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Consumers worried by health costs and alcohol

This content was published on Jan 7, 2011 A survey had shown that for the fourth year in a row concerns about increasing health costs are foremost on people’s minds, the forum said on Friday. The poll was carried out among 1,000 people in December. Alcohol abuse by young people and youth violence as well as “aggressive advertising” and “questionable business practices on…

Exporters get creative to fight strong franc

This content was published on Jan 6, 2011 Twelve months ago one euro cost SFr1.50. Today it is worth SFr1.26. Economiesuisse expects it to stabilise at SFr1.33 in 2011. With 90 per cent of its products exported, the Vaud-based temperature and pressure instrument firm Rüeger is suffering. “To offset our losses we are reducing costs by purchasing raw materials in euros and US…

Transocean criticised by oil spill commission

This content was published on Jan 6, 2011 “Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money),” said a report by the White House oil spill commission. The report ultimately blamed management failures for the April 20 explosion that ruptured the Macondo…

Inflation picks up more than forecast

This content was published on Jan 6, 2011 Year-on-year, the inflation rate rose 0.5 per cent, compared with December 2009, and was unchanged from November, the Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday. The average inflation rate for 2010 was 0.7 per cent. Core inflation, which strips out volatile price components such as food and fuel, rose a notch to 0.1 per cent. Switzerland…

Edipresse pulls plug on Swisster news site

This content was published on Jan 5, 2011 The site, which was launched in March 2008 by the Lausanne-based media group Edipresse, officially went offline on December 23. In a statement Edipresse said Swisster had been unable to “take advantage of synergies to develop optimally and thus reach its critical mass” during a difficult economic period. “And despite having doubled the number of…

Trade unions target widening income gap

This content was published on Jan 5, 2011 The president of the Trade Union Federation, Paul Rechsteiner, announced the launch of an initiative for the introduction of minimum wages later this month to protect employees against attempts to undermine salary levels. Switzerland has no legal minimum salary, but such standards exist in most trades and professions. “The average wage earner has less money…

Jump-start for new car sales

This content was published on Jan 5, 2011 “This is a very pleasing result – we couldn’t count on such a rise beforehand,” said Andreas Burgener, director of the Swiss Automobile Importers’ Association, on Wednesday. In 2009 car sales dropped by 7.8 per cent, with the biggest loser being German carmaker Opel which, facing uncertainty over its future, saw sales plummet by a…

Coop reaches new sales landmark

This content was published on Jan 4, 2011 Coop claimed that the 1.8 per cent increase in revenues on 2009 was achieved despite prices decreasing by the same percentage during the same period. Retail sales from its 816 supermarkets rose 0.6 per cent to SFr11.3 billion. Along with its other operations, such as the Fust electronics chain, the group operated 1,914 outlets in…

Mountain Radio Verbier goes on air and online

This content was published on Jan 4, 2011 The idea is the brainchild of journalist Conor Lennon, who has drummed up enough support in the Valais resort to back his venture, which is financed solely by advertising. Lennon, who is the radio’s director, told swissinfo.ch that the primary target audience was made up of “the young (in mind, as well as body!) skiers…

Eclipse watchers thwarted by cloud

This content was published on Jan 4, 2011 The best place to observe the phenomenon was in the mountains, meteorologists said. However, even there the view was not perfect. About 30 people took advantage of a special trip in the cable railway up to the top of the Säntis mountain in eastern Switzerland at 2,502 metres, but their view was obstructed by bands…

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Consumers worried by health costs and alcohol

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Exporters get creative to fight strong franc

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Transocean criticised by oil spill commission

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Inflation picks up more than forecast

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Edipresse pulls plug on Swisster news site

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Trade unions target widening income gap

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Jump-start for new car sales

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Coop reaches new sales landmark

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Mountain Radio Verbier goes on air and online

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Eclipse watchers thwarted by cloud

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