Cluster: Swiss Identity

The week ahead in Switzerland

This content was published on Jan 9, 2000 Thursday is the deadline for Nigeria to place a formal request for legal assistance to search the accounts of Sani Abacha in Switzerland. Assets belonging to the late dictator, his associates, and his family were frozen by Swiss authorities at the end of last year. Nigeria must prove there exists a link between its domestic…

Demographics

Swiss authorities expose scale of banking secrecy violations

This content was published on Jan 9, 2000 The Swiss authorities have revealed at least 60 cases in which banking secrecy has been breached at Switzerland’s two largest banks since 1996. They say in each instance confidential information about clients’ accounts was sold. The allegations make a mockery of claims by Switzerland’s biggest banks – UBS and Credit Suisse – that breaches of…

Demographics

Swiss president takes bronze in parliamentary ski race

This content was published on Jan 8, 2000 The Swiss president, Adolf Ogi, has come third in the parliamentary ski slalom race in Davos. But the star of the annual competition, which pits 90 parliamentarians from Switzerland and Britain against each other, was the Swiss justice minister, Ruth Metzler. Swiss politicians triumphed over their British counterparts in the 44th annual parliamentary ski race.…

Demographics

Switzerland succumbs to flu epidemic

This content was published on Jan 8, 2000 Switzerland is in the grip of a soaring flu epidemic. The worst-affected areas are the French-speaking cantons, where the number of sufferers has already surpassed those recorded for the whole of last winter. Doctors say the number of flu sufferers rocketed in the last week of December, and are continuing to rise. In the past…

Culture

Cantonal government wants major subsidies for Zurich opera

This content was published on Jan 7, 2000 The cantonal government is proposing subsidies for the Zurich opera of SFr352 million ($226 million) over the next six years. The proposal, presented at a news conference on Friday, will now be debated by parliament. If approved, the cash injection would translate into annual contributions of SFr58 million ($37 million). The cantonal government also wants…

Culture

Media battle heats up

This content was published on Jan 7, 2000 Solid advertising revenues and the appearance of more commercial broadcasters have prepared the ground for what experts predict will be an increasingly fierce battle among Swiss media companies in the coming months. Many publishing companies have seen advertising revenue go up by ten per cent last year, padding financial resources that have now helped stop…

Geneva wins annual Wakker heritage prize

This content was published on Jan 7, 2000 The annual Wakker prize for the protection of Swiss heritage has been won by the city of Geneva. The prize has for the first come back to the home city of its founder.The prize worth SFr20,000 ($13,000) was given to Geneva for its work in renovating public areas along the Rhone river. The theme of…

Demographics

Tunnel site gives rise to prostitution fears

This content was published on Jan 6, 2000 Police in the Swiss canton of Ticino fear a sharp rise in prostitution once construction work on new trans-alpine rail tunnels begins. As many as 10,000 workers, mostly foreign, will be brought into the country to build the new Gotthard tunnels between central Switzerland and Ticino. They will come to Switzerland without their families. The…

Culture

Notre Dame to take Geneva by storm

This content was published on Jan 6, 2000 A theatrical phenomenon is opening its doors in Geneva. Notre Dame de Paris, the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, took Paris by storm in 1998 and after two years on the road is preparing to raise the roof at the Swiss city’s Arena. Lyricist Luc Plamondon and composer Richard Cocciante have taken Hugo’s…

Demographics

Indian sect leader Swami Omkarananda dies at 70

This content was published on Jan 6, 2000 (AP) — Swami Omkarananda, a Hindu monk and sect leader who was imprisoned in Switzerland for attempted murder, has died, the centre he founded said Thursday. He was 70. Omkarananda died from flu Tuesday at his home near Bregenz, Austria, said Erhard Finger, spokesman for the Divine Light Center in Winterthur. Born in India, Omkarananda…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

More

The week ahead in Switzerland

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Swiss authorities expose scale of banking secrecy violations

More

Swiss president takes bronze in parliamentary ski race

More

Switzerland succumbs to flu epidemic

More

Cantonal government wants major subsidies for Zurich opera

More

Media battle heats up

More

Geneva wins annual Wakker heritage prize

More

Tunnel site gives rise to prostitution fears

More

Notre Dame to take Geneva by storm

More

Indian sect leader Swami Omkarananda dies at 70

Popular Stories

Most Discussed