Germany and Switzerland Relations

A long awaited meeting between Germany and Switzerland took place Friday in Berlin to talk about a new double-taxation agreement and exchange information on tax cheaters.

According to AP, both sides agreed to not disclose details aboutthe meeting but have said that they expect to receive their final approval from their governments "in a few months."

Earlier this year German official received a stolen disk holding information on Germans that had accounts in Switzerland banks.

AP reports, "Switzerland has always said that in such cases, independent of the country, we don't give legal assistance," Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said. "That's how it will stay -- the theft of tax data is a criminal offense in Switzerland and will be in the future too."

While German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said "He isn't enthusiastic about the idea of an amnesty for German tax offenders," according to AP.

Although both countries have had their differences in the past Merz and Scheaunle have decided on a working group to answer questions about taxation in the future and improving German and Swiss banking relations.

According to AP both countries said Friday's agreement, "will help place Swiss-German relations back onto an objective and constructive footing that is worthy of friendly neighboring states."

Famous Director Flees Accused of Rape

Film Director, Roman Polanski, accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl fled to France to aviod extradition.

Swiss authorities arrested 76-year-old Polanski at the lifetime achievement award film festival in Zurich. Polanski is an Oscar-winning director of "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and "The Pianist." Polanski was imprisoned for more than two months before being transferred to his Alpine chalet in the luxury resort of Gstaad where he was put on house arrest after a $4.5 million bail.

Meanwhile the California Spreme Court has ruled that Polanski must appear before a U.S. court to be sentenced.

According to the LA Times, Justice Ministry spokeman Folco Galli confimed that Switzerland recieved an offical copy of the ruling.

"We've said that we will wait for this decision to ensure that our proceedings are harmonized with those in the United States," Galli told The Associated Press. "That doesn't mean an extradition decision will now be immediately sent out."

Switzerland and Media

One of Switzerland's main broadcasting companies is subsidized by the federal government but the printed press is said to be free of government involvement.

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, marketed as SRG SSR idée suisse was founded in 1931. According to Swissinfo.ch the Swiss public broadcasting organization is non-profit and funded mainly through radio and television licence fees (70%) and making the remaining income from advertising and sponsorship.

The country has four official languages German, French, Italian, and Romansh which make public broadcasting difficult.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Switzerland was ranked seventh for 2008 in the yearly "Worldwide press freedom ranking of countries."

Smoke Strands Thousands

Air traffic was halted Thursday and may last for a week or more because of a volcanic eruption if Iceland.

Switzerland among other northern European countries have all put a stop to air travel because of the volcanic ash in the air from the Icelandic eruption, according to the A.P. The ash has put a thick blanket of smoke covering most European countries.

One country receiving the majority of the smoke cover is Britain. Subsequently all air flights have been restricted.

The Britain's National Air Traffic Control Service said that "there will be no flights permitted in U.K.-controlled airspace other than emergency situations," concluding, "It is very unlikely that the situation over England will improve in the foreseeable future."

According to the LA Times, Britain's National Air Traffic Control Service issued the order at midday and said later that it would last until at least 6 a.m. Friday morning. (10 p.m. Thursday PDT).

About 100 aircraft encountered volcanic ash from 1983 to 2000. In some cases, engines shut down briefly after sucking in volcanic debris and also interferes with visibility, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

According to the LA Times, Dr. Hazel Rymers, a vulcanologist from the Open University, told the BBC that the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull caused such a massive ash cloud because "its source is underneath an icecap about 200 meters thick, not so much lava flows but rocks turning into ash shooting up between 8 and 11 kilometers up, and that's what's causing the cloud."