The search began after emergency services received a report on Saturday from local residents who had come across abandoned skis in the area, at an altitude of approximately 4,000 meters (13,100 feet).

Authorities are investigating the causes of death, examining weather conditions and possible avalanche activity in the region. For now, the identities of the victims have not been confirmed, and the investigation is ongoing.

The fact that the victims were found at varying elevations supports the suspicion that they were killed in an avalanche. Three bodies were discovered in one area, while two others were located higher up the slope.

In a separate incident on Friday night, rescue teams from the ski resort were involved in a challenging mountain rescue on the Fiescherhorn peak, where four skiers were trapped amid dense fog and strong winds. A first attempt to evacuate them had to be aborted due to adverse weather, but a second attempt shortly after midnight successfully brought all four to safety.

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Switzerland's controversial ban on face coverings in public spaces, commonly referred to as the "burqa ban," will be implemented starting January 1, 2025, the government announced on Wednesday according to Reuters.

The measure, which narrowly passed in a 2021 referendum, was spearheaded by the same political group that successfully campaigned for Switzerland's 2009 ban on new minarets. The Federal Council said in a statement that violations of the new law would result in fines of up to 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,144).

The ban includes several exemptions, including air travel and diplomatic premises. Religious sites, including places of worship and other sacred locations, are also exempt from the prohibition, according to government officials.

The legislation permits face coverings for health and safety purposes, traditional customs, and weather-related conditions. Additional exceptions include artistic performances, entertainment events, and advertising activities.

The government also outlined provisions for face coverings during demonstrations, stating that if such coverings are necessary for personal protection while exercising freedom of expression and assembly, they may be permitted. However, this requires prior approval from relevant authorities and must not compromise public order.

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In a shocking turn of events at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, Switzerland delivered a decisive 2-0 blow to Italy, eliminating the defending European champions from Euro 2024. The result on Saturday evening not only secured Switzerland's second consecutive quarter-final appearance but also highlighted Italy's struggle to maintain its footballing dominance.

Berlin's Olympic Stadium holds one cherished memory for Italian football – the 2006 World Cup final victory over France on penalties. Now, the Azzurri will also associate the German capital with a bitter disappointment. The reigning European champions' title defense came to an abrupt end on Saturday night, falling 2-0 to Switzerland in the Euro 2024 round of 16. The result proved that sometimes, tradition alone isn't enough to secure victory.

Italy has long been considered one of football's powerhouses, but their 2024 squad pales in comparison to past iterations. Signs of struggle were evident throughout the group stage: a narrow win over Albania, a 1-0 loss to Spain that could have been much worse, and a last-gasp equalizer against Croatia to avoid early elimination. Against a confident Swiss team, Italy's weaknesses were fully exposed.

Switzerland even nearly defeated Germany. After knocking out France at the same stage in the previous European Championship, the Swiss have now reached consecutive Euro quarter-finals. They did so in style, orchestrated by Ruben Vargas, who assisted Remo Freuler's 37th-minute opener before scoring himself in the 46th minute.

Ironically, three of Switzerland's key players – including Freuler and Michel Aebischer, who assisted the second goal – play for Bologna, this season's surprise package in Italy's Serie A. With foreign players increasingly dominating top Italian clubs, it's perhaps unsurprising that the national team is struggling to keep pace.

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Zurich's prestigious Kunsthaus Zurich art museum has announced the temporary removal of five paintings from its ongoing exhibition showcasing the Emil Bührle Collection. This decision comes as the institution investigates potential links between these artworks and Nazi-era looting during World War II.

The collection, named after German-born Swiss industrialist Emil Bührle, has long faced scrutiny regarding the provenance of its holdings. Bührle amassed a vast collection of approximately 600 artworks, many of which were acquired during the war years when the Nazis systematically plundered cultural treasures across Europe.

The artworks under investigation include renowned masterpieces such as Claude Monet's "Jardin de Monet à Giverny," Gustave Courbet's "Portrait of the Sculptor Louis-Joseph," Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's "Georges-Henri Manuel," Vincent van Gogh's "The Old Tower," and Paul Gauguin's "La route montante."

In a statement, the foundation board overseeing the Emil Bührle Collection expressed its commitment to "seeking a fair and equitable solution for these works with the legal successors of the former owners, following best practices." According to Stuart Eizenstat, the US Secretary of State's special advisor on Holocaust issues, it is estimated that over 100,000 paintings and countless other cultural objects stolen during the Nazi era have yet to be returned to their rightful owners or heirs.

The decision to temporarily remove the paintings follows the publication of new guidelines aimed at addressing the persistent issue of unreturned cultural property stolen during the Nazi regime. These guidelines were developed by the US State Department to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Washington Conference Principles, which outlined a framework for the restitution of Nazi-confiscated art.

While the foundation board acknowledged the potential application of these guidelines to the five artworks in question, it stated that a sixth work from the collection, Edouard Manet's "La Sultane," would be considered separately. The foundation expressed willingness to offer financial compensation to the estate of Max Silberberg, a German Jewish industrialist whose extensive art collection was forcibly auctioned by the Nazis before his murder at the Auschwitz death camp.

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Switzerland's executive body agreed Wednesday to help pay for the country's first national memorial to honor the six million Jews and other victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.

The Federal Council, the seven-member executive branch, approved 2.5 million Swiss francs (about $2.8 million) for the memorial that will be erected at an unspecified "central location" in the capital, Bern, at a time when the number of Holocaust survivors has dwindled and antisemitism has risen again.

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Switzerland has long grappled with its ties to Nazi Germany. In the 1990s, Switzerland's first Jewish and woman president, Ruth Dreifuss, called for national introspection on the issue, and a government report said Switzerland had taken part in over three-fourths of worldwide gold transactions by Nazi Germany's Reichsbank – both as a buyer and an intermediary.

Federal and local officials said details of the memorial are still being worked out, and didn't specify when it would be completed. "The Federal Council considers it of great importance to keep alive the memory of the consequences of National Socialism, namely the Holocaust and the fate of the six million Jews and all other victims of the National Socialist regime," a government statement said.

Switzerland and its capital, through the move, were "creating a strong symbol against genocide, antisemitism, and racism, and for democracy, the rule of law, freedom, and basic individual rights," it said. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, an umbrella group, and federal officials said Switzerland has about 60 small, private sites remembering the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazis.

"There is, however, no official or national memorial for the numerous Swiss victims of persecution, for the thousands of refugees repelled at the borders or deported, but also for the many courageous helpers in this country," the federation said, noting that the memorial would be created to honor them all.

The group says recent studies have shown that a "sizable number" of Swiss citizens were victims of the Nazi regime, "persecuted because they were, for example, Jews, socialists, Sinti or Roma." Both Sinti and Roma are peoples who live predominantly in Eastern Europe.

Thousands of people flocked toward Swiss borders during World War II seeking protection and were turned away  – "and, in many cases, sent back to certain death," the group said.

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A Geneva court will on Monday begin hearing the appeal of Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz against his conviction for corruption and forgery over his pursuit of iron ore deposits in Africa, the court and one of his lawyers said.

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Steinmetz has consistently denied the charges for which he was sentenced to five years in jail and fined 50 million Swiss francs ($52 million) by a Swiss criminal court in 2021. He filed an appeal and has not served any time in jail. In its ruling, the court found Steinmetz and two others paid, or arranged payment, of $8.5 million in bribes between 2006 and 2012 to one of the wives of former Guinea president Lansana Conte, to obtain exploration permits for iron ore buried beneath the Simandou mountains.

Conte died in 2008. The Guinean government, which was by then a different administration, made no comment at the time of the ruling. Central to Steinmetz's defense was his assertion he was not involved in the day-to-day running of BSGR (Beny Steinmetz Group Resources), the mining arm of his businesses that went into administration in 2018. Steinmetz, 66, a former Geneva resident who moved back to Israel in 2016 and has in the past been ranked as a billionaire, is expected to appear in court on Monday, one of his lawyers Daniel Kinzer from CMS von Erlach Partners, said in an email.

He is also represented by Christian Lüscher from the same law firm. Kinzer said the two others found guilty with Steinmetz had also appealed against their conviction and their appeals would be heard with Steinmetz's. The court hearing is expected to last until Sept. 7, the Geneva criminal appeal court said in an email.

Simandou, in Guinea's southeastern corner, is the largest known iron ore deposit of its kind, which analysts estimate holds more than 2 billion tonnes of high-grade ore, but legal disputes and the cost of building infrastructure mean it is untapped nearly three decades after its discovery.

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US President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin have arrived on Wednesday at the lush lakeside Swiss mansion for their highly anticipated summit, a moment of consequential diplomacy at a time when both leaders agree that relations between their countries are at an all-time low.

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The two leaders shook hands while appearing briefly before cameras with Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who welcomed them to Switzerland, and then entered the mansion for what is expected to be four or five hours of talks.

For months, they have traded sharp rhetoric. Biden has repeatedly called out Putin for malicious cyberattacks by Russian-based hackers on US interests, a disregard for democracy with the jailing of Russia's foremost opposition leader and interference in American elections.

Putin, for his part, has reacted with whatabout-isms and obfuscations – pointing to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol to argue that the US has no business lecturing on democratic norms and insisting that the Russian government hasn't been involved in any election interference or cyberattacks despite US intelligence showing otherwise.

Now, the pair are meeting for the first time face-to-face as leaders. In advance, both sides set out to lower expectations.

Even so, Biden said it was an important step if the United States and Russia were able to ultimately find "stability and predictability" in their relationship, a seemingly modest goal from the president for dealing with the person he sees as one of America's fiercest adversaries.

"We should decide where it's in our mutual interest, in the interest of the world, to cooperate, and see if we can do that," Biden told reporters earlier this week. "And the areas where we don't agree, make it clear what the red lines are."

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that no breakthroughs were expected and that "the situation is too difficult in Russian-American relations."

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The Central European country of Switzerland on Friday became the 36th country to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism.

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"This definition can serve as an additional guide for identifying antisemitic incidents within the framework of the various measures to combat antisemitism in Switzerland," the Federal Council, the Swiss government's executive body, said in a statement, Friday.

Accusing Jewish communities of being collectively responsible for Israel's alleged actions is an example of antisemitism, according to the IHRA definition.

Antisemitic attacks against Jews spiked globally during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza Strip-based terrorists last month.

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The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities and the Platform of Liberal Jews of Switzerland issued a joint statement praising the move by the Swiss government.

"It is very pleasing that the Federal Council also wants to strengthen measures against antisemitism and racism. Both umbrella organizations continue to offer their expertise on this issue and are open to cooperation in specific fields of action," the statement read.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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The first secretary at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran was found dead on Tuesday after falling from a high-rise building where she lived in the north of the city, a spokesman for emergency services was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.

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The Swiss foreign ministry (FDFA) said an employee at its embassy in Iran had died of an accident, without identifying the victim. "The FDFA and its head Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis are shocked by the tragic death and express their deepest condolences to the family," it said.

Iranian emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi said the diplomat's body was found by a gardener after an employee who arrived at her apartment early on Tuesday noticed she was missing, the news agency Fars reported.

"This person was the first secretary of the Swiss embassy," Khaledi told Mehr news agency. "The cause of her fall has yet to be determined," he told Fars.

The diplomat was 51, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported. Other reports put her age at 52.

Switzerland has represented US diplomatic interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran cut ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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Swiss voters were projected to approve by a slim majority a far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in a binding referendum on Sunday viewed as a test of attitudes toward Muslims.

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Projections for local broadcaster SRF, based on partial results, showed the measure passing 51% to 49%, with a two-point margin for error.

The proposal under the Swiss system of direct democracy does not mention Islam directly and also aims to stop violent street protesters from wearing masks, yet local politicians, media, and campaigners have dubbed it the burqa ban.

Opinion polls had suggested that the measure, which the government has said went too far, could pass, and the ban would become law.

"In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms," Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of parliament for the Swiss People's Party, had said before the vote.

He called facial covering "a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland."

The proposal predates the coronavirus pandemic – which has required all adults to wear masks in many settings to prevent the spread of infection – and gathered the necessary support in 2017 to trigger a referendum.

The proposal compounded Switzerland's tense relationship with Islam after citizens voted in 2009 to ban building any new minarets. Two cantons already have local bans on face coverings.

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