Cluster: Swiss Identity

Zurich named “world’s most expensive city”

This content was published on Feb 14, 2012 This is the first time in two decades of the survey that Zurich has held the top spot, the authors say. This year the city has zoomed up four places, knocking Tokyo off first place, mainly due to the strong Swiss franc, the survey remarked. Geneva, the other Swiss city in the report, moved up…

Demographics

Parking spaces become an endangered species

This content was published on Feb 14, 2012 In a 2011 global survey (see box), Zurich was the third-most expensive city to park in on a monthly basis, setting drivers back $822 (SFr750). Geneva came in eighth at $704. Both cities were also in the top ten for daily parking rates. But the issue of car parking affects every Swiss city, with more…

Demographics

Oldest Swiss passes away at 109

This content was published on Feb 14, 2012 Gremion had been living at the care facility in Broc for about three years; prior to that he ran his own household in Bulle before health problems required him to move. In Bulle he had worked in a shop selling home goods. An enthusiastic hobby photographer, his work and life story were featured in a…

Culture

Swiss flower industry is no bed of roses

This content was published on Feb 14, 2012 Yet seven out of ten flowers bought in Switzerland are grown abroad and Swiss growers struggle to compete in the tough market dictated by low prices. “Producing flowers in Switzerland is more and more complicated. To compete it’s essential to produce cheaply and this entails investing in air-conditioning, heating and greenhouses,” Beat Thomann, director of…

Demographics

Industrialist convicted in asbestos case

This content was published on Feb 13, 2012 Convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Turin on Monday, the two men were each sentenced to serve 16 years in prison. In addition, they will have to pay millions of euros in punitive damages. Schmidheiny and Jean-Louis Marie Ghislaine De Cartier were the majority shareholders in the Eternit Genova company, which owned four asbestos factories in…

Demographics

Swiss develop rapid infrared cocaine test

This content was published on Feb 12, 2012 The compact detector, which was created as part of a national new technology research programme, Nano-Tera, may be adopted by law enforcement agencies to test suspect drivers. “Current rapid tests conducted by the police in the streets do not give the concentration of drugs consumed, just negative or preliminary positive results, which are sometimes wrong…

Demographics

Environmentalists target holiday homes

This content was published on Feb 11, 2012 On March 11, Swiss citizens will be asked to vote on a people’s initiative which calls for the construction of second homes to be restricted to 20 per cent of residential zones and of the total surface area of each commune. The initiative “to end the invasive construction of secondary residences” was launched by Helvetia…

Demographics

Switzerland swept out of Davis Cup

This content was published on Feb 11, 2012 Teaming up for only the second time, Fish and Bryan comfortably handled the 2008 Olympics doubles champions on Saturday in front of an occasionally hostile 7,000 crowd in Fribourg. The Americans were kept under control for a set and a half, then seized every opportunity they had to exploit errors on Wawrinka’s service. “They did…

Culture

Photographer Frank honoured for life’s work

This content was published on Feb 11, 2012 It is the second time the SFr20,000 ($21,800) prize has been awarded – last year it went to René Burri, known around the world for his photograph of Che Guevara smoking a cigar. “Frank’s extraordinary work influenced 20th-century photography to a great extent,” the jury wrote, adding that his work The Americans could be…

Demographics

Seoul food

This content was published on Feb 11, 2012 Swiss photographers Stéphanie Borcard und Nicolas Metraux were impressed how life and business went on despite chilling winter conditions. A tent, a few plastic tarpaulins and a couple of gas heaters are all it takes to set up a chapel, a fortune teller’s table or a Kimchi restaurant and get working.

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Zurich named “world’s most expensive city”

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Parking spaces become an endangered species

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Oldest Swiss passes away at 109

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Swiss flower industry is no bed of roses

More

Industrialist convicted in asbestos case

More

Swiss develop rapid infrared cocaine test

More

Environmentalists target holiday homes

More

Switzerland swept out of Davis Cup

More

Photographer Frank honoured for life’s work

More

Seoul food

Popular Stories

Most Discussed