Pictures of the Year
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The year started with a banger. A minor panic ensued when the import of Brazilian cows' intestines was banned. These encase the cervelat, the nation's favourite sausage. (Keystone/Martin Ruetschi) Keystone -
A starry starry night over Arosa in eastern Switzerland. (Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella) Keystone -
Heist of the Year took place at the private Bührle collection in Zurich, from where four masterpieces worth SFr180 million were stolen in February. Two were found. (Keystone/Eddy Risch) Keystone -
A Kosovo Albanian in Geneva celebrates the breakaway Serbian province's declaration of independence in February. (Keystone/Martial Trezzini) Keystone -
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey ruffled feathers in March when she donned a headscarf at a meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right). (Keystone/Martial Trezzini) Keystone -
Swiss railway staff let off balloons in March during a strike against job cuts. (Keystone/Karl Mathis) Keystone -
Former UBS chairman and CEO Marcel Ospel (left) gives Peter Kurer a massive key - and even bigger challenge - at UBS's general assembly in April. (Keystone/Steffen Schmidt) Keystone -
Labour Day Zurich-style. (Keystone/Alessandro della Bella) Keystone -
UBS became Europe's biggest casualty of the US subprime mortgage crisis and wrote down a total of $44 billion in 2008. (Keystone/Eddy Risch) Keystone -
Zurich Ballet director Heinz Spoerli won the 2008 German Dance Prize. (Keystone/Eddy Risch) Keystone -
In June five soldiers died in a boating accident on the River Kander in the Bernese Oberland. (Keystone/ Michael Buholzer) Keystone -
A giant inflatable ball on the Jet d'Eau in Geneva heralds the kick-off of Euro 2008, co-hosted in June by Switzerland and Austria. (Keystone/Magali Girardin) Keystone -
It was hard to escape the European football championships: here a shepherd in Obersaxen follows a match on his laptop. (Keystone/Arno Balzarini) Keystone -
Tens of thousands of Dutch fans descended upon Bern, and then Basel, during Euro 2008. (Keystone/Ennio Leanza) Keystone -
Silence is golden: relaxing during the federal yodelling fest in Lucerne. (Keystone/Urs Flüeler) Keystone -
One of 6,970 recruits called up for military service this summer. (Keystone/Martin Ruetschi) Keystone -
Soaking up the atmosphere on Swiss National Day, August 1. (Keystone/Sigi Tischler) Keystone -
Chinese workers clean up around the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing, designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron for the Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Keystone -
Golden boys: Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka and Fabian Cancellara receive a warm welcome in Basel after their Olympic successes. (Keystone/Georgios Kefalas) Keystone -
Köbi Kuhn retired as coach of the Swiss national football team on a low note, after a disappointing performance at Euro 2008. (Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella) Keystone -
In October the Westside shopping centre, designed by American archiect Daniel Libeskind, opened just outside Bern. (Keystone/ Lukas Lehmann) Keystone -
Controversial ex-cabinet minister Christoph Blocher, here with his wife, is kept at a safe distance from the Swiss public in Bern. (Swiss Press Photo 2008/Charles Ellena) Keystone -
Born in 1848, Sister Maria Bernarda Bütler (left) in October became the first Swiss in recent times to be canonised by the Vatican. (Keystone/Urs Flüeler) Keystone -
After decades of waiting, scientists from Cern research centre near Geneva in September fired a beam of proton particles around the 27km-long underground tunnel. The machine broke down nine days later. (Keystone/Fabrice Coffrini) Keystone -
Migrating birds fly in Hitchcockian style over the Lavaux vineyards by Lake Geneva. (Keystone/Laurent Gillieron) Keystone -
Boxed in: Defence Minister Samuel Schmid bowed to the pressure in November and announced he would stand down at the end of the year. (Béatrice Devènes / Pixsil) -
Visitors to the Museum of Modern Art in New York entered the world of Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Keystone -
Ueli Maurer, who on January 1 replaces Samuel Schmid as defence minister, preparing for a television interview. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi) Keystone -
A thick blanket of snow covered Switzerland in December, with record levels measured in and around Bern. (Reuters/Stefan Wermuth) Reuters
Striking images of 2008.
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