Cluster: Swiss Identity

Customs poised to pounce on fake goods

This content was published on Jan 7, 2008 For the first time, border officials will be able to confiscate counterfeit products intended for personal use, in addition to existing powers to seize items smuggled into the country for resale. The illegal counterfeit market costs the Swiss economy an estimated SFr2 billion ($1.79 billion) a year and the watchmaking industry alone some SFr800 million…

Demographics

Slalom hopes dashed in Adelboden

This content was published on Jan 6, 2008 None of the Swiss athletes qualified for the second leg of Sunday’s race after Marc Berthod and Daniel Albrecht both went out in the first run. It is Matt’s eighth World Cup slalom victory, but the first this season. Felix Neureuther of Germany came third, while the best-placed American Jimmy Cochran finished in the top…

Demographics

Health campaign targets fat kids

This content was published on Jan 6, 2008 A programme, to get off the ground officially on Monday, targets children aged five to ten and aims at introducing an additional hour of physical education per week. The head of the Federal Sport Office, Matthias Remund, said there is an increasing number of children who are overweight and risk ending up as disabled people…

Demographics

Wawrinka falters in Qatar tennis final

This content was published on Jan 6, 2008 His appearance in the final earned the 22-year-old Swiss a place in the top 30 of the ATP list, ahead of the Australian Open which is due to begin on January 14. Murray broke Wawrinka – Switzerland’s number two behind undisputed Roger Federer – in the opening game of the first set and again in…

Demographics

Swiss comedian Emil grapples with languages

This content was published on Jan 6, 2008 Emil, as he is known, turns 75 on Sunday and has lived on Lake Geneva since his return from New York in 1999. A native of the central Swiss city of Lucerne, the former employee of the Swiss Post first appeared on stage as a comedian at the age of 20. In the 1960s he…

Demographics

Swiss skiers triumph in giant slalom race

This content was published on Jan 5, 2008 Saturday’s result confirms the return to form displayed by the Swiss men’s alpine team in the same resort a year ago. It is the first such Swiss success in nine years. Berthod clinched best time in the second leg of the race in Adelboden distancing Austria’s Stephan Görgl as well as his two Swiss team-mates,…

Demographics

Asylum seeker from Myanmar returns to Switzerland

This content was published on Jan 5, 2008 The foreign ministry had repeatedly called for his release from prison. He had been sentenced to 19 years in jail by the military rulers in Myanmar apparently for threatening the security and peace of the country. Stanley Van Tha was sent back to Myanmar after he failed to convince the Swiss asylum authorities that he…

Demographics

Dakar Rally faces uncertain future

This content was published on Jan 4, 2008 Philippe Cottet is one of two Swiss motorcycle riders who were due to leave Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday for the start of the 9,000-kilometre race across the Sahara Desert to Dakar, Senegal. For the first time in its 30-year history, the annual rally was called off on Friday because of safety concerns in the African…

Demographics

Hingis handed two-year suspension for doping

This content was published on Jan 4, 2008 Hingis had announced the positive doping test and her retirement in November, although she strenuously denied ever taking the drug and proclaimed her innocence. The International Tennis Federation said on Friday that an independent anti-doping tribunal had found her guilty of a doping offence after a two-day hearing in December. The tribunal rejected suggestions that…

Culture

Exhibition uncovers female side of God

This content was published on Jan 4, 2008 A new exhibition showing in Fribourg aims to set the record straight, by lifting the veil on the feminine face of God. More than 300 exhibits span a period of 10,000 years. The female objects of worship include the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Virgin Mary. Othmar Keel, who co-organised the exhibition, says changes in…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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