Switzerland

ZURICH, June 30 (Reuters) - Switzerland has chosen Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35A Lightning II as its next-generation fighter plane, the government said on Wednesday, a move that will likely trigger another hotly-disputed referendum over the plan.

Neutral Switzerland will buy 36 F-35As after an evaluation found it had "the highest overall benefit at the lowest overall cost," the government said.

GENEVA, June 29 (Reuters) - The U.N. investigator on human rights in Iran has called for an independent inquiry into allegations of state-ordered executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 and the role played by President-elect Ebrahim Raisi as Tehran deputy prosecutor.

Javaid Rehman, in an interview with Reuters on Monday, said that over the years his office has gathered testimonies and evidence. It was ready to share them if the United Nations Human Rights Council or other body sets up an impartial investigation.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief, in a landmark report launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, is urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence and systemic racism against people of African descent and “make amends” to them — including through reparations.

GENEVA, Jun 22 (APP): Pakistan told the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday that the situation in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K) had further deteriorated as a result of India’s illegal actions of 5th August 2019, and urged the 47-member body to ensure the realization of Kashmiri people’s fundamental rights.

In remarks at the 47th session of the Geneva-based Council, which is being held virtually, Ambassador Khalil Hashmi also called for holding India accountable for its widely documented human rights crimes.

GENEVA, June 22 (Reuters) - China and its allies called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into the discovery last month of the remains of more than 200 indigenous children at a Canadian boarding school.

The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found in British Colombia at the site of a former residential school for indigenous children, a discovery Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as heartbreaking. 

GENEVA, June 22 (Xinhua) -- The remarks made by the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights on Hong Kong and Xinjiang related issues at the Human Rights Council on Monday were "erroneous" and "in disregard of facts," and interfered in China's internal affairs, said the spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the UN at Geneva.

BELLINZONA (Switzerland), June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Alieu Kosiah has been found guilty of war crimes in a Swiss court, becoming the first Liberian to be convicted over the country’s civil war.

He was sentenced to 20 years for crimes including murder and rape.

Around 250,000 people were killed in Liberia’s two conflicts between 1989 and 2003, and many thousands more fled.

Switzerland recognises the principle of universal justice, meaning suspects accused of high-profile crimes elsewhere can be tried in its courts.

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - The Delta variant of COVID-19, first identified in India, is becoming the globally dominant variant of the disease, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said on Friday.

Soumya Swaminathan also voiced disappointment in the failure of CureVac’s (5CV.DE) vaccine candidate in a trial to meet the WHO’s efficacy standard, in particular as highly transmissible variants boost the need for new, effective shots.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says war, violence, persecution and human rights violations caused nearly 3 million people to flee their homes last year, even though the COVID-19 crisis restricted movement worldwide as countries shut borders and ordered lockdowns.

In its latest Global Trends report released on Friday, UNHCR says the cumulative total of displaced people has risen to 82.4 million — roughly the population of Germany. It marks the ninth straight annual increase in the number of people forcibly displaced.

GENEVA (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin exchanged cordial words and plotted modest steps on arms control and diplomacy but emerged from their much-anticipated Swiss summit Wednesday largely where they started -- with deep differences on human rights, cyberattacks, election interference and more.