Cluster: Archive

Lek warms to new Novartis offer

This content was published on Oct 21, 2002 The announcement came after Novartis raised its bid price by ten per cent to value the company at $860 million (SFr1.3 billion). Last September, Lek shareholders turned down a previous cash offer from the Basel-based company of 95,000 Slovenian tolars ($406) per share, arguing that the asking price was too low. The success of the…

Swiss Life restates losses after accounting error

This content was published on Oct 21, 2002 On Monday, the company reported a net loss for the first half of 2002 of SFr578 million ($383 million), SFr192 million more than had been announced in September. The company blamed the error on a miscalculation of bond values. “The new reporting error is very regrettable,” said Swiss Life’s Chief Executive Officer, Roland Chlapowski. “It…

Europe offers cash and kudos to woo scientists

This content was published on Oct 21, 2002 Grants totalling $1.5 million over five years are being dangled before researchers in a bid to stop them bypassing Europe in favour of the United States. The European Young Investigators Award will offer the grants to researchers in any discipline from humanities and natural sciences to biology or medicine. “It’s a programme to make Europe…

Swiss VC investment defies slump – so far

This content was published on Oct 21, 2002 Despite a stagnating economy, tech firms are on track to raise a similar amount to what was raised in 2001. Privately-owned, innovative Swiss firms have raised €212 million in the first nine months of this year, according to Tornado Insider’s On-line Deal Database. Industry experts say that the total numbers for 2002 are not dismal…

Swiss bosses bully their workers

This content was published on Oct 20, 2002 The research, carried out by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), showed that middle managers were the main perpetrators of bullying. Seco talked to 3,200 people by telephone for the study. Respondents were told they were taking part in a general survey about health and the workplace, and were only asked about bullying towards…

Expo entertains but fails to educate

This content was published on Oct 19, 2002 The five-month exhibition, spread around four lakeside sites, has cost the government SFr1.2 billion since its inception four years ago. Organisers say that by the time it closes its doors to the public on October 20, Expo.02 will have reached its target of about ten million visits. Despite eventually costing the taxpayer about SFr1 billion,…

Plaque unveiled at Gotthard Tunnel

This content was published on Oct 19, 2002 More than 100 people attended a short service at the southern entry to the main north-south axis through Europe. Eleven people died in October last year when a fire broke out inside the tunnel following a head-on collision between two trucks about one kilometre from the southern entrance to the Gotthard. The ceremony was attended…

Acid fog found to pollute forests

This content was published on Oct 19, 2002 That is the conclusion of a new survey funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and conducted by researchers at Bern University. For the past four years, scientists have been studying the effects of sulphur and nitrogen carried in fog on forest ecosystems in Germany and Switzerland. In Switzerland, they collected data from a hill…

Expo.02 ends in the red

This content was published on Oct 18, 2002 Critics may be divided over the national exhibition’s cultural legacy, but few are arguing that Expo has been anything but a financial black hole. The event – postponed for one year after it was plagued by a series of management and financial problems – cost some SFr1.5 billion ($1 billion) to stage. Sponsorship money, as…

Fears about crime wide of the mark

This content was published on Oct 18, 2002 Domestic violence is far more dangerous and widespread, according to seven-year research programme by the National Science Foundation. Some SFr8 million was spent on 31 research projects. Eighteen looked at violence in daily life, focusing on issues such as vandalism, racism and violence at school and among young people. The 13 others investigated different aspects…

Cluster: Archive

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