![The Swiss are set to vote on whether they want to ban full facial coverings in public on March 7 [File: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/000_Par2859268.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
More than 60 percent of voters will vote yes, or are considering doing so, in upcoming referendum, survey shows.
Switzerland
![Once regarded as a pillar of stability in crisis-prone Lebanon, Riad Salameh has a reputation that has been tarnished by the country’s unprecedented financial crisis, which began in late 2019 [File: Hussein Malla/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/AP_20325508811283.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Salameh said he would face questioning in Switzerland as part of a money-laundering probe, a source tells Al Jazeera.
![Venture-capital investors funnelled $18.1bn into foodtech startups in 2020, largely thanks to the appeal of food delivery apps or online grocers, according to researcher PitchBook [File: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/367384171.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Zurich-based Blue Horizon Ventures will invest in startups from alternative proteins to smart packaging.
![The Swiss probe centres on $400m in transfers allegedly tied to Lebanon's central bank governor of 27 years, Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and Salameh’s adviser Marianne Al-Hoayek, a judicial source told Al Jazeera [File: Jamal Saidi/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/a19a6e23318143e7a8fa9350a29fd489_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
The investigation is the latest blow of confidence to Lebanon’s crippled financial system.
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In 2014, authorities in Geneva fined a woman $563 for begging and arrested her when she was unable to pay.
![The grouping behind the proposal was also behind a 2009 move to ban the construction of new minarets, which was approved by nearly 60 percent of Swiss voters [File: Michael Buholzer/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2011-10-29T000000Z_592598806_BM2E7AT197001_RTRMADP_3_SWITZERLAND.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Banning full facial coverings will deter tourists and ‘be unhelpful for certain groups of women’, government says.
![China has dismissed criticism of its handling of the early weeks of the outbreak whether from governments overseas or from its own citizens [File: Alex Plavevski/EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/h_55853010.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
International team is supposed to travel to Wuhan to investigate origins of the virus that swept the globe in 2020.
![A healthcare worker receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Tor Verrgata hospital in Rome on December 28, 2020 [Filippo Monteforte/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_8XU928.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
UN health agency says emergency use listing ‘opens the door’ for countries to expedite their vaccine approval processes.
![Blatter's lawyer said 'the accusations are unfounded' and denied wrongdoing [File: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/65f1bdb31bb0418fab1bbaab833d81c7_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The loss-making museum was a pet project of Sepp Blatter who stepped down as FIFA president in 2015.
![The Treasury Department has branded Vietnam and Switzerland as currency manipulators [File: Chitose Suzuki/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20351521825250.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The US Treasury also placed 10 other countries, including China, on a watchlist for suspected currency manipulation.
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The controversial agreement allows Chinese authorities to enter Switzerland, interview and remove ‘illegal’ residents.
![The 20 in 2020 series by The Take podcast is a global snapshot of how 20-year-olds around the world are managing a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, a global recession and unprecedented social challenges [Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Copy-of-20-in-2020-series-—-Website.png?resize=270%2C180)
The Take’s 20 in 2020 series is a snapshot of a global generation coming of age in an unprecedented year.
![Organisers of the next World Economic Forum annual meeting have chosen Singapore because of its relatively low number of COVID-19 cases [File: Lauryn Ishak/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/366530080.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
World Economic Forum to hold its next annual meeting in Singapore in May rather than coronavirus-hit Switzerland.
![Gulnara Karimova was found guilty of money laundering and extortion by Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court in March and sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to RFE/RL [File: Yves Forestier/Getty Images Europe]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/366452865.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Gulnara Karimova won a court victory in Switzerland that could pave the way for her to unblock $350m in frozen assets.