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Business community calls for reduced pensions

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 Voters will have the final say in March on the proposal to lower the minimum percentage rate used to calculate payments of the occupational pension scheme by about 0.6 per cent within six years. The reduction of the conversion rate is a necessary step to ensure the future of the pension scheme for the younger…

Living in the valley of the shadow of death

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 The land register for the picturesque valley, which is surrounded by 3,000-metre mountains, records no fewer than 73 avalanche “hot spots” – overhangs that are often the starting point for large avalanches. Indeed locals say there are in fact only two avalanches: one on the left side of the valley and one on the right.…

Geothermal sector faces heat of public scrutiny

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 But supporters insisted there is no chance of the promising alternative energy source dying a death in Switzerland despite the Basel experiment ending in earthquake damage and a criminal court case. The Deep Heat Mining project in Basel was officially abandoned last month after triggering earth tremors that caused SFr9 million ($8.7 million) in damage…

UBS whistleblower seeks case review

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 Birkenfeld, who was sentenced to 40 months in prison in August, is due to go behind bars on Friday. His lawyers have complained that federal prosecutors made “inaccurate, misleading and incomplete statements” to the judge who handed down the sentence. Birkenfeld asked for an internal probe in a letter to United States Attorney General Eric…

Record number of bankruptcies filed in 2009

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 December alone saw 558 bankruptcies, the highest monthly total of the last decade, according to figures compiled by credit information firm Dun & Bradstreet. But all was not bleak in 2009, as 35,380 new companies were registered, a more modest decline of 4.3 per cent on 2008. This was the third highest number of new…

“Stress marker” benefits stroke patients

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 A team at the neurology clinic at Basel University Hospital measured the concentration of copeptin in the blood of 362 stroke patients. The higher the level of copteptin, the greater the likelihood that things wouldn’t turn out well. As they euphemistically concluded in their paper, published in the latest edition of Annals of Neurology, “non-survivors…

Power struggle at Swiss Post continues

This content was published on Jan 6, 2010 Werlé is the third member of the top brass to hand in his resignation in the past month. Board member Rolf Hug stepped down on December 22, just eight days after chief executive Michel Kunz was replaced. Communications Minister Moritz Leuenberger said he regretted Werlé’s decision and thanked him for his committed work for Swiss…

Full body scanners give rise to concern

This content was published on Jan 5, 2010 In recent days controls have been tightened at many airports, including Zurich and Geneva, after a failed attempt by an alleged al-Qaida sympathiser to blow up a plane on the Amsterdam-Detroit route on Christmas day. The current generation of the scanners would lead to a “radical intrusion of the private sphere”, the commissioner’s head of…

Nestlé reopens Harare factory

This content was published on Jan 5, 2010 A spokesman for the company said on Tuesday that Nestlé had officially resumed its activities on December 31, nine days after announcing that it was closing “temporarily”. The factory had suspended operation after the authorities pressured it to accept a milk delivery from suppliers with whom it did not have a contract. Nestlé’s operations in…

Unions vow to fight for social security

This content was published on Jan 5, 2010 “Never in Swiss history has there been such an attack by centre-right and rightwing parties against the achievements of the welfare state,” said federation president Paul Rechsteiner. He was referring to planned cuts in the unemployment insurance and the state old age pension systems as well as proposed reductions in the occupational pension scheme to…

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Business community calls for reduced pensions

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Living in the valley of the shadow of death

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Geothermal sector faces heat of public scrutiny

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UBS whistleblower seeks case review

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Record number of bankruptcies filed in 2009

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“Stress marker” benefits stroke patients

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Power struggle at Swiss Post continues

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Full body scanners give rise to concern

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Nestlé reopens Harare factory

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Unions vow to fight for social security

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