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Aid groups want end to water privatisation

This content was published on Jan 28, 2005 The stance is at odds with the position favoured by the Swiss government, which supports private-public partnerships. In 2000 the United Nations set as one of its Millennium Development Goals to half the number of people who don’t have access to fresh water. But Swiss aid groups say little progress has been made since then.…

Chirac causes waves in Switzerland

This content was published on Jan 28, 2005 The Swiss finance minister and banks attacked the suggestion, while non-governmental organisations welcomed it. At the opening of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos on Wednesday, Chirac put forward a set of “experimental measures” to finance the fight against Aids. He called for at least $10 billion (SFr12 billion) to be spent annually on…

Swiss labour market attracts more Germans

This content was published on Jan 27, 2005 But figures for 2004 issued by the Federal Statistics Office showed the percentage of Italians and Spaniards working in Switzerland had dropped. Official statistics recorded 817,000 foreign workers in Switzerland in the second quarter of 2004, up 0.4 per cent compared with the year before. The figure does not include cross-border workers, temporary workers or…

Women sow seeds for Brazil’s future

This content was published on Jan 27, 2005 Local chapters of the Women Farmers Movement are locked in a struggle for agricultural practices that respect the environment and are GM-free. Luciana Passinato Piovesan, a member of the movement’s national executive, doesn’t mince her words when asked to describe the situation facing women in her country. “In a system as capitalist as it is…

WEF participants pick “tough choices”

This content was published on Jan 27, 2005 A fairer globalisation process and combating climate change are next on the list of “tough choices” that will have to be addressed by world leaders. Other key issues are ensuring basic education for all, the pursuit of peace in the Middle East and improving “global governance”, according to participants at the five-day forum. And there…

Promised land awaits over the fence

This content was published on Jan 26, 2005 swissinfo visited a camp run by members of the landless movement, who want to take over an abandoned property neighbouring the camp. For the past 25 years, the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement has been fighting to give poor peasants a place to earn a living. Along the country’s roads, their camps have become a familiar…

Cigarette factory workers end dispute

This content was published on Jan 26, 2005 They voted on Wednesday to accept an agreement signed by the board of directors and staff representatives, which guarantees their jobs until June. The accord also includes provision for a SFr2 million ($1.7 million) redundancy fund – far less than the SFr7.6 million originally demanded by unions. “At the end of the day, the employees…

Government tightens law on GM declaration

This content was published on Jan 26, 2005 The new legislation, which offers greater transparency with labelling, will allow consumers to see a clear difference between genetically modified and unmodified foods. Cabinet decided on Wednesday to change the current regulation dating from July 1999, which obliges producers of foodstuffs containing more than one per cent of added GMOs to declare it on the…

Globalisation – why a majority cannot join

This content was published on Jan 26, 2005 Award-winning economist Hernando de Soto, a key participant at this week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, shares his thoughts on the issue. De Soto says more than four billion people are not only deprived access to the global economy, but also “locked out” of their own national markets. In an interview with…

Lonza profit up by half but fails to impress

This content was published on Jan 26, 2005 The company, based in Basel, reported a slight drop in sales from SFr2.242 billion to SFr2.182 billion, a decline of 2.7 per cent. But it commented that turnover should increase this year. “The board of directors expects sales growth and a solid improvement in earnings in 2005 in line with our short-term, two-year operating income…

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Internal: Archive

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Aid groups want end to water privatisation

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Chirac causes waves in Switzerland

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Swiss labour market attracts more Germans

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Women sow seeds for Brazil’s future

More

WEF participants pick “tough choices”

More

Promised land awaits over the fence

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Cigarette factory workers end dispute

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Government tightens law on GM declaration

More

Globalisation – why a majority cannot join

More

Lonza profit up by half but fails to impress

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