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Aid agency warns against privatisation of water

This content was published on Sep 7, 2000 Launching the campaign in Berne on Thursday, the head of Helvetas, Werner Külling, said water could not be treated as just a commodity. He said 1,4 billion people were still without access to safe drinking water, and that illnesses affecting half of Africa’s population were directly related to a shortage of clean water. Külling said…

Publisuisse profits don’t tell whole story

This content was published on Sep 7, 2000 However, in a statement, the company said operating profit had declined to SFr37 million as a result of its Internet expansion strategy. The Lausanne-based group sold half its real estate holdings in January, which added a one-off SFr76 million to the financial result. It added that the second half of the year had begun well…

Unemployment continues to fall

This content was published on Sep 7, 2000 At the end of August, there were 63,708 people without a job, 1,432 fewer than at the end of July. The rate of unemployment remains unchanged at 1.8 per cent. The Secretariat reported that canton Geneva remains worst affected by joblessness (4.2 per cent), followed by cantons Vaud (2.8 per cent) and Ticino (2.7 per…

Holderbank to build on healthy profits

This content was published on Sep 7, 2000 In a statement on Thursday from its headquarters in Glarus, Holderbank said net sales went up by 17 per cent to SFr6.621 billion, lifted in part by the strength of the dollar. “The solid financial sales reflect not only higher sales but also efficiency improvements and, in some cases, better prices,” the company said. It…

Chimps get closer to humans on Basel stage

This content was published on Sep 7, 2000 The play was about a chimpanzee called Lisa, who grew up in an urban apartment with her minder, Sonia, and was part of a language experiment in which she was taught sign language. As Lisa grows into an adult chimp, she becomes more difficult to handle and is eventually sent to a camp in the…

Editorial on the votes

This content was published on Sep 6, 2000 The people’s initiative calling for controls on immigration has prompted heated debate. The exasperation that many people, particularly women, feel about illegal immigration and abuses of the asylum law is now expressing itself as xenophobia. But a quota system won’t solve the problem. Moreover, Switzerland, with its humanitarian tradition, stands to lose a great deal.…

Energy issues at the ballot box

This content was published on Sep 6, 2000 The Solar Initiative proposes a constitutional change to introduce a tax surcharge on non-renewable energy, such as nuclear power, gas and petroleum. It envisages a levy on energy bills of SFr0.01 rising to SFr0.05 per kilowatt hour within the first five years. This is expected to raise about SFr750 million annually over 25 years. The…

Red Cube goes west

This content was published on Sep 6, 2000 “Under the terms of the transaction, Red Cube, will pay Winter Harbor $60 million in cash and $20 million in long-term Red Cube share options in return for its majority stake in I-Link,” Red Cube said in a statement on Wednesday. “With this transaction, Red Cube and I-Link together will be the market leaders in…

Proposal to cut number of foreign residents

This content was published on Sep 6, 2000 The initiative, launched by a local Radical Party politician from Aargau, Philipp Müller, seeks to reduce the number of foreigners to the 1994 level when the initiative was launched. It was formally presented to the federal authorities in 1995 after collecting the signatures needed for a nationwide vote. It is not the first time a…

Dreifuss honoured for health insurance reform

This content was published on Sep 6, 2000 The Bertelsmann Foundation praised the amended law as an example of how free-market elements can be incorporated into a public health system. Switzerland shared the DM300,000 prize (SFr240,000) equally with the Netherlands, which was rewarded for its primary health care. The interior ministry said Dreifuss accepted the prize on behalf of all those involved in…

Internal: Archive

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