Swiss

Roman Polanski committed a serious crime in 1977, pleading guilty to sex with a 13-year-old girl as part of an agreement that spared him from a charge of drugging and raping his victim. In refusing to extradite Polanski to the United States, the government of Switzerland has substituted its judgment for that of the U.S. legal system. It's a usurpation that trivializes Polanski's wrongdoing in the cause of twisted notions of "good faith" and the requirements of "international public order."

Simona De Silvestro holds out her hands to show there's hardly a sign that they were seriously burned in a racing crash two years ago. "I wish I had a cool scar because it was really miserable," De Silvestro joked in reference to her car catching fire, "but [the doctors] did a really good job. " De Silvestro, now in her fourth season in the Izod IndyCar Series, hopes to do a good job herself Sunday in the 39th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 24-year-old Swiss driver is seeking to become the first woman to win an IndyCar event since 2008, when Danica Patrick scored her only victory in her seven-year IndyCar career.

If your secret Swiss bank account did not contain too much money or generate too much income, you can breathe easier: A landmark deal between the United States and Switzerland to expose U.S. tax dodgers does not call for the Swiss to blow your cover. But if you exceeded the threshold and failed to disclose the account to the Internal Revenue Service, don't count on Switzerland's legendary tradition of bank secrecy to protect you any longer. It may be just a matter of time before your account details are in the hands of U.S. tax collectors and prosecutors.

NEW DELHI, India - The gang rape of a 39-year-old Swiss tourist while on a camping trip with her husband has further ratcheted up the spotlight on sexual violence in India. The woman, who had been cycling with her husband in impoverished Madhya Pradesh state in central India, was attacked by at least seven men while the couple were camping for the night, police said Saturday. The assailants also robbed the couple of $180 and a cellphone. The attack comes at a sensitive time for India.

The decision by Swiss voters to ban minarets on Muslim houses of worship resonated across neighboring France on Monday, stoking an already emotional debate on whether burkas should be banned in public and coloring a government-sponsored debate over what it means to be French. Commentators and officials in France and across Europe took sides Monday on the surprise Swiss decision, passed in a referendum the previous day. French lawmakers who support banning the burka, the all-covering garment worn by some Muslim women, defended themselves against accusations that the move would fuel a growing phobia against Islam in Europe.

Switzerland exported $320 million worth of arms and military equipment last year, with Turkey, Nigeria and West Germany the main customers, the military department said Friday. Exports were down by about 10% from 1985.

An avalanche Monday covered a section of railroad track with snow in the Valais Alps near the town of Goppenstein, blocking trains for hours but causing no injuries, a railroad spokesman said.

Referring to Jim Fuhrman's letter (July 28) commenting on the article "Different Paths Through the Swiss Alps": I am a frequent traveler to Switzerland, which is certainly the most expensive country in Europe. However, I never encountered the outrageously high prices there for food and drink listed by Fuhrman. As for hotels, $140 for a room does not seem expensive; I just paid $200 for a B&B in Carmel. JOSEF WEISSMANN Los Angeles

Switzerland ordered tighter security at its borders Friday to stem the flow of illegal entrants, who a government spokesman said represent about 80% of those seeking asylum. Officials said that the number of asylum requests in the first eight months of this year was a record 6,059, compared with 4,854 in the same period last year.

Re your Aug. 29 Opinion interview with Alan Morris Schom: Allow me to take issue with Schom's assertion that the Swiss were essentially pro-Nazi during World War II. To the citizens of German-occupied and annexed Alsace on the northwestern border of Switzerland, a German-language radio program out of Zurich offered weekly the only objective, thorough analysis of world news available to them, through the darkest days of that war. It brought them consolation...

Ronny Keller, a defenseman for Olten of the Swiss B league, has been left paralyzed after getting hit into the boards during a playoff game, doctors reported Thursday. Keller, 33, was chasing a puck into a corner when Langenthal forward Stefan Schnyder came up from behind and drove Keller into the boards with a hard hit in overtime of the game Tuesday. Keller crashed head-first into the wall and remained on the ice motionless for several minutes as medical personnel attended to him. Doctors at the hospital where Keller was taken released a statement Thursday with the grim prognosis.

Voters in Switzerland, angered by high executive pay, backed a plan to increase the control of shareholders over compensation of corporate leaders. Nearly 70% of voters approved the so-called "Rip-Off Initiative," according to the Swiss television station SRF, which gives shareholders the right to vote on compensation for company directors and executives and bans bonuses bestowed on high-ranking employees when they join or leave a firm. "Today's vote is the result of widespread unease among the population at the exorbitant remuneration of certain company bosses," said Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga in a press conference over the weekend, according to the Associated Press.

PARIS -- A gunman opened fire on colleagues at a Swiss wood-processing plant Wednesday morning, an attack that left three people dead, including the assailant, and seven others wounded. The gunman walked into the staff canteen at the Kronoswiss wood-processing factory at Menznau, near Lucerne in central Switzerland, about 9 a.m. during a staff breakfast break and began shooting. Police said the 42-year-old suspect, who was not named, had worked at the plant for a decade and did not fire at random but picked off specific colleagues with a handgun.

Tina Turner wants to become a Swiss citizen, and love has everything to do with it. If you've been wondering what the iconic diva has been up to lately, she's been living in Kuesnacht, a Zurich suburb, since 1995. A Swiss paper wrote Friday that the 73-year-old had been granted citizenship, according to the Associated Press. The Nutbush, Tenn.-born singer has passed a local civics test and interview. PHOTOS: Celebrity domestic-abuse allegations "I'm very happy in Switzerland and I feel at home here....

Westlake Village athletic brand K-Swiss Inc. is being bought by South Korean retail giant E. Land World for about $170 million. E. Land will pay $4.75 per share, or about a 49% premium, over Wednesday's closing price, K-Swiss said in a statement. Known for its white stripes on white leather tennis shoes, K-Swiss' fortunes have fallen in recent years as its simpler designs fell out of favor with shoppers. Its sales have dropped by about 50% since 2005. Steven Nichols, chairman of K-Swiss, lauded the purchase as being "in the best interests of K-Swiss and our stockholders.

Three women were shot and killed and two men were wounded before police in southern Switzerland disabled the gunman by shooting him in the chest, officials said Thursday. Police said the alleged assailant, an unemployed 33-year-old who had been treated for psychiatric problems in the past, was arrested and hospitalized after the rampage late Wednesday in the village of Daillon. The man began firing from his apartment down toward the street and through the windows of other houses before coming outside and continuing to fire, police in the Swiss canton of Valais said in an online statement.

It's not just the Swiss Re "A Swiss miss on minarets," Editorial, Dec. 2 The Times asks, "Why should Saudi Arabia allow Christians to worship openly if . . . Switzerland requires Muslims to efface their identity?" Why does Switzerland set this agenda? Why does Saudi Arabia get, at this very late date, to further its delay of human rights to its citizens and legal immigrants because of a tiny European country's bad behavior? The center of Islam doesn't forbid just church towers -- it forbids churches and synagogues and temples of every sort.

Roman Polanski is expected to spend the holidays under electronic monitoring at his posh Alpine chalet after a Swiss court Wednesday agreed to a $4.5-million bail request by the famed director. Legal experts said the bail probably will lengthen the battle over whether Polanski should be extradited to Los Angeles to face sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old more than three decades ago. The decision also raises other questions, given that Polanski fled from the United States just before his sentencing in 1978.

Even before the Christmas tree went up at 124-year-old Bucherer watch boutique in the lakeside town of Lucerne, Switzerland, the shop was already planning decorations for the year of the snake. Chinese symbols marking the start of the lunar new year Feb. 10 will greet the busloads of Asian shoppers who visit Lucerne every day and invite them inside to see watches from Tag Heuer, Rolex and more than 20 other brands. Less than half the timepieces bought at the Lucerne store in December may be for Christmas, said Joerg Baumann, Bucherer's marketing director.

UBS has agreed to pay a fine of $1.5 billion to authorities and plead guilty to a felony count of wire fraud, the most recent developments in a far-reaching probe into how banks manipulated interest rates leading up to the financial crisis. Two former traders were also charged with conspiracy in a complaint unsealed Wednesday, the first people charged criminally in the Libor scandal. "We cannot and we will not tolerate misconduct on Wall Street of the kind admitted to by UBS today and by Barclays last June," said Assistant Atty.