Zurich (dpa) - Credit Suisse and Swiss Re, both hit hard by the financial crisis, announced changes at the top of the companies Monday morning.

Peter Forstmoser, the chairman of Swiss Re, the re-insurer, announced in a statement that he would resign from the board and be replaced by Walter B. Kielholz, the current chairman of Credit Suisse, who would stay at the bank as a member of the board.

Hans-Ulrich Doerig, currently the vice-chairman of Credit Suisse was being proposed as the new chairman of Switzerland's second largest bank.

Munich  - A smooth-talking Swiss gigolo who allegedly preyed on wealthy women goes on trial on Monday charged with extorting millions of dollars.

Amongst the alleged victims is BMW car heiress Susanne Klatten, 46. The publicity-shy mother-of-three is reputedly Germany's richest woman, with a large stake in luxury carmaker as well as a pharmaceuticals company.

Helg Sgarbi, 44, is accused of trying to extort 14 million euros (17.5 million dollars) from Klatten after he threatened to publicise secret video recordings of them having sex.

It is unclear whether Klatten and three other women Sgarbi is alleged to have seduced and defrauded will testify against him.

Geneva - An art house in Lucerne, Switzerland, will auction off this summer the doctorate diploma issued to Albert Einstein from the school of mathematics and natural sciences at Zurich University, Swiss media reported Saturday.

His dissertation was entitled A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions and he received his PhD in 1906 at the age of 26. Einstein went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries in photoelectric effects, which he started while at Zurich.

Geneva - The multilateral approach of the new United States administration offers a chance for making "real progress" in efforts for global disarmament, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday.

"The arrival of the new US administration and President Obama changes the situation because now the questions of multilateral disarmament has become a priority, which was not seen under the previous administration," Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Geneva.

Geneva  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with the Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey in Geneva and discussed the ongoing tax fraud investigation into UBS and the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Calmy-Rey told reporters after the meeting that she said to Clinton that the US should not put more pressure on Switzerland regarding UBS, but that the Swiss would work more closely with Washington to find avenues to share information.

Geneva  - Two parents and their two teenage children were found Friday shot dead in an apartment in Geneva. Police said they were carrying out an investigation.