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Switzerland Unveils World's Steepest Funicular Railway

The barrel-shaped carriages of a new funicular line are seen front of mount Grosser Mythen (1,898 m/6,227 ft above sea level) during sunny winter weather in the Alpine resort of Stoos, Switzerland December 13, 2017. Picture taken on December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
The barrel-shaped carriages of a new funicular line are seen front of mount Grosser Mythen (1,898 m/6,227 ft above sea level) during sunny winter weather in the Alpine resort of Stoos, Switzerland December 13, 2017. Picture taken on December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
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Switzerland Unveils World's Steepest Funicular Railway

The barrel-shaped carriages of a new funicular line are seen front of mount Grosser Mythen (1,898 m/6,227 ft above sea level) during sunny winter weather in the Alpine resort of Stoos, Switzerland December 13, 2017. Picture taken on December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
The barrel-shaped carriages of a new funicular line are seen front of mount Grosser Mythen (1,898 m/6,227 ft above sea level) during sunny winter weather in the Alpine resort of Stoos, Switzerland December 13, 2017. Picture taken on December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Swiss technology is due to hit new heights on Friday when the world’s steepest funicular line opens at one of its Alpine resorts.

Swiss President Doris Leuthard will officially open the 52 million-Swiss franc ($52.6 million) project. It will run from the valley station near Schwyz into the mountain village of Stoos, about 50km south of Zurich, which lies 1,300 meters above sea level in central Switzerland.

The barrel-shaped carriages adjust their floors so passengers can still stand upright even as they climb towards the Alpine plateau at inclines of up to 110 percent.

The train, which will go into public service on Sunday, has been hailed as a triumph of modern design engineering. It will climb 743 meters over a span of 1,738 meters, at speeds of up 10 meters per second.

The line replaces an older funicular which had been in operation since 1933.“After 14 years of planning and building, everyone is very proud of this train,” said Ivan Steiner, spokesman for the railway.

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World

EU Urges Iran to Release Nobel-Prize Winner Mohammadi

A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
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EU Urges Iran to Release Nobel-Prize Winner Mohammadi

A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)
A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. (Narges Mohammadi Foundation/AFP)

The European Union called on Saturday for the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was detained by Iranian security forces along with at least eight other activists.

Brussels described Friday's arrests in the eastern city of Mashhad as "deeply concerning".

"The EU urges Iranian authorities to release Ms. Mohammadi, taking also into account her fragile health condition, as well as all those unjustly arrested in the exercise of their freedom of expression," Anouar El Anouni, a spokesman for the bloc's diplomatic service, said.

Mohammadi, 53, who was last arrested in November 2021, has spent much of the past decade behind bars.

The 2023 Peace Prize laureate was granted temporary leave from prison on health grounds after problems related to her lungs and other issues in December 2024.

On Friday she was detained once again along with eight other activists at a ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation said.

Within Iran, the Mehr news agency cited the Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini as saying individuals held at the ceremony had chanted "slogans deemed contrary to public norms" but did not name them.

"Mohammadi, who already had to endure years in prison because of her advocacy, bravely continues to use her voice to defend human dignity and the fundamental rights of Iranians, including freedom of expression, which must be respected at all times," El Anouni said.

Alikordi, 45, was a lawyer who had defended clients in sensitive cases, including people arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted in 2022.

His body was found on December 5, with rights groups calling for an investigation into his death, which Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said "had very serious suspicion of a state murder".

World

US, Ukraine to Discuss Ceasefire in Berlin Ahead of European Summit

Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
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US, Ukraine to Discuss Ceasefire in Berlin Ahead of European Summit

Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)
Anti-drone nets hang taut along a road near the city of Izyum of Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 12 December 2025. (EPA)

Germany will host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, ahead of a summit with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin on Monday, a German official said on Saturday.

A US official said overnight that President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans.

The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia regarding a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress. The White House had said on Thursday Trump would send an official to talks only if he felt there was enough progress to be made.

"Talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine are taking place in Berlin this weekend between foreign policy advisors from, among others, the US and Ukraine," said a German government source when asked about the meetings.

On Monday, Merz is hosting Zelenskiy and European leaders for a summit in Berlin, the latest in a series of public shows of support for the Ukrainian leader from allies across Europe as Kyiv faces pressure from Washington to sign up to a peace plan that initially backed Moscow's main demands.

Britain, France and Germany have been working in the last few weeks to refine the US proposals, which, in a draft disclosed last month, called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its ambition to join NATO and accept limits on its armed forces.

World

Germany to Send Soldiers to Fortify Poland Border

A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
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Germany to Send Soldiers to Fortify Poland Border

A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)
A border guard officer stands guard at the Polish-Belarusian border, in Polowce, Poland. (AP file photo)

Germany has said it will send a group of soldiers to Poland to help with a project to fortify the country's eastern border as worries mount about the threat from Russia.

Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Moscow, announced plans in May last year to bolster a long stretch of its border that includes Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The main task of the German soldiers in Poland will be "engineering activities," a spokesman for the defense ministry in Berlin said late Friday.

This could include "constructing fortifications, digging trenches, laying barbed wire, or erecting tank barriers," he said.

"The support provided by German soldiers as part of (the operation) is limited to these engineering activities."

The spokesman did not specify the exact number of troops involved, saying only it would be a "mid-range two-digit number".

They are expected to participate in the project from the second quarter of 2026 until the end of 2027.

The spokesman stressed that parliamentary approval was not needed for the deployment as "there is no immediate danger to the soldiers from military conflicts".

Except for certain exceptional cases, the German parliament has to approve the deployment of the country's armed forces overseas.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Warsaw has staunchly backed Kyiv and been a transit route for arms being supplied by Ukraine's Western allies.

Warsaw has also modernized its army and hiked defense spending.

Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest supplier of military aid after the United States and has sent Kyiv a huge quantity of equipment ranging from air defence systems to armored vehicles.