Cluster: Swiss Identity

Winning smiles, but is it folk music?

This content was published on Apr 23, 2000 Swiss television viewers have voted for the four singers who will represent the country at this year’s international Folk Music Grand Prix in Zurich. But some afficionados of Folk have criticised the entrants for being too ‘poppy’. Viewers voting by telephone chose Diana, Maria da Vinci, Raphael Haslinger and Marianne Cathomen (pictured, left to right)…

Culture

A nose for a good exhibition

This content was published on Apr 23, 2000 There’s something in the air at the natural history museum in Neuchatel. You can neither see nor touch it, and you can either love it or find it repulsive. In the animal world it is vital both for survival and reproducing. The exhibition “Né pour sentir” explores the sense of smell in various ways, including…

Swiss breakthrough in treatment of deadly African disease

This content was published on Apr 21, 2000 Swiss researchers have discovered that a cheaper and shorter drug treatment for sleeping sickness is just as effective as the standard longer regimen. Sleeping Sickness, or African Trypanosomiasis, is transmitted to humans from the bite of the tsetse fly (picture). The findings of the team from the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel have been published…

Culture

New opera productions announced in Zurich

This content was published on Apr 21, 2000 The director of Zurich Opera House, Alexander Pereira (pictured above), has unveiled a programme for the coming season which includes new versions of works by Wagner and Verdi. American director Robert Wilson, whose “Lohengrin” was highly acclaimed in Zurich 10 years ago, returns with Wagner’s Ring Cycle, while new productions of Verdi’s “Don Carlo” and…

Culture

Army investigates after top secret dossier discovered among recycling paper

This content was published on Apr 20, 2000 The army has launched an inquiry after top secret papers detailing an exercise, featuring hypothetical Balkan aggressors, were found at a paper recycling depot. The Swiss air force told the television station, “Tele 24” that an investigation is underway into how the classified documents dating from 1994 were discovered. The media reported that the dossier…

History

Number of worshippers on decrease

This content was published on Apr 20, 2000 Two in five people in Switzerland say they pray every day. A survey in the weekly magazine, Hebdo, also shows that the number of people attending worship have been decreasing over the past three decades. The report points out that nearly a quarter of the communicants say prayers at table with their children. But 10…

Demographics

Government considers improved freedom of information

This content was published on Apr 19, 2000 The Swiss government has presented a draft legal proposal which will establish a right to free access to official documents. Many documents are already in practice available to the public at the communal, cantonal and federal level. The draft envisages a right of appeal in cases where access is refused, up to the level of…

Demographics

Roche fixed vitamin prices in Switzerland

This content was published on Apr 19, 2000 The Swiss competition authorities have ruled that an international cartel including the Basel-based pharmaceutical company, Roche, fixed the price of vitamins in Switzerland. It follows an inquiry launched by the Competition Commission in June last year. Roche, Rhône-Poulenc of France and Germany’s BASF have already paid hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties in…

Culture

Swiss conductor receives Légion d’honneur

This content was published on Apr 18, 2000 French ambassador André Gadaud has presented the Swiss conductor Armin Jordan with the Légion d’honneur at a ceremony at the Grand Théatre in Geneva. Born in Lucerne in 1932, Jordan was artistic director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 1985 to 1997, after holding a similar post with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra for…

Demographics

Government urged to set up youth affairs body

This content was published on Apr 18, 2000 The Federal Youth Commission wants the government to set up a co-ordinating body for all youth questions, and to examine all new draft legislation for its compatibility with a youth article in the new constitution. The Commission’s call is not new, but is now more urgent because of the binding prescriptions with regard to youth…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

More

Winning smiles, but is it folk music?

More

A nose for a good exhibition

More

Swiss breakthrough in treatment of deadly African disease

More

New opera productions announced in Zurich

More

Army investigates after top secret dossier discovered among recycling paper

More

Number of worshippers on decrease

More

Government considers improved freedom of information

More

Roche fixed vitamin prices in Switzerland

More

Swiss conductor receives Légion d’honneur

More

Government urged to set up youth affairs body

Popular Stories

Most Discussed