Cluster: Swiss Identity

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…

Demographics

School teachers better prepared for violent incidents

This content was published on Jan 5, 2000 Teaching staff in canton St. Gallen have learnt their lesson from a tragic teacher shooting a year ago and are now better prepared to manage violent situations, the cantonal authorities said on Wednesday. “Many things changed after the shooting on January 11, 1999,” said Liana Ruckstuhl, spokeswoman for the cantonal education board at a news…

Culture

Thirty-four new books published each day in 1999

This content was published on Jan 5, 2000 Book production in Switzerland increased by 5 per cent last year, even though there was no boom in millennium titles as some industry watchers had predicted. A total of 13,700 new books were published in the past 12 months, an increase in line with the steady rise on international markets. Sheet music, novels and legal…

Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Cluster: Swiss Identity

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Swiss president takes bronze in parliamentary ski race

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Switzerland succumbs to flu epidemic

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Cantonal government wants major subsidies for Zurich opera

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Media battle heats up

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Geneva wins annual Wakker heritage prize

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Tunnel site gives rise to prostitution fears

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Notre Dame to take Geneva by storm

More

Indian sect leader Swami Omkarananda dies at 70

More

School teachers better prepared for violent incidents

More

Thirty-four new books published each day in 1999

Popular Stories

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