Cluster: Swiss Abroad

Swiss Army to try out 300-day military service

This content was published on Jan 19, 2001 The pilot is to be launched in the summer and will run until the end of 2002. If successful, the army may decide to continue the scheme. The army presented the new model of military service at a news conference in Bern on Friday. The head of the army, commander Jacques Dousse, said it was…

Swiss Politics

Switzerland supports ban on depleted uranium weapons

This content was published on Jan 18, 2001 Speaking on Thursday, Leuenberger said that even if the dangers of depleted uranium have not yet been proven, Switzerland “must act and cannot afford to wait”. The government plans to propose an international ban on the use of depleted uranium in weapons at a United Nations conference later this year. The UN is expected to…

Swiss Politics

Post Office to slim down and cut jobs

This content was published on Jan 18, 2001 The organisation’s chief executive, Ulrich Gygi, said the job cuts would be made in a socially responsible way. He said he hoped the losses would be achieved through natural wastage and that redundancies could be avoided. The number of post offices will fall from 3390 today to between 2500 and 2700 in the year 2005.…

Swiss Politics

Government urges no in EU vote

This content was published on Jan 18, 2001 The foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, and the economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, appealed to voters to reject the measure when it comes to a nationwide referendum in March. Deiss said that although the government has made EU membership a long-term objective, the time was not ripe for accession talks. He said that for the time being,…

Swiss Politics

“Heidi-land” image dominates American view of Switzerland

This content was published on Jan 17, 2001 “Switzerland’s image is astonishingly good in the United States, compared to other European countries”, Defago said in an interview with swissinfo. Defago said that even at the height of the controversy over the Holocaust era assets between 1996-98, Switzerland’s image was not as bad as some people in Europe believed. Defago has been Swiss ambassador…

Swiss Politics

Defence ministry admits to testing uranium weapons

This content was published on Jan 16, 2001 A spokesman for the defence ministry said on Tuesday the army had fired 16 shells containing uranium, before abandoning the experiment. He said the indoor tests lasted two days, and the waste treated by a specialised laboratory in Spiez. The admission comes just two days after the revelation that the armaments company, Contraves, independently carried…

Swiss Politics

Asylum requests drop sharply

This content was published on Jan 16, 2001 The Federal Office for Refugees said on Tuesday it had received 17,611 requests in 2000, a 62 per cent drop on the previous year. One in five asylum seekers came from Yugoslavia, one in eight from Turkey. The office said it had dealt with more than 38,000 requests, clearing nearly 20,000 from the backlog of…

Weapons containing depleted uranium tested in Switzerland

This content was published on Jan 14, 2001 The defence ministry spokesman, Oswald Sigg, said details of the tests, carried out by the Oerlikon-Bührle subsidiary, Contraves, emerged last week. Sigg said the ministry is seeking information on the conditions in which the tests were held, who gave permission for them, and where the spent ammunition was stored or destroyed. The tests were carried…

Swiss Politics

Defence ministry was aware Nato weapons contained depleted uranium

This content was published on Jan 13, 2001 The head of the Swiss contingent, Christoph Brun, issued a report on Friday revealing that the ministry was aware that Nato was using uranium-tipped weapons in its campaign to oust Serb forces from Kosovo. Fears surfaced recently that radioactive particles from depleted uranium shells used by Nato may be responsible for cases of leukaemia among…

Swiss Politics

Campaign launched for EU membership negotiations

This content was published on Jan 9, 2001 Members of the initiative committee said in Bern on Tuesday that Switzerland was at a crossroads. “We have to decide whether we want to take part in building the future of Europe, or whether we remain isolated,” said the committee’s president, Marc Suter. Another speaker said: “It is no use delaying the question any more,…

Cluster: Swiss Abroad

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Cluster: Swiss Abroad

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Swiss Army to try out 300-day military service

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Switzerland supports ban on depleted uranium weapons

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Post Office to slim down and cut jobs

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Government urges no in EU vote

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“Heidi-land” image dominates American view of Switzerland

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Defence ministry admits to testing uranium weapons

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Asylum requests drop sharply

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Weapons containing depleted uranium tested in Switzerland

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Defence ministry was aware Nato weapons contained depleted uranium

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Campaign launched for EU membership negotiations

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