Cluster: Swiss Identity

Neither plant nor animal: simply a mushroom

This content was published on Nov 16, 2013 Most people will know, or at least have heard of, edible mushrooms such as chanterelles and boletes, or toxic varieties such as the Death Cap and the Fly Agaric. In Switzerland there are thousands of species – 5,500 to be exact. Up to 3,000 of them appear every year. An official mushroom expert, Flück knows…

Culture

Ruling over Nazi-era art sale comes at a cost

This content was published on Nov 15, 2013 Margarete Mauthner, a German art collector who was Jewish, sold the drawing “View of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer” to the Winterthur-based collector Oskar Reinhart in 1933. In 2009, her grandson sued the Swiss government, which had since taken over Reinhart’s collection, for the rights to the art work in a US District Court. Mauthner’s grandson and his legal…

Culture

Pink Star diamond fetches record CHF68 million

This content was published on Nov 13, 2013 The “Pink Star”, a flawless 59.60-carat pink diamond, is the largest in its class ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), with the second biggest less than half its size. Set on a ring, it measures 2.69 by 2.06 centimetres and weighs 11.92 grams. The huge oval-cut rock was sold as part of Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels”…

Demographics

‘This is not a once in a lifetime event’

This content was published on Nov 13, 2013 “The Western Pacific is an area that is prone to very powerful tropical cyclones just because it’s home to the warmest sea surface temperatures and warm ocean temperatures with any given depth,” Ulrike Lohmann, professor of atmospheric physics at the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), told swissinfo.ch.…

Culture

The Swiss story of the French Foreign Legion

This content was published on Nov 11, 2013 Among the soldiers who make an appearance are three international stars: Laurel & Hardy and Fernandel. They appear in two scenes taken from famous fictional stories: the Anglo-American duo in the film Beau Hunks and the French actor in One of the Legion. The three comic actors give Künzi’s documentary a more ironic tone. “I saw…

Demographics

Aid experts fly to battered Philippines

This content was published on Nov 10, 2013 The Swiss foreign ministry said the group left on Saturday evening and would work closely with international aid organisations, delivering emergency assistance. The foreign ministry said three Swiss experts, including doctors, were already in the Philippines. They are liaising closely with the Swiss embassy in Manila and assessing the needs of the people on the…

Culture

‘What amazes me is that there’s a collector for everything’

This content was published on Nov 10, 2013 “She’d come home from her night shift as a nurse, and I’d be waiting for her on the porch all dressed and ready to go,” Rooks recalls with a smile. Both his mother and his grandmother were collectors; his grandfather was a tinkerer. It was from them that Rooks inherited his appreciation for a beautiful…

Demographics

Dirty gold, thirsty coal and vintage design

This content was published on Nov 9, 2013

Demographics

The search for 21st-century hermits

This content was published on Nov 9, 2013 “Isole” – islands in Italian – is the name Rodriguez has given to the project. Since 2010, she has photographed people and the places, manmade and natural, in which they live. “I’m interested in their journey and the reasons that pushed them to choose this isolation. Many issues are raised: the lifestyle choice, interaction with…

Demographics

How I lost my junk mail battle

This content was published on Nov 8, 2013 Although these advertisements keep us up to date not only on the development of products and services, they also – again and again and again – urge us to participate in competitions and lotteries. Thus, many exasperated Swiss – and in the meantime, many immigrants too – invest time and money to keep these…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

More

Neither plant nor animal: simply a mushroom

More

Ruling over Nazi-era art sale comes at a cost

More

Pink Star diamond fetches record CHF68 million

More

‘This is not a once in a lifetime event’

More

The Swiss story of the French Foreign Legion

More

Aid experts fly to battered Philippines

More

‘What amazes me is that there’s a collector for everything’

More

Dirty gold, thirsty coal and vintage design

More

The search for 21st-century hermits

More

How I lost my junk mail battle

Popular Stories

Most Discussed