Cluster: Swiss Identity

We are people who matter

This content was published on May 26, 2012 But despite the popularity of these group photos, for years they were regarded as too trivial and unartistic to be worth bothering with. Now this long gone past is resurrected in a new book, Wir Sind Jemand (We Are People Who Matter), which features a wealth of largely unpublished photos from private collections: well brought…

Azerbaijan, from backlot to front stage

This content was published on May 25, 2012 After hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in a flashy new congress centre, the country plans to build a skyscraper more than a kilometre high southeast of the capital Baku. The tower is part of a project to create a city of more than one million inhabitants spread over 41 artificial islands and which could cost…

Culture

Eurovision glitz hides Azerbaijan shadows

This content was published on May 25, 2012 The contest began in the capital Baku on Tuesday with Switzerland participating but failing to reach Saturday’s final. The local authorities planned to make the weeklong competition an opportunity to show off the changes made since independence in 1991. President Ilham Aliyev and his clan spent big to promote their oil-rich country. According to Zurich’s…

Demographics

Amnesty slams Swiss asylum policy

This content was published on May 24, 2012 The chapter on Switzerland recalls the case of the rejected Nigerian asylum seeker who was beaten by police officers at Zurich airport in July 2011. Amnesty says the incident was never examined by independent experts. It also criticises the slow pace of a legal investigation into the death of another Nigerian asylum seeker who was…

Demographics

Cabinet seeks support for compromise

This content was published on May 23, 2012 Outlining the next steps in the drawn-out legislative procedure, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said on Wednesday it was crucial to have a broad political debate on the divisive initiative by the rightwing People’s Party, which won a majority in a nationwide vote in November 2010. The government has warned that implementing the initiative, which demands the…

Demographics

Aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan

This content was published on May 23, 2012 The Medair workers were reportedly visiting a clinic and bringing food to women and children in a mountainous area of Badakhshan province on Tuesday when they were kidnapped. Abdul Mahroof Rasikh, spokesman of the provincial governor in Badakhshan, said the workers were traveling back by donkey along a flood-ravaged road when armed men kidnapped them…

History

Post-Mubarak Egypt faces democratic test

This content was published on May 23, 2012 The voting that begins on Wednesday is the greatest prize won by the crowds who took to the streets to overthrow Hosni Mubarak in the string of people-power uprisings that upended the Middle East in last year’s Arab Spring. “Since 1952, the year of the military coup [led by Nasser] and the overthrow of King…

Culture

Foundations have SFr70 billion in the kitty

This content was published on May 22, 2012 The figure is based on recently collected information from the cantonal authorities and is much higher than previous estimates. In 2010, total funds were put at SFr50 billion. On average each non-profit foundation possesses SFr6.2 million but in reality most foundations are more modest in size and the mean is pushed up by the large foundations.…

Culture

The art of earthquakes

This content was published on May 22, 2012 With a magnitude of 6.5 to 7.0 on the Richter scale, the most devastating earthquake recorded in central Europe occurred in Basel in 1356. The Swiss city is still considered at risk because of its fault zone location and dense population. (Photos: akg-images, Reuters, AFP, Wikipedia)

The cost of standing up to earthquakes

This content was published on May 22, 2012 The earthquake in northern Italy on May 20 highlighted yet again the need for all buildings to include anti-seismic measures. The quake destroyed large numbers of historic buildings, which were obviously constructed long before it was known how to protect them, but also several modern facilities, especially industrial buildings. In Switzerland, around 90 per…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

More

We are people who matter

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Azerbaijan, from backlot to front stage

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Eurovision glitz hides Azerbaijan shadows

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Amnesty slams Swiss asylum policy

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Cabinet seeks support for compromise

More

Aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan

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Post-Mubarak Egypt faces democratic test

More

Foundations have SFr70 billion in the kitty

More

The art of earthquakes

More

The cost of standing up to earthquakes

Popular Stories

Most Discussed