Geneva  - The largest Swiss bank, UBS, will hand over the names of 250 of its clients to the United States Justice Department, a Geneva-based newspaper reported, in a move that goes against the Alpine country's longstanding bank secrecy principles.

Without naming its source, Le Temps said the bank would divulge the information as part of an ongoing investigation against UBS in the US alleging that it helped clients there evade paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes since the beginning of the decade.

Zurich - A Brazilian woman who claimed she was attacked in Zurich by racists is herself being investigated, the Swiss police said Wednesday, on suspicion of misleading the authorities about the incident.

The 26-year-old had alleged that she was attacked at a train station by three neo-Nazis, who cut her body and caused her to miscarry twins.

Pictures of the woman that circulated after the incident showed the wounds, which included an etching of the letters SVP, the initials in German of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, into her legs.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim had said the case appeared to have been sparked by xenophobia.

Switzerland - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Wednesday that it has agreed a deal with SPORTFIVE for the Olympic broadcast rights for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2014) in Sochi and the 2016 Winter Games.

Under the agreement, SPORTFIVE has acquired the rights across all media platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile phone, across 40 countries in Europe.

France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom are excluded from the deal.

Geneva - Roger Federer has withdrawn from next week's Barclays Championships as well as the March 6-8 Davis Cup tie against the US with a lingering back injury.

"I'm disappointed to announce that I am withdrawing from both Dubai and the Davis Cup tie in the United States," the world number two said on his website.

"This was a hard decision to make as I am missing not only one of my favorite events on tour in Dubai but I am also missing out on an opportunity to help my country try and move on to the next round of Davis Cup."

Geneva  - Daimler's luxury Maybach brand is launching an even more luxurious version at the Geneva Motor Show next month with a shoulder-line in contrasting colour and a more powerful 640 hp engine.

Wind noise has been reduced by modified exterior mirrors with a more "expressive" look.

The stylish elegance is accentuated by an exclusive Californian- beige, leather interior and the "Maybach Zeppelin" lettering found on the boot lid, front grille, the key and champagne glass. Only 100 of the limited edition Maybach 57 Zeppelin and Maybach 62 Zeppelin will be built at a price of 483,140 euros (623,758 dollars) and 563,108 euros respectively.

Geneva - Delegates from eight parties started the newest round of talks Tuesday on last year's conflict between Russia and Georgia, though negotiations have so far yielded little results.

The talks at the United Nations' Geneva office will focus on humanitarian and security issues, including a mechanism to prevent and resolve future armed incidents near or within the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

While the parties have agreed to the mechanism in principle, they were still debating the details of how it would function.