Swiss Government

The Swiss government and industry leaders agreed Monday to spend $2.65 billion to create a new national airline on the ruins of Swissair, wrecked by the air travel chaos following the U.S. terrorist attacks. "We are happy and relieved that this effort has succeeded," said President Moritz Leuenberger in disclosing the combination of government and industry financing. At least 9,000 jobs in the Swissair group are expected to be eliminated under the plan.

A diplomat's spouse can be a vital asset. But the Swiss ambassador to Germany has lately discovered that the value of the American beauty queen he married two years ago is as volatile as a dot-com stock in a bear market. Thomas Borer barely escaped formal recall to Bern ahead of Friday's gala opening of the newly renovated Swiss Embassy here after his wife, Shawne Fielding, was featured in a provocative photo spread in the latest issue of the German magazine Max.

For more than 50 years, the Swiss have denied that they were Nazi Germany's bankers of choice during World War II. Today, their own independent commission acknowledges that they plundered at least $444 million ($4 billion in today's values) from the victims of Nazism.

Switzerland's justice minister met clandestinely during World War II with leaders of a Swiss anti-Semitic group, promising to stop most Jews fleeing the Holocaust from entering the country but warning that the policy had to be kept secret, according to documents contained in a report to be released today.

A search of Swiss banks turned up only $3.4 million belonging to deposed Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko--far short of the billions he and his relatives are believed to have stashed there during his long, corrupt reign. The announcement Tuesday followed an informal survey of 12 banks in April that turned up nothing. Under pressure from the Swiss government, regulators told the banks to check again more carefully. Mobutu, ousted last month, is believed to be one of the world's richest men.

Switzerland on Thursday replied with firm thoroughness to its U.S. critics, acknowledging that it entered into "questionable deals" with wartime Germany but denying that it served as the "Nazis' banker" and thus prolonged World War II. Swiss government leaders also said they see no reason to reopen a treaty with the United States and other Allies on the return of gold looted by the Third Reich.

The Swiss government has refused to allow ailing Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko to return to Switzerland for medical treatment, officials said Monday. Mobutu, who has prostate cancer, underwent surgery in Lausanne in August. He stayed in Switzerland for treatment afterward as eastern Zaire fell into civil war. Switzerland canceled Mobutu's visa when he left Nov. 4 to convalesce at his villa on the French Riviera. The Swiss turned down his request for a new visa Monday.

The Swiss government promised to pay more than $800,000 to two Holocaust groups, in a gesture sought by Jewish organizations after Switzerland apologized last year for turning back refugees from Nazi terror. The Cabinet decision came as pressure mounted on Swiss banks to pay back Nazi wealth and Jewish accounts left ownerless by Holocaust victims.

Throughout his adult life, Paul Grueninger was a marked man: Convicted by a Swiss court of illegally helping as many as 3,000 Austrian Jews cross into Switzerland and flee the gathering storm of World War II, he was cashiered from the national constabulary, evicted from his apartment, shunned by his community. Rumors flared that he had filched valuables from defenseless refugees and taken advantage of Jewish girls.