Swiss hand grenades exported to the United Arab Emirates were sent on to war-torn Syria, Swiss authorities said Friday, confirming reports that caused outcry in the fervently neutral country.

"Inquiries have shown that Swiss hand grenades delivered to UAE in 2003 and 2004 reached Syria," the Federal Department of Economic Affairs said in a statement, presenting the results of a two-month probe.

Switzerland is deeply divided ahead of a vote Sunday on whether to beef up a ban on smoking in indoor workplaces and public spaces, with supporters stressing the health benefits of less second-hand smoke and opponents decrying a "witch-hunt".

Sitting on the terrace of a Geneva cafe, enjoying a smoke in the early autumn sun, court clerk Isabelle Calapez told Agence France Presse she was "totally opposed" to the expanded ban.

Switzerland has pledged financial support to an independent network of doctors in Syria who are trying to create a field hospital in the conflict-torn nation, an official said Saturday.

Georg Farago, a spokesman for Switzerland's foreign ministry, said Switzerland would contribute 55,000 Swiss francs (45,800 euros, $57,000) and is willing to support other efforts that "aim to lessen the suffering of Syrians".

A Swiss woman being held hostage in eastern Yemen has made a second video appeal to the Swiss government to help her, the Sonntags Zeitung reported Sunday.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed the existence of the video but would give no further information to protect the woman's security.

Cocaine use in several Swiss cities is among the highest in Europe, researchers said on Monday.

"The amounts of cocaine ... were in the same range as those European cities with the highest consumption," said Christoph Ort, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag).

Retail bank Raiffeisen is Switzerland's latest institution to part with its U.S. clients because of increasing red tape and amid an ongoing tax row with the United States, media reports said Saturday.

"We will soon shed those American clients who are taxable in the United States," bank spokesman Franz Wuerth told ATS news agency confirming reports by several regional papers.

Switzerland on Friday lifted an arms embargo against the United Arab Emirates after the two sides agreed to investigate how Swiss hand grenades sold to the UAE wound up in Syria, the government said.

The temporary embargo was imposed on July 4 after Swiss media published photographs of hand grenades manufactured by the Swiss group Ruag found at an unspecified location in Syria.

More than a decade after Swiss police barred a UFO religious group from putting up posters depicting aliens, Europe's top rights court ruled Friday the sect's free speech had not been violated.

Police in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel in 2001 banned the Raelian group, which claims aliens created life on earth, from putting up the posters.

Switzerland announced tougher sanctions against Iran on Thursday but refused to implement an outright ban on oil imports "for policy reasons".

The sanctions -- which come into force on July 6 -- are in line with measures imposed on Iran by the European Union.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday buried crown prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz during a somber ceremony in Islam's holiest city, as defense minister Prince Salman appeared poised to become the new heir apparent.

The 79-year-old Nayef died on Saturday of "cardiac problems" at his brother's residence in Geneva, a medical source in the Swiss city said.