Cluster: Swiss Identity

Competition inquiry launched into Federal Railways

This content was published on Feb 23, 2000 The competition commission has launched an inquiry into the Federal Railways. It suspects the company has been abusing its dominant market position. The inquiry follows a complaint by Lokoop, a subsidiary of the private rail companies, Mittelthurgaubahn and Südostbahn, and the Mittelthurgau travel agency. Lokoop obtained a contract to distribute parcels for the Post Office…

Culture

Literary Short Cut

This content was published on Feb 23, 2000 The shortest route from Switzerland’s German-speaking region to its French-speaking one is via Paris…at least where publishing is concerned. An exhibition in Berne traces the 100-year history of that route. The exhibition in Berne’s Kornhaus tells the story of a long relationship between Swiss authors and the Paris publishing house, Gallimard. It was organised by…

Volcker Commission reaches end of the road

This content was published on Feb 23, 2000 The Volcker Commission has held a final meeting in Zurich, after its three year inquiry into Holocaust era accounts held by Swiss banks. The meeting reviewed the Commission’s final report, released in December, which identified more than fifty thousand accounts that may belong to victims of Nazi persecution or their heirs. That figure was revised…

Demographics

Three killed in avalanche were off-piste

This content was published on Feb 22, 2000 Swiss officials say all three skiers who died on Monday in an avalanche in the resort of Davos were off-piste when the accident happened. The public prosecutor in Graubünden said Swiss skiers set off the avalanche which swept away two of the group, as well as a German man and his son. The son survived…

Demographics

Deiss returns from successful Turkish visit

This content was published on Feb 22, 2000 The foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, has arrived back in Switzerland following a three day visit to Turkey, which he says has relaunched political relations between the two countries. It was the first such visit by a Swiss foreign minister since 1991. Relations between Switzerland and Turkey had been strained since a Kurdish demonstrator was shot…

Demographics

Three killed by major avalanche in Davos

This content was published on Feb 21, 2000 Three people are now known to have died following a major avalanche near the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Two more have been injured, one of them seriously, according to local police. The avalanche occurred around midday on Monday in the Meierhof Taelli ski area. Initial reports suggest it was triggered by skiers venturing off-piste.…

Culture

Star Radio silenced on shortwave in Liberia

This content was published on Feb 21, 2000 The Liberian president, Charles Taylor (pictured), has refused to renew the shortwave broadcast licence of Star Radio, a news and current affairs station operated by a Lausanne-based group. The move is being seen as an attempt to silence competition to Taylor’s own radio voice in outlying areas. Star Radio began in Monrovia in July 1997…

Culture

Pyramid project takes shape

This content was published on Feb 21, 2000 A giant pyramid is just about the last thing you would expect to see in the countryside near Lake Neuchatel. But that is what a Geneva foundation wants to build there as a monument to Switzerland’s past and as a way of looking to its future. Rising to a height of 48 metres, the Swiss…

Do you speak Romansch?

This content was published on Feb 21, 2000 The first ever Romansch-English dictionary has just been published. Its compilers hope the dictionary will help English speakers who want to gain an insight into the Romansch language, traditions and culture. The book, ‘A language of Switzerland” is both a dictionary and phrase book and was compiled by Manfred Gross and Daniel Telli from the…

Gypsies charged with Holocaust fund fraud

This content was published on Feb 21, 2000 Three gypsies have been charged by the Polish authorities with embezzling money from a Swiss fund to aid victims of the Holocaust. It follows complaints that Holocaust survivors have been cheated by their own representatives. Under the terms of the fund, some 1,500 Polish gypsies were entitled to federal aid worth SFr1,500 each. However, it…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Competition inquiry launched into Federal Railways

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Literary Short Cut

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Volcker Commission reaches end of the road

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Three killed in avalanche were off-piste

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Deiss returns from successful Turkish visit

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Three killed by major avalanche in Davos

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Star Radio silenced on shortwave in Liberia

More

Pyramid project takes shape

More

Do you speak Romansch?

More

Gypsies charged with Holocaust fund fraud

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