While American negotiators maintained tight secrecy at the nuclear talks here, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran took to Twitter late Thursday to describe a letter he sent to President Obama and other world leaders justifying Iran’s positions.

The world is watching for what could turn out to be either a historic achievement for international diplomacy -- or, just as easily, a disappointing failure -- as negotiators sit down this week in the tranquil lakeside city of Lausanne, Switzerland, to hammer out a framework nuclear deal with Iran before March 31.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale-2014 stays clear of snob appeal, while its location is highly relevant and part of the success, according to Swiss Ambassador to India Dr Linus von Castelmur, who said that the 108-day festival was a perfect forum to foster cultural exchange between the two nations. Simultaneously, Norwegian Ambassador Eivind S Homme said, “the Biennale could be the beginning of another beginning. Spread across eight venues in the city, the event inspires us to think in new ways. We feel challenged,” he noted.

A narrow majority of voters in Switzerland approved proposals on Sunday that would reintroduce restrictions on the number of foreigners who are allowed to live and work in the country, a move that could have far-reaching implications for Switzerland’s relations with the European Union.

A narrow majority of voters in Switzerland approved proposals on Sunday that would reintroduce restrictions on the number of foreigners who are allowed to live and work in the country, a move that could have far-reaching implications for Switzerland’s relations with the European Union.

The United Nations says Iran has been invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers In Switzerland on Wednesday ahead of internationally brokered peace talks between Syria's warring factions. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Sunday afternoon that Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has pledged that his country "would play a positive and constructive role" in the meeting to be held in the Swiss city of Montreux.

Mere weeks after the farce surrounding who would represent Israel at the memorial service of former South African President Nelson Mandela, another ridiculous situation is developing over the Israeli delegation to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, which opens on January 22. Senior Israeli officials are apparently less eager to pass on the exclusive annual conference that takes place in the luxury Swiss ski resort.

Sweden and Switzerland have launched a joint campaign to help Chinese tourists tell the two countries apart. While the mix-up isn't solely a problem for the Chinese, it has become a particular issue for those from the Asian nation because both countries' names are written similarly in Mandarin — Ruidian (Sweden) and Ruishi (Switzerland) — and begin with the same symbol.