Cluster: Swiss Identity

Swiss media play the fool on April 1

This content was published on Apr 1, 2000 News that discontented parliamentarians in the right-wing Swiss People’s Party have deserted to the left, and the imminent extinction of the wool moth, were just two stories the Swiss media concocted to celebrate April Fool’s Day. Journalists joke that a reporter should never let the facts get in the way of a good story, and…

Culture

New radio station goes on air

This content was published on Apr 1, 2000 Switzerland’s newest radio station has gone on air, broadcasting a wide variety of music, from pop and rock to “oldies” from the 1960s. The station – “24 plus” – is the latest offering from Zurich media magnate, Roger Schawinski (file picture), who owns Radio 24 and Tele 24. Switzerland’s latest private radio station aims to…

Culture

Dixieland hits Zurich

This content was published on Mar 31, 2000 Zurich is set to swing as the 12th International Dixie Festival gets underway. It runs from March 31 until April 16 at the Schutzenhaus Albisguetli. A host of musicians, bands and singers who are performing at this year’s festival are set to turn this small corner of the ‘Little Big City’ into a slice of…

The Week In Switzerland

This content was published on Mar 31, 2000 This week saw several high ranking politicians making brief visits to Switzerland. The Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, was received by the Swiss government in Berne and the foreign minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, attended a European conference in Lucerne. It was one of the rare opportunities for the Austrian to break its isolation by many European country…

Museum celebrates “shocking” fifties teenagers

This content was published on Mar 31, 2000 Switzerland’s first teenage rebels are the subjects of a photography exhibition at the Museum of Design in Zurich. Known as the “Halbstarken”, they seem harmless by the standards of today but in the 1950s many adults were shocked by them. When the first Halbstarken appeared on the streets of Zurich in 1958, their impact was…

Culture

Swiss writer, Z’Graggen, celebrates 80th birthday

This content was published on Mar 31, 2000 A Swiss authoress who regards herself as caught between two cultures has celebrated her 80th birthday. Born in Geneva, Yvette Z’Graggen grew up in a French-speaking environment, but her father was Swiss-German, while her mother was of Hungarian origin. She once wrote that of all these various family roots, it was the Swiss-German one –…

Demographics

Hänggi and Giovanoli must stay jailed

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 An appeal court in Guatemala has ordered a re-trial of two Swiss men convicted for drug-related crimes. Defence lawyers had hoped the court would order the immediate release of Nicolas Hänggi (pictured right) and Silvio Giovanoli (pictured left), but they will now remain imprisoned until the outcome of the new trial. The court said the…

Demographics

Russia gives green light to Red Cross in Chechnya

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 Russia’s president-elect, Vladimir Putin (pictured right), has given the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross permission to visit detention centres in Chechnya, after a meeting with the ICRC head, Jakob Kellenberger(pictured left). The ICRC, and other human rights organisations, had called for international observers to be allowed to visit the prisons run by Russian…

Demographics

Swiss do not donate enough organs

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 A new report says 30 people died unnecessarily in Switzerland last year because they failed to receive organ transplants in time. A total of 956 people were on waiting lists for transplant operations, but only 413 could get the organs they needed. The vast majority of transplants were of kidneys (251), followed by livers (75),…

Demographics

Violent crime on the rise

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 Violent crime is continuing to increase in Switzerland, despite a marked drop in the number of criminal offences registered last year. The 1999 crime statistics of the Federal Police Office show that young people are increasingly likely to resort to violence to solve their problems. The figures reveal a sharp 6.5 per cent fall in…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Swiss media play the fool on April 1

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New radio station goes on air

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Dixieland hits Zurich

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The Week In Switzerland

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Museum celebrates “shocking” fifties teenagers

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Swiss writer, Z’Graggen, celebrates 80th birthday

More

Hänggi and Giovanoli must stay jailed

More

Russia gives green light to Red Cross in Chechnya

More

Swiss do not donate enough organs

More

Violent crime on the rise

Popular Stories

Most Discussed