Syria made multiple attempts to buy equipment in Switzerland that could have been used to make weapons of mass destruction, but officials blocked the sales, Swiss authorities said Monday.

A total of 14 attempted purchases by Syria were turned down since 1998 by Switzerland's export-control watchdog, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, its spokeswoman Marie Avet said.

Swiss banks will pay significant fines to avoid U.S. penalties under a deal announced Thursday which forces them to begin disclosing the offshore accounts of American clients.

The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement with Switzerland will advance Washington's campaign against tax avoidance by U.S. citizens hiding funds offshore.

No car, no sex.

That's the rule for an experiment Zurich is launching Monday to make prostitution less of a public nuisance and safer for women.

U.S. chat show queen Oprah Winfrey says an alleged racist incident she suffered at a luxury boutique in Switzerland does not warrant an apology from the country.

Winfrey, who claims she was the subject of racism when a shop assistant refused to show her an expensive handbag, told journalists Monday in Los Angeles that it wasn't "an indictment against the country."

Switzerland, which prides itself on its humanitarian principles, is facing a barrage of criticism over its treatment of asylum seekers, including charges of segregation and inhumane living conditions.

The controversy first broke last week when federal migration authorities said the small northern town of Bremgarten, with 6,500 residents, had been permitted to deny residents of a new asylum center access to certain public spaces.

Oprah Winfrey says she had a racist encounter while shopping in Switzerland — and the national tourist office and the shop owner have apologized.

The billionaire media mogul told the U.S. program "Entertainment Tonight" that a shop assistant in Zurich refused to show her a black handbag priced at $38,000 because "you will not be able to afford that."

France's rush to tax nationals who inherit from Swiss residents will backfire by spurring many wealthy Frenchmen to move to Switzerland, taking their tax euros with them, observers say.

France "has shot itself in the foot, several times," Claudine Schmid, a French parliamentarian of the rightwing UMP party, told Agence France Presse Monday.

Two trains collided head-on Monday in western Switzerland, killing one of the drivers and injuring 35 passengers, at least five of them seriously, police said.

The accident happened in Granges-pres-Marnand shortly before 7:00 pm (1700 GMT), according to regional police.

Two trains collided head-on Monday in western Switzerland, injuring 40 passengers, at least five of them seriously, police said.

The collision occurred in Granges-pres-Marnand around 7:00 pm (1700 GMT), police said.

Tina Turner, the U.S.-born superstar famed for hits such as "Private Dancer", has married her longtime German partner and will reportedly celebrate the union in a Buddhist ceremony in Switzerland Sunday.

The 73-year-old retired singer wed 57-year-old record executive Erwin Bach in a discreet civil ceremony on the banks of Lake Zurich in Kusnacht, northern Switzerland "a few days ago," municipal official Hannes Friess told Agence France Presse.