The airline industry is set to do better than expected this year, according to the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA)

It now predicts losses of $2.8 billion—half of what was forecast in December.

Global income is set to rise and passenger numbers are expected to go up about 6 percent.

IATA’s director general warns, however, that it will likely still take three years for the industry to return to levels seen in 2008.

Swisscom has once again been punished for its dominant market position.

The Federal Communications Commission has forced the telecom company to lower prices for access to Swisscom leased lines.

Swisscom has reduced monthly wholesale prices for leased lines by almost a third for 2009.

That means other providers can now use leased lines throughout Switzerland at competitive prices.

The Swiss National Bank has revised its predictions for the country’s gross domestic product for 2010.

The bank predicts GDP for this year will be 1.5 percent—that’s up 1 percent from three months ago.

However, as predicted, the bank is keeping the interest rate at a quarter percent.

The country’s largest construction company, Implenia, had a good 2009 despite the financial crisis.

Implenia posted a profit of 47 million francs, up 17.7 percent from the previous year, surpassing analysts’ expectations.

The company says the better-than-expected profit is due largely to rigorous management of costs.

The Brazilian woman who harmed herself to claim she had been the victim of a racist attack in Zurich will have to leave Switzerland by the end of the month.

In February of last year, the 28-year-old cut herself over 200 times and claimed she had been attacked outside Zurich Stettbach station.

The alleged incident caused outrage in Brazil and even the country’s president condemned such a violent act.

She has since been charged and fined for making a false claim and authorities in Zurich have refused to extend her visa.

The data stolen from HSBC bank in Geneva contains information on about 15,000 customers, says the head of HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland.  

He said the affected customers would be those who opened accounts in Switzerland before October 2006.

The data was stolen by former bank employee Hervé Falciani and is being used by the French government to pursue suspected tax cheats.

HSBC says it is contacting its customers about the situation and to apologize. It adds that the stolen data does not provide sufficient information to allow third parties to access the accounts.

FINMA, Switzerland’s financial advisory body, will open an investigation into the stolen HSBC bank data.

It wants to find out how such a large amount of data could have been stolen back in 2007 and it will investigate what measure HSBC has taken since to prevent something similar happening again.

Switzerland says it’s disappointed by a draft resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council which condemns the recently passed ban on the construction of minarets here.

The motion, which doesn’t specifically mention Switzerland, says banning minarets is a “show of islamophobia that violates international human rights in terms of religion.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry says Switzerland defends religious freedom and recognizes each person’s right to freely practice their religion.    

The text is part of a wider document on the defamation of religions, put forward by the group of Islamic countries and African countries in the council.

It’s due to be presented in a fortnight.

The International Olympic Committee wants to expand and modernize its Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

The work, which includes plans for a new wing, a vast cultural area and links to the neighboring Musée de l’Elysée photography museum, is set to cost tens of millions of francs.

It’s hoped that work can start in 2011 with an opening date estimated for 2012.

The museum, which opened in 1993, attracts some 200,000 visitors a year, nearly half of them coming from abroad.

The Libyan ambassador to the UN has reiterated Tripoli’s request to Switzerland to cancel a blacklist of nearly 200 Libyans, including Muammar Gaddafi.

The Swiss blacklist is causing an effective denial of entry into the Schengen area for 188 officials.

Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham told reporters that Tripoli is calling on Bern to cancel the list and take the matter to international arbitration.  

He added, “We want a solution and are ready to accept any verdict.”

Shalgham said he and his son are on the blacklist.

The Swiss Mission to the UN declined to comment.

World No. 1 Roger Federer is due to make his comeback at the Masters 1000 tournament in California this weekend.

The three-time winner at Indian Wells has been sidelined since the end of January with a lung infection.

He’s been given a bye for the first round and will play either Romania’s Victor Hanescu or Juan Ignacio Chela from Argentina in round two.

Stanislas Wawrinka has withdrawn from the event with a knee injury so Marco Chiudinelli will carry other Swiss hopes.