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Swiss direct democracy in full swing

This content was published on Feb 10, 2013 To be valid, initiatives have to be signed by 100,000 people within a period of 18 months. Parliament can accept them, reject them or make counter-proposals. A nationwide vote follows, regardless of the parliamentary decision. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

The Stone Age people of Oberbipp

This content was published on Feb 9, 2013 A team from Swiss television’s flagship science programme, Einstein, has been following the archaeologists as they continue their research on the so-called dolmen or megalithic tomb. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Bitter year for chocolate industry

This content was published on Feb 8, 2013 Total sales dropped by 2.2 per cent and turnover by 3.4 per cent to SFr1.63 billion ($1.77 billion), Chocosuisse, the umbrella organisation of the Swiss chocolate industry, reported on Friday. Switzerland’s 18 chocolate manufactures reported losses both at home and abroad. Chocosuisse blamed this on the strong franc, which made Swiss chocolate expensive for people…

Snow monitoring methods reduce flood risk

This content was published on Feb 8, 2013 “We can now compare the current situation with other situations in previous years, and tell the flood forecasters if there is significantly more snow than average in the mountains that is due to melt over the next couple of days,” says researcher Tobias Jonas. Jonas is a hydrologist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest,…

Elite universities at the click of a mouse

This content was published on Feb 7, 2013 Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) is the only institution in continental Europe to be involved for now (Edinburgh is also participating). Last year around 53,000 students registered for the EPFL course on the Scala programming language and 10,000 completed it. By the end of the year, the EPFL wants to be able to offer…

Credit Suisse disappoints on poor trading result

This content was published on Feb 7, 2013 Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan on Thursday increased the bank’s cost-cutting program by SFr400 million by the end of 2015, on top of SFr4 billion in reductions already announced since 2011. The fourth-quarter net profit undershot analyst forecasts, which averaged SFr645 million in a Reuters poll. This figure compared, however, with a loss of SFr637…

Trade surplus reaches new heights

This content was published on Feb 5, 2013 The past year saw slight annual increases for both exports and imports according to figures released on Tuesday by the Federal Customs Administration. Exports totaled SFr200.9 billion, up 1.5 per cent while imports reached 176.5 billion, up 1.2 per cent. Sales abroad from July onwards helped compensate for a slow start to the year and…

Weapons everywhere and more than you would think

This content was published on Feb 5, 2013 Just how many rifles, army-issue guns, automatics and revolvers can be found in Swiss cupboards, drawers, basements and attics or hanging on walls around the country? Nobody knows exactly. For the Swiss Left, however, it’s too many. Late in 2007, human rights and victims associations, the Group for a Switzerland without an Army, unions, the…

Libor and restructuring drag UBS into the red

This content was published on Feb 5, 2013 The $1.5 billion (SFr1.4 billion) Libor rate-rigging fine late last year swelled legal costs to SFr2.1 in the fourth quarter. Added to a SFr258 million restructuring charge, the bank recorded a SFr1.9 billion loss for the last three months of 2012. This compared with a SFr393 million profit in the same period of 2011 and full year profit of SFr4.1…

Swiss market on track for housing bubble

This content was published on Feb 4, 2013 The UBS Real Estate Bubble Index indicates the risk of an overheating housing market on a multiple-point scale, with anything over two points indicating a bubble. UBS also announced Monday that in 2012, Switzerland’s property market reached a reading above one on the scale for the first time since 1991 with a score of 1.02…

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Swiss direct democracy in full swing

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The Stone Age people of Oberbipp

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Bitter year for chocolate industry

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Snow monitoring methods reduce flood risk

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Elite universities at the click of a mouse

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Credit Suisse disappoints on poor trading result

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Trade surplus reaches new heights

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Weapons everywhere and more than you would think

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Libor and restructuring drag UBS into the red

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Swiss market on track for housing bubble

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