Swiss Authorities

For a man who didn't set foot out of his house Friday, Roman Polanski had an eventful day. His new film, "The Ghost Writer," a political thriller with a glamorous Hollywood cast, debuted at the Berlin Film Festival. And his legal battle to avoid returning to the U.S. got a boost when a Swiss official said extradition proceedings stemming from his three-decade-old child sex case were on indefinite hold. Polanski, 76, remained under house arrest, his round-the-clock presence in his Gstaad ski chalet secured by an ankle bracelet and $4.5-million bond.

It would be exceptionally satisfying to state here that FIFA was on its knees and unable to stand up for the count. Sadly, that count will go ahead, and when it is over June 1 and soccer's latest presidential election has been held, Joseph "Sepp" Blatter very likely will still be the head of the sport's international governing body. No amount of corruption, it seems, can bring down the 75-year-old Swiss. Snakes might be rare in Switzerland, but snake oil is obviously in plentiful supply, and Blatter is one of its most successful salesmen.

A Lebanese gunman Friday hijacked a jumbo jet with 163 aboard over Italy and killed a French passenger in cold blood during a refueling stop here before being overpowered by the plane's crew. In the struggle, an airline steward who first jumped the terrorist was shot in the stomach and seriously wounded. At least 31 of the 148 passengers suffered fractures, twisted ankles and cuts and bruises as they used the plane's emergency chutes to escape the Air Afrique DC-10.

Roman Polanski's decision to attend Zurich's film festival this weekend was a major win for a minor event, but it turned into a bigger coup for Los Angeles County authorities who seized the opportunity to arrange the arrest -- three decades in the making -- of a Hollywood fugitive. When the 76-year-old Academy Award-winning director of films such as "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist" arrived at the Zurich, Switzerland, airport Saturday night for a well-publicized appearance, Swiss officials armed with a U.S. arrest warrant took him into custody.

Prolific Swiss writer Friedrich Duerrenmatt, ever-rebellious author of countless plays, novels and essays, died of a heart attack early Friday, his publishers announced. He was 69. Duerrenmatt's collected works, running to 40 volumes, include his first big success, "Romulus the Great," and his later "The Visit," "The Physicists," "Christmas," "The Fellow Traveller," "Play Strindberg" and "The Rebel."

Yeslam Binladin, the half brother of the world's most wanted terrorist, said it would be insensitive to use the trademark "Bin Ladin" his company registered in Switzerland for a line of clothing and jewelry. Binladin, who lives in Geneva, confirmed he had the Bin Ladin trademark registered in February, seven months before Sept. 11. Swiss authorities said last week they were moving on moral grounds to revoke the trademark out of sensitivity for "emotional and moral feelings."

Swiss prosecutors have joined Russian counterparts in investigating one of President Boris N. Yeltsin's most powerful aides: the low-key but influential boss of Kremlin perks and privileges, Pavel P. Borodin. Swiss prosecutors Wednesday confirmed that they had launched a criminal investigation into alleged money laundering and corruption by 24 Russians, including Borodin, his wife and numerous top Kremlin officials.

K-Swiss Inc., Westlake Village, announced authorization by the board of directors to repurchase up to $25 million worth of the company's Class A common stock. Last year, the company bought back $20 million in common stock. The company's share price has dropped about 20% over the last three months. K-Swiss designs and markets athletic footwear for sports and fitness activities and for children.

Everything was in place to pick up seven American couriers arriving from New York on Swissair Flight 101. A Mercedes-Benz minibus stood by outside the air terminal, its last two rows of seats removed to accommodate the expected 14 large Samsonite suitcases. The Swiss chauffeur, a trusted driver for the drug-trafficking Escobar family of Medellin, Colombia, waited at the wheel. Inside, Julio and Sheila Nasser waited at the rendezvous point.

Swiss authorities Tuesday announced the seizure of 220 pounds of heroin with a street value of $97 million, a haul the officials termed the largest such seizure in Switzerland's history.