Hollande visit, Solar Impulse in Nanjing

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Stories we are following the week of April 13, 2015

                                 

Rendez-vous with French President François Hollande

The two-day visit to Switzerland by French President François HollandeExternal link is the first such state visit since 1998 and will offer a good opportunity to debate some issues which have shaken relations of late.

High on the agenda is set to be the anti-immigration initiative setting caps on European Union immigration to Switzerland. Also a topic: economic exchanges between the two countries. France is Switzerland’s fourth most important trading partner after Germany, the US and Italy.  Hollande’s visit comes after the then Swiss President Didier Burkhalter’s trip to Paris last October.

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We have lift off! Solar Impulse set to start 6^th leg

The Swiss Solar Impulse aircraft is expected to start the 6^th leg of its five-month around-the-world flight attempt on April 14 – at the earliest – following delays due to poor weather conditions. It will be flying from Chongqing in China before pushing on to Nanjing in the east of the country. Getting to the city of Nanjing would set up the solar-power plane to make its first big ocean crossing to Hawaii.

Read more on swissinfo.ch’s special dossier.

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More Swiss bank deals with US rumoured

More Swiss banks that helped wealthy Americans evade taxes will soon strike agreements with the US Department of Justice to avoid prosecution, an official overseeing the US government programme has told Reuters.External link

At the end of March, Lugano-based BSI became the first bank to reach a resolution under a DoJ voluntary disclosure programme, set up in 2013, for past tax-related offences. BSI agreed to pay a $211 million (CHF203 million) penalty after admitting it had for decades assisted thousands of US clients in opening accounts in Switzerland and hiding assets from tax authorities.

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Stage set for Sika shareholder showdown

Warring shareholders will battle for the soul of Swiss chemical maker Sika at its annual general meeting on April 14. While they will not vote directly on the proposed sale of Burkard family shares to Saint-Gobain, they could make decisions that could hinder the deal. However, votes cast at the AGM could be legally challenged and later quashed.

swissinfo.ch will be charting the convoluted progress (so far) of one of the most controversial takeover bids in Swiss corporate history, which has involved the courts, the Swiss Takeover Board and now the country’s financial regulator.

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Summer – hot or cold? Only the bogeyman can answer

April 13 sees the return of the traditional Sechseläuten ceremony in Zurich and, of course, Zurich’s giant exploding bogeyman – the Böögg. The annual event held on the third Monday in April marks the end of winter. The Böögg’s head is stuffed with firecrackers and perched on top of a huge pyre. It is said that the less time it takes for his head to explode, the better the summer will be. Last year it took seven minutes and 23 seconds., allegedly heralding a great summer. But in fact, it was rather cold and rainy…

What you may have missed last week

Swiss adventurer Thomas Ulrich wants to become the first person to cross the Arctic on foot from Siberia to Canada via the North Pole. Watch him in training, pulling car tyres up in the mountains above Interlaken.