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Roche moves to expand diabetes business

This content was published on Feb 10, 2003 It has tabled a SFr1.6 billion ($1.18 billion) offer for Switzerland’s Disetronic company, Europe’s largest maker of insulin injection pumps. The Basel-based group said the deal would make Roche Diagnostics a leader in integrated diabetes management. The news sent Disetronic’s share price soaring by just over 50 per cent. At the end of trading on…

Guests have designs on Engadine hotels

This content was published on Feb 10, 2003 “Why would someone want to take the skull and horns of a dead animal into his room?” That’s not the kind of question that usually pops into my head when checking into a hotel. But when director Jürg Mettler smiled and said “no television” while holding up the heady remains of a chamois, it was…

Executives face harsh reality of unemployment

This content was published on Feb 10, 2003 Figures released on Monday by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed there were 138,944 people out of work in January – an increase of more than 9,000 on December. With the jobless rate continuing to climb, Swiss employment agencies are facing a new dilemma: how to deal with scores of highly qualified professionals who…

Mountain village digs itself out

This content was published on Feb 8, 2003 swissinfo paid a visit to one of these villages, Gadmen, before the road reopened and found a community taking the situation in its stride. Pointing at the steep snow-laden mountainside directly above the Bernese Oberland village, Branka Reimann says the villagers are still waiting nervously for the whole slope to give way. “That’s where it…

Progress made in avalanche control

This content was published on Feb 7, 2003 Researchers said the results were due to better methods of avalanche control and protection. The study, released in November, said measures such as roadside barriers had contributed to the lower figures, as well as other protective methods, notably better management of forests. The institute said progress had also been made in preparing for avalanches in…

Watch exports tick along nicely

This content was published on Feb 7, 2003 Swiss watch exports remained stable at SFr10 billion ($7.9 billion), down 0.1 per cent from the previous year. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said the exports of completed watches had risen for the first time in a decade, up 0.4 per cent in value and 1.7 per cent in terms of volume. The…

Space – the final resting place?

This content was published on Feb 7, 2003 However, there are a raft of stranger and more colourful ways of storing human ashes. One alternative to the urn would be shooting remains into the moon’s orbit or into space. This option, offered by the United States business Celestis, does not come cheap, though, with a price-tag of $12,500 (SFr16,870). Celestis can also launch…

Swiss device targets deadly mines

This content was published on Feb 6, 2003 Digger-1 is designed to eliminate the danger posed by directional fragmentation mines, which are responsible for 80 per cent of mine clearance accidents in the Balkans. These deadly weapons, which are triggered by trip wires, use a shaped charge that fires hundreds of lethal metal fragments in a certain direction. The four-ton, remote-controlled Digger-1, which…

Former cement boss fined over insider dealing

This content was published on Feb 6, 2003 The former chairman of the Swiss cement company, Holcim, paid the fine on Thursday. Hours after settling the fine, Schmidheiny announced that he would not be returning as board chairman. Schmidheiny stepped down as chairman of Holcim – the world’s second largest cement group – last June, for the duration of the legal proceedings. The…

Swiss government predicts slower recovery

This content was published on Feb 6, 2003 The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) revised its forecast downwards to 0.8 per cent from one per cent it had predicted in November. Seco said market jitters caused by the possibility of war in Iraq were keeping the Swiss economy from bouncing back more rapidly. The high value of the Swiss franc amid the…

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Roche moves to expand diabetes business

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Guests have designs on Engadine hotels

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Executives face harsh reality of unemployment

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Mountain village digs itself out

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Progress made in avalanche control

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Watch exports tick along nicely

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Space – the final resting place?

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Swiss device targets deadly mines

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Former cement boss fined over insider dealing

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Swiss government predicts slower recovery

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