Switzerland

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Nearly 300 Tyrannosaurus rex bones that were dug up from three sites in the United States and assembled into a single skeleton sold Tuesday at an auction in Switzerland for 4.8 million francs ($5.3 million), below the expected price.

Crafted into an open-mouth pose, the T. rex skeleton measuring 11.6 meters long (38 feet long) and 3.9 meters high (12.8 feet) high came in under the anticipated range of 5 million to 8 million francs when it went under the hammer at the Koller auction house in Zurich.

April 19 (Reuters) - Gold prices slid more than 1% Wednesday on higher U.S. yields and the dollar, as some investors bet that a pause to the Federal Reserve's rate hike may take longer than previously thought.

Spot gold was down 1.5% at $1,974.89 per ounce by 1026 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were down 1.7% to $1,984.90.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose to a near one-month high, pulling the dollar further above one-year lows that, in turn, made gold less affordable for buyers holding other currencies.

BERN, April 11 (Reuters) - Since Switzerland's authorities last month pulled out all the stops to rush through a rescue of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), a storm has been brewing in the normally tranquil country.

Many Swiss parliamentarians have criticised the shotgun marriage, which saw Credit Suisse taken over by rival UBS (UBSG.S) for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion) and propped up with over 250 billion francs in guarantees and support.

GENEVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of its 75th anniversary, the World Health Organization (WHO) marked the occasion on Thursday by calling for a renewed drive for health equity in the face of unprecedented threats.

Seventy-five years ago, after years of war, the nations of the world agreed to set up a new organization and "debated and agreed what this organization would be and do in a document called the Constitution of the World Health Organization," the organization's Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, recalled at a press briefing here on Thursday.

GENEVA (AP) — The UBS takeover of embattled rival Credit Suisse has shaken Switzerland’s self-image and dented its reputation as a global financial center, analysts say, warning that the country’s prosperity could grow too dependent on a single banking behemoth.

The uncertain future of a union of Switzerland’s two global banks comes at a thorny time for Swiss identity, built nearly as much on a self-image of finesse in finance as on know-how with chocolate, watchmaking and cheese.

GENEVA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials from across the globe have expressed concern over human rights issues at the ongoing 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The officials voiced their opposition to the "politicization, weaponization and instrumentalization of human rights issues."

The right to survival and the right to development are basic human rights, they emphasized, calling for international dialogue and cooperation on these issues to be reinforced.

COUNTRIES SHOULD CHOOSE THEIR OWN PATH

30 Mar 2023; MEMO: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has told the Human Rights Council that Israeli settlement expansion is linked to settler attacks against Palestinians over the past decade. Volker Turk noted that the UN has verified 3,372 incidents of settler violence that injured 1,222 Palestinians.

Turk presented his findings in a report to the council on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, as well as the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

ZURICH, March 30 (Reuters) - Four bankers who helped a close friend of Vladimir Putin move millions of francs through Swiss bank accounts have been convicted of lacking diligence in financial transactions.

The four were found guilty on Thursday of helping Sergey Roldugin, a concert cellist who has been dubbed "Putin's wallet" by the Swiss government.

The executives - three Russians and one Swiss - helped Roldugin, who is godfather to Putin's eldest daughter Maria, deposit millions of francs in Swiss bank accounts between 2014 and 2016.

GENEVA, March 16 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — At some point this year the Covid-19 pandemic will be over and will cease to be a public healthcare emergency of international interest, according to WHO considerations, published by specialized media.    

The statement was made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, when making an account of Covid-19, since it was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020.

SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus contagions were declared a public healthcare emergency of international concern as early as Jan 30, 2020.

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss bank Credit Suisse said Thursday it will move to shore up its finances, borrowing up to $54 billion from the central bank after its shares plunged, dragging down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States.

Credit Suisse said would exercise an option to borrow up to 50 billion francs ($53.7 billion) from the central bank.