Switzerland

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Jewels of France's Last Queen Hit Auction Block

Ring, pearl necklaces to be sold Thursday in Switzerland

(Newser) - Let them eat their hearts out. Jewels that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, the extravagant and doomed last queen of France, are set to hit the auction block as part of what Sotheby's calls "one of the most important royal jewellery collections ever to appear on the market....

Discovery of Bronze Hand Sparks a Mystery
Ancient Bronze Hand Leaves
Archaeologists Perplexed
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Ancient Bronze Hand Leaves Archaeologists Perplexed

And leads to a criminal investigation

(Newser) - The hand is a bit smaller than that of an adult and made from roughly a pound of bronze. What it was used for has perplexed archaeologists since it was found in Switzerland last October. At an estimated 3,500 years old, National Geographic calls it "Europe's earliest...

Swiss Cops Bust Family in World's Worst Getaway

Austrians hijacked taxi, crashed into boat, hit hedge, plunged off ledge

(Newser) - Note to would-be taxi thieves with poor driving skills: Do not try this at home, or abroad. Swiss police say an Austrian family allegedly hijacked a taxi, crashed into a parked boat, drove through a hedge, and then plunged off a 4-foot-high ledge before trying to escaping on foot. St....

A Beheaded Queen's Jewelry Is Up for Grabs

Pearls worn by Marie Antoinette that haven't been seen in public in 200 years are up for auction

(Newser) - Sotheby's says it will be auctioning off a set of natural pearls that once belonged to the famed—or infamous—French queen Marie Antoinette, and that haven't been seen in public for centuries. The sale of "Royal Jewels From the Bourbon-Parma Family" is set to take place...

Scientist, 104, Ends His Life as Planned

David Goodall had traveled to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal

(Newser) - David Goodall, the 104-year-old Australian scientist who campaigned for the legalization of assisted suicide, died Thursday in Switzerland, Fox News reports. Goodall, who spoke at length on the eve of his death about why he wanted to end his own life, administered a lethal drug under the guidance of doctors...

He Plans to Die Tomorrow. Here Are His Last Thoughts
Parting Words
From 104-Year-Old
on Eve of His Suicide
THE RUNDOWN

Parting Words From 104-Year-Old on Eve of His Suicide

David Goodall hopes effort to end his life will help others

(Newser) - David Goodall is now in Basel, Switzerland, and he'll only be there one more day: He plans to end his life via assisted suicide on Thursday. Though he welcomes death, the 104-year-old Australian botanist and ecologist hopes his legacy will soon be strengthened by the legalization of assisted suicide...

Scientist, 104, 'Resentful' He Has to End His Life Abroad

David Goodall is traveling from Australia to Switzerland for an assisted suicide

(Newser) - Australia's oldest scientist recently celebrated his 104th birthday, but it wasn't a joyous occasion. "I greatly regret having reached that age," David Goodall told ABC Australia in early April. "I'm not happy. I want to die." And that's exactly what Goodall, an...

German Billionaire Disappears on Matterhorn

Tengelmann CEO, missing since Saturday, was training for ski race

(Newser) - A "full speed" search is underway for one of Germany's richest men, heir to the Tengelmann supermarket chain, who failed to return from a solo ski excursion in the Swiss Alps on Saturday. An experienced skier, Karl-Erivan Haub was training for a race when he set off from...

That's Not Ice Covering a Melting Swiss Glacier

Rhone Glacier's white blankets used to reflect sunlight

(Newser) - With the coming of spring, people will be putting away the extra blankets that kept them warm through a chilly winter. Others in Switzerland will be blanketing a glacier. As E&E News reports, huge white blankets of canvas will be used to cover the Rhone Glacier in the Swiss...

Swiss Can't Stick Live Lobsters in Boiling Water Anymore

They have to be stunned before they're thrown in the pot

(Newser) - Lobsters may not actually scream when they're placed live into pots of boiling water (they don't have vocal cords), but the jury's still out on whether they feel pain. Switzerland isn't taking chances, issuing a government decree that "the practice of plunging live lobsters into...

Thousands of Tourists Get Stranded at Ski Resort

They have to be airlifted out of the Swiss resort of Zermatt after 2 days

(Newser) - Thousands of tourists came to the Zermatt ski resort in Switzerland for a winter adventure, and that's exactly what they got. It just wasn't the one they anticipated. About 13,000 people got snowed in at the resort for two days before helicopters began airlifting them out on...

Switzerland Builds World's Steepest Funicular Railway

Stoosbahn climbs at dizzying angle

(Newser) - Swiss President Doris Leuthard is afraid of heights, but she was still able to go on the maiden voyage of a dizzyingly steep new railway after cutting the ribbon for its opening ceremony Friday. Swiss authorities say the new Stoosbahn line is the world's steepest funicular railway, climbing 2,...

Daredevils Jump From Mountain Into a Plane

Vince Reffet, Fred Fugen pay homage to fellow French base jumper

(Newser) - Vince Reffet initially thought the stunt would be relatively easy. He soon learned that base jumping from a 13,000-foot mountain peak, gliding and hitting a target little bigger than a body is the opposite of easy. After two months of training, however, that's exactly what Reffet and fellow...

Why Pay for Swiss Trip When You Can Get Paid to Move There?

Tiny village in Switzerland may pay families tens of thousands of dollars to relocate there

(Newser) - A tiny village in Switzerland just asked the Italian town of Bormida to hold its beer. Earlier this year, Bormida was offering $2,175 to people willing to move there in an effort to stave off its extinction. Facing the prospect of a similar future, little Albinen may soon significantly...

They Found $2M in Gold ... in Sewage

And that's just the annual amount discarded in Switzerland

(Newser) - There's more than cash going down the drain in Switzerland. About $2 million in gold and $1.8 million in silver ends up in Switzerland's sewers each year, according to an environmental study commissioned by the Swiss government. Strange as it sounds, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute...

New Rape Accusations Against Roman Polanski

German former actress says director raped her in 1972 when she was 15

(Newser) - Roman Polanski is now facing sexual assault charges from a fourth woman, the New York Times reports. Renate Langer says the director raped her in February 1972 when she was 15 years old. The 61-year-old former actress says she was visiting Polanski, who she met while working at a modeling...

Only One Country Beat US for Most Competitive Economy

Switzerland is No. 1 in World Economic Forum ranking

(Newser) - One of Donald Trump's platforms during the presidential campaign was to "restore America's competitive edge," but the US might not be doing so shabby after all. Quartz , which features the World Economic Forum's new Global Competitiveness Report , notes that the United States has actually ascended...

Toilet Clogs in Geneva Had Unlikely Source

$120K in 500-euro bills found in 4 toilets in May

(Newser) - Some $120,000 has gone down the drain in Switzerland—literally. Prosecutors say 500-euro bank notes were found stuffed in a toilet serving a vault containing safe deposit boxes at Geneva's USB bank back in May, per Bloomberg . A few days later, per Reuters , 500-euro notes, which "had...

Chainsaw Assailant at Large After Attack in Switzerland

2 people seriously injured

(Newser) - Police in Switzerland are looking for the assailant in a bizarre attack: Authorities say a man injured five people with a chainsaw Monday morning in a small town, reports the BBC . Two of the victims were injured seriously. It's not clear what prompted the assault in the town of...

Receding Glacier Reveals Couple Frozen 75 Years

Bodies of missing couple discovered in Switzerland

(Newser) - Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin were 40 and 37, respectively, when they went out to milk their cows in the Swiss Alps on Aug. 15, 1942. They never returned, leaving behind seven children who were divided among other families in the region. The children became strangers, but "we spent our...

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