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Sampling the lights and delights of Zurich

This content was published on Dec 21, 2007 swissinfo took a festive stroll through the city, finding out more about its Yuletide customs and why it was not always so enthusiastic about the holiday season. Our tour begins at the main station, which during Advent is transformed into Europe’s largest indoor Christmas market with 160 stalls. Delicious smells waft from the stands –…

LSD set to make a medical comeback

This content was published on Dec 20, 2007 Swiss medical authorities have given a doctor approval to carry out LSD-assisted psychotherapy trials on patients suffering from advanced-stage cancer and other terminal illnesses. This will be the first government-approved study looking into LSD’s therapeutic benefits on humans in over 35 years. Lysergic acid diethyladmide, better known as LSD and famed for its hallucinogenic trips,…

Christmas lights spark electricity concerns

This content was published on Dec 20, 2007 There are concerns about the climate and a shortage of electricity in Switzerland after the year 2020. Many towns and villages used to decorate a local tree with lights at Christmas, but nowadays street decorations and illuminated shop windows shine alongside the rising number of electric window displays put up in private homes. Giuseppina Togni…

Economics ministry optimistic about growth

This content was published on Dec 20, 2007 The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) in Bern left its growth forecast for next year unchanged at 1.9 per cent. Officials on Thursday said they remained optimistic because of continuing strong exports and consumer spending. Seco expects economic growth to slow to 1.7 per cent in 2009 as a result of the cooling off…

Swiss imports and exports keep on rising

This content was published on Dec 20, 2007 The country ran a goods trade surplus of SFr1.89 billion, the highest ever recorded in a single month, the Federal Customs Office reported on Thursday. Imports increased by 0.9 per cent to SFr16.53 billion. In a statement, the Customs Office said that foreign trade posted a significant increase in both directions in November, although the…

Interest rates could rise if franc stays weak

This content was published on Dec 19, 2007 “We are really concerned if [it] loses further value,” said the institution’s chairman Jean-Pierre Roth on Wednesday in St Gallen “A lasting tendency towards weakness of the Swiss franc could trigger inflationary effects. We know that we would have to meet such a development with interest rate policy sooner or later,” he added. The currency…

Building conflict set to be resolved

This content was published on Dec 19, 2007 The unions, who represent 80,000 workers, staged a series of protests and strikes at major building sites across the country in the past half-year. Both sides came out in favour of a compromise system for flexible working hours and a slight salary increase, senior union officials said. The new agreement, which still needs to be…

ABB boss named “Entrepreneur of the Year”

This content was published on Dec 19, 2007 Kindle told the Handelszeitung newspaper, which published the awards, that he was pleased to have been chosen. “When a manager does his job properly, he has to act in an entrepreneurial way,” he said. ABB is a global player in power and automation technologies and employs 5,600 people in Switzerland. Kindle was appointed chief executive…

Swiss Re reveals scale of 2007 catastrophes

This content was published on Dec 18, 2007 The world’s biggest reinsurer also revealed on Tuesday that more than 20,000 people were killed by the disasters. Although the insured losses, at $25 billion, were $9 billion higher than in the previous year, 2007 is below the long-term loss trend. The large losses occurred in the first half of the year and were concentrated…

Swiss shareholders “get raw deal”

This content was published on Dec 18, 2007 Switzerland dropped one place to 16th in the Doing Business 2008 report, which compares the time and cost of setting up, running and closing a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in 178 countries. The Swiss regulatory system scores high marks in most fields, but Switzerland is one of the worst countries in the world at…

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Internal: Archive

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Sampling the lights and delights of Zurich

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LSD set to make a medical comeback

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Christmas lights spark electricity concerns

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Economics ministry optimistic about growth

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Swiss imports and exports keep on rising

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Interest rates could rise if franc stays weak

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Building conflict set to be resolved

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ABB boss named “Entrepreneur of the Year”

More

Swiss Re reveals scale of 2007 catastrophes

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Swiss shareholders “get raw deal”

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