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Firms warn worst franc effects “yet to come”

This content was published on Feb 25, 2011 The Swiss franc appreciated by 17 per cent against the euro during 2010 and reached parity with the dollar. While orders and productivity increased last year, margins were dangerously eroded as Swiss goods became more expensive abroad. The umbrella group for the mechanical and electrical engineering industries, Swissmem, reported some good news at its annual…

Libyan crisis pushes franc up

This content was published on Feb 24, 2011 For the first time ever the dollar was worth less than 93 Swiss cents. At its lowest it stood at 92.4 cents. Earlier this month, before fighting broke out in Libya and after the situation in Tunisia and Egypt had stabilized to some extent, the dollar had been creeping upwards and had reached nearly 98…

Results at Transocean fall short of expectations

This content was published on Feb 24, 2011 Transocean, with about a dozen floating rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, was hit hard by the halt in drilling there after the well blowout that destroyed its Deepwater Horizon rig last April. Eleven people died in the disaster, which was the worst oil spill in United States history. The company, which has its registered…

Testing the limits of unlimited mobility

This content was published on Feb 24, 2011 Now the debate is on to determine who should pay for what as frustrated commuters consider their options – including navigating the choked roads and motorways. Some 162,000 commuters travel to Zurich every day: 90,000 of them come by car, another 70,000 arrive via public transport. Meanwhile, 44,000 Zurich residents leave the city every day…

Rolle wrestles with impact of recent growth

This content was published on Feb 23, 2011 swissinfo.ch visited Rolle to find out how the influx of international firms has transformed the local community, which nestles between the lake and rolling vineyards in western Switzerland. From the motorway you cannot miss the row of shiny new buildings belonging to Chiquita, Nissan, Yahoo! and other big-name firms that have set up shop at…

German prosecutors widen Credit Suisse probe

This content was published on Feb 23, 2011 Dusseldorf’s senior public prosecutor Ralf Möllmann announced on Wednesday that the investigations had been intensified and four more employees indicted. Credit Suisse declined to comment. Prosecutors initially began investigating four other Credit Suisse employees on suspicion of aiding tax evasion in December last year. The focus of the investigation is the bank’s cross-border business. …

Cancer blood test comes within reach

This content was published on Feb 23, 2011 An interdisciplinary team has defined biomarkers in patients’ blood serum which indicate the presence of prostate cancer – the most common form of the disease among men in the western world. The method could be widened out to other tumours. The work, by the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), the University Hospital Zurich…

One in 50 babies conceived with assistance

This content was published on Feb 23, 2011 Some 6,300 couples sought fertility treatments and 10,400 cycles of treatment were initiated. Of this number, 2,250 resulted in pregnancies, with almost one in four ending in miscarriage. The final number of children born from these pregnancies reached 1,891 from 1,628 births, 30 per cent of whom were twins. There were two sets of triplets.…

Forests in focus

This content was published on Feb 23, 2011 Forests cover just under a third of Switzerland. Coverage has been increasing over the past century and a half and continues to do so, especially in the Alps. Forests perform important functions, from providing wood and oxygen to offering a place of leisure. (Production: Rolf Amiet, swissinfo.ch, images: Keystone)

Swiss sell fewer arms in 2010

This content was published on Feb 22, 2011 Global sales of arms to 69 countries totalled SFr640.5 million ($681.8 million), the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said on Tuesday. Sales were boosted by two big contracts: the partial delivery of air defence systems worth SFr132.6 million to Saudi Arabia and SFr128.7 million of vehicles to Germany and Belgium. Against the background of…

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Firms warn worst franc effects “yet to come”

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Libyan crisis pushes franc up

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Results at Transocean fall short of expectations

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Testing the limits of unlimited mobility

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Rolle wrestles with impact of recent growth

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German prosecutors widen Credit Suisse probe

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Cancer blood test comes within reach

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One in 50 babies conceived with assistance

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Forests in focus

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Swiss sell fewer arms in 2010

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