Palestinian issue resolved - foreign minister

DAVOS, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday the kingdom could recognise Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached that included statehood for the Palestinians, ambitious talk as the war between Israel and Hamas shows no sign of easing.

"We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel, but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state," Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Switzerland: At Davos, Zelenskyy lashes out at Putin and presses allies to boost Ukraine’s fight

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out swinging Tuesday against Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and even had a harsh tone for his allies as war fatigue grows, pressing political and corporate leaders to enforce sanctions, help rebuild his country and advance the peace process.

Switzerland to host Ukraine peace summit at Zelenskiy's request

BERN, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Switzerland on Monday agreed to host a global peace summit on Ukraine at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Neutral Switzerland has previously acted as a broker to resolve conflicts and could now help find a resolution for the war that began when Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

"At the request of the Ukrainian president, Switzerland has agreed to host a summit on the peace formula," the Swiss government said. "Further details are now being worked out."

Switzerland: The world could get its first trillionaire within 10 years, anti-poverty group Oxfam says

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been “supercharged” since the coronavirus pandemic.

Top Swiss diplomat calls for including Russia into peace discussions on Ukraine

GENEVA, January 14. /TASS/: Russia should be included into the process of peace settlement in Ukraine, Swiss Federal Councillor for Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis said.

"We should find a way to bring Russia into peace discussions. There will be no peace if Russia cannot have its say," he told a news conference at the World Economic forum in Davos.

Russia's ally China needed to end Ukraine war, Swiss diplomat says

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 14 (Reuters) - China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia, Ukraine's top representative said after a high-level diplomatic meeting ahead of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Sunday it was important that Russian ally China was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on its peace formula.

Switzerland: More countries join talks on Ukraine leader’s peace formula. But Russia is absent and war grinds on

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Leaders of talks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula on Sunday said a growing number of countries are working to help set the groundwork for Russia to join one day, an admittedly distant goal as the nearly two-year war grinds on and neither side willing to cede ground.

Switzerland: U.N. experts condemn 'extrajudicial' killing of Hamas figure in Lebanon

GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.N. experts in international law on Tuesday condemned the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and other fighters in drone strikes on Lebanon, saying this amounted to the crimes of extrajudicial killings and murder.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it assassinated Arouri but his demise came a month after Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet vowed to hunt down Hamas in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar even if took years, following Hamas's cross-border rampage from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7.

UN experts sound alarm over planned first US execution by nitrogen gas

GENEVA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - United Nations experts urged U.S. authorities on Wednesday to halt the planned execution of a prisoner by asphyxiation using pure nitrogen, saying the untested method may subject him to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture."

Kenneth Smith, convicted for a murder-for-hire committed in 1988, is scheduled to be executed in the U.S. state of Alabama on Jan. 25 using the method, which is intended to deprive him of oxygen by using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen.

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