Cluster: Swiss Abroad

Yushchenko heads to Swiss clinic

This content was published on Feb 12, 2005 Yushchenko claims he was deliberately given dioxin to force him out of last November’s presidential elections. The president’s office said that Yushchenko flew to Switzerland for an appointment at a dermatology clinic on Friday, but did not say to which establishment. It added that the president was being accompanied by chief prosecutor Svyatoslav Piskun to…

Swiss Politics

Parliamentarians call for reform of UN

This content was published on Feb 9, 2005 They say the creation of a “world parliament” would reinforce the organisation’s credibility and help to speed up reform of the UN. “The advantages of a parliamentary assembly within the UN would be numerous,” wrote Swiss parliamentarians in an open letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Speaking at a press conference in Bern on…

Swiss Politics

Calmy-Rey begins visit to Israel

This content was published on Feb 7, 2005 Calmy-Rey started her first trip to Israel by visiting the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. She later met Israeli ministers. The Swiss foreign minister left a wreath of flowers at the Yad Vashem memorial on behalf of Switzerland and also inscribed her name in the guest book, during the trip on Sunday. “I have come to…

Swiss Politics

Palestinian prisoners get a new start in life

This content was published on Feb 7, 2005 The Abu Djihad training centre, which was visited last week by the Swiss foreign minister, helps to integrate former inmates back into civilian life. On Thursday the Israeli cabinet agreed to release around 900 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill ahead of Tuesday’s Middle East peace summit in Egypt. The announcement coincided with the arrival…

Swiss Politics

Couchepin calls for a liberal culture policy

This content was published on Feb 5, 2005 His remarks, made during a meeting in Zurich on Saturday, come shortly before parliament is due to debate a law on the promotion of culture. At the meeting, organised by Couchepin’s centre-right Radical Party but also attended by the centre-left Social Democrats and figures from the arts world, the minister said that political influence on…

Swiss Politics

Christian Democrats support closer EU ties

This content was published on Feb 5, 2005 The party also gave its support to the extension of the Swiss labour market to the ten new EU member states at a meeting in Auvernier near Neuchâtel on Saturday. The Christian Democrats, one of Switzerland’s four main political parties, voted by 176 to zero in favour of the Schengen/Dublin accord on cross-border crime and…

Swiss Politics

Palestinian leader praises Swiss solidarity

This content was published on Feb 3, 2005 His comments came after talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is on a week-long visit to the Middle East. Speaking at a press conference, Abbas said the pair had discussed the ongoing peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Palestinian president is due to…

Swiss Politics

Geneva rallies support for illegal workers

This content was published on Feb 2, 2005 The idea has the support of some social and migrants’ organisations, but the Federal Migration Office and some cantons in German-speaking Switzerland are more sceptical. Geneva estimates that around 5,000 household employees, mainly women, work in the canton without being officially registered. It has called on the government to legalise these workers, who are mostly…

Swiss Politics

No solution reached in Swiss-EU funding row

This content was published on Feb 1, 2005 The announcement came after Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey held talks with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU commissioner for external relations. Switzerland, which is not a member of the 25-nation bloc, has offered to contribute SFr1 billion ($840 million) at a rate of SFr200 million a year to the EU’s Cohesion Fund over the next five…

Swiss Politics

Confessions of a Davos virgin

This content was published on Jan 31, 2005 I arrived in Davos expecting a flood of stories about the 2005 corporate agenda – but hard-nosed business angles were few and far between. Those sessions that focused on such issues were totally upstaged by the “new agenda” of combating poverty, Aids and climate change. Indeed, with political and business leaders all vying to upstage…

Cluster: Swiss Abroad

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Cluster: Swiss Abroad

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Yushchenko heads to Swiss clinic

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Parliamentarians call for reform of UN

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Calmy-Rey begins visit to Israel

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Palestinian prisoners get a new start in life

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Couchepin calls for a liberal culture policy

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Christian Democrats support closer EU ties

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Palestinian leader praises Swiss solidarity

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Geneva rallies support for illegal workers

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No solution reached in Swiss-EU funding row

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Confessions of a Davos virgin

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