Swiss minaret ban a setback for Middle East diplomacy

Switzerland recently passed a controversial referendum to ban minarets in the country, provoking uproar, intense debate and even protest. The move is regarded by many as “deeply divisive,” says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, as well as a major setback for American and European public diplomacy in the Arab world. Sweden, which…

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Iraqi shoe-thrower launches Geneva-based agency

The Iraqi journalist who pitched his shoes at former United States President George W. Bush is in Geneva setting up a foundation to help Iraqi war victims. Munthader al-Zaidi, a television reporter, shot to fame on December 14, 2008 when he hurled his two shoes at Bush at a Baghdad news conference, shouting: “This is…

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Hadron Collider physicist charged with terrorism

A French physicist with the European atomic research center near Geneva was charged with terrorism by a Paris judge last night after investigators said that he offered to work with the North African branch of al-Qaeda. Adlène Hicheur, 32, who is of Algerian origin, was arrested last week with his younger brother after intelligence agents…

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Muslims in European peace drive

A groundbreaking conference for young Muslims from across Europe is taking place in Switzerland. Delegates from seven countries have been brought together by the organisation Initiatives of Change, which has a long history of promoting peace on the continent. In the late 1940s, it brokered meetings between those who had been on opposite sides in…

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Switzerland, a Possible Target of Islamist Terrorism?

Once considered the safest country in Europe, if not the world, Switzerland is now a potential target of a terrorist attack. Why? In the past few months something has happened to this quiet and neutral country where outside of an occasional banking scandal nothing much went on; at least nothing that merited international focus. Recently,…

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