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Start-up launches easy-to-use mobile phone

This content was published on Feb 3, 2004 The product line emerging from the canton Zug-based start-up primarily targets older people, the blind and children. To make a call or set off an alarm, the user has to press just one button to connect to a pre-programmed telephone number, for instance emergency services. The manufacturer expects the new technology to be used for…

Sales and profits down at Ciba

This content was published on Feb 3, 2004 The Basel-based company said in a statement on Tuesday that its sales had also declined by six per cent to SFr6.65 billion. The firm – which makes products ranging from dyes in compact discs to the pigments that make Ferraris red – said it did not foresee any sustainable improvement in global business conditions. “There…

Rebif sales drive record Serono profit

This content was published on Feb 2, 2004 Net income was up 22 per cent on the previous year, boosted by sales of its multiple sclerosis drug, Rebif, and a weak dollar. Turnover rose by almost a third, up to $2.02 billion. “2003 has been a record year for Serono,” said the company’s chief executive, Ernesto Bertarelli. Serono forecast 2004 earnings growth of…

Government role in medicine goes under the knife

This content was published on Feb 2, 2004 The Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities has put forward a series of proposals in a bid to reform the medical sector and attract more students to the discipline. The panel said its main focus was to disentangle the responsibilities for medical training, which are currently shared by the government and universities. The document, dubbed “University…

Swiss rank among the world’s leading investors

This content was published on Feb 2, 2004 A new study shows Switzerland made net overseas investments of almost $180 billion (SFr227 billion) in 2002, putting it behind only Britain, Japan and France. Measured as a percentage of its GDP, Switzerland’s foreign investments put it only behind Hong Kong as the world’s leading investor abroad. The country’s importance as a net foreign investor…

Young drinkers unimpressed by alcopops tax

This content was published on Feb 2, 2004 But it is not yet clear whether the tax will work, as many young drinkers say they will continue to buy the beverages despite the price hike. Last year, the Swiss parliament decided to quadruple the current tax on a bottle of alcopop – a mixture of spirits with soft drinks or fruit juices –…

“Ultra high-tech” investor back Swiss quantum firm

This content was published on Feb 2, 2004 The financing gives the company capital to develop its new quantum cryptography product and two new board members, both from i2i. Founded in 2002, the company is commercialising a breakthrough in quantum physics to develop secure communications systems based on quantum cryptography. One of its first trial customers is a Geneva bank, using the system…

Demonstrators take noise protest to the skies

This content was published on Jan 31, 2004 They included residents who live beneath the flight path that has been operational since the end of October to reduce noise pollution over southern Germany. Blowing whistles, wearing yellow caps and carrying balloons of the same colour, the marchers made their way from Balsberg to the airport. Joining them were representatives of public authorities from…

Ibex tread warily in avalanche country

This content was published on Jan 30, 2004 New research has shown that these wild mountain goats are rarely caught in killer snow and rock slides despite wintering in danger zones. Scientists from the Davos-based Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) have been tracking a small group of ibexes near Zweisimmen in the Bernese Oberland for over two years. The researchers…

Swiss debtors replace model bill payers

This content was published on Jan 30, 2004 The phenomenon has proved catastrophic for many companies and costs the Swiss economy billions of francs. Until the end of the 1980s, the Swiss were highly regarded for their traditional promptness in settling bills. Now, however, they are in the lower section of the European table drawn up by Intrum Justitia, a company specialized in…

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Start-up launches easy-to-use mobile phone

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Sales and profits down at Ciba

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Rebif sales drive record Serono profit

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Government role in medicine goes under the knife

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Swiss rank among the world’s leading investors

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Young drinkers unimpressed by alcopops tax

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“Ultra high-tech” investor back Swiss quantum firm

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Demonstrators take noise protest to the skies

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Ibex tread warily in avalanche country

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Swiss debtors replace model bill payers

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