Switzerland Announces Reopening of Embassy in Baghdad

Security agents search private cars arriving at the Baghdad International Airport on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Murtadha RIDHA / AFP)
Security agents search private cars arriving at the Baghdad International Airport on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Murtadha RIDHA / AFP)
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Switzerland Announces Reopening of Embassy in Baghdad

Security agents search private cars arriving at the Baghdad International Airport on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Murtadha RIDHA / AFP)
Security agents search private cars arriving at the Baghdad International Airport on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Murtadha RIDHA / AFP)

Switzerland reopened its embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Tuesday, 33 years after closing its previous representation in the country due to the 1991 Gulf War, the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement.

"By reopening the embassy, the federal council aims to strengthen bilateral relations with the populous country and deepen cooperation in economic, security and migration matters," the statement read.



Lebanon Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh Arrested

Lebanon's Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks with AFP in an interview at his Beirut office. (AFP)
Lebanon's Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks with AFP in an interview at his Beirut office. (AFP)
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Lebanon Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh Arrested

Lebanon's Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks with AFP in an interview at his Beirut office. (AFP)
Lebanon's Former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks with AFP in an interview at his Beirut office. (AFP)

Lebanon's former central bank governor, Riad Salameh, was arrested on Tuesday during a judicial hearing in the capital Beirut, a senior judicial source told Reuters.

Salameh has been charged with financial crimes including money-laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment. He denies all wrongdoing.

Salameh was Lebanon's central bank governor for 30 years until July 2023. In his final months as governor, Germany issued an arrest warrant for him on corruption charges.

He is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Lebanon's central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state and laundering the funds abroad.