Swiss Abroad

Extra IMF credit wins parliament approval

This content was published on Mar 1, 2011 Parliament on Tuesday approved agreements to the tune of SFr30 billion ($32.3 billion), including a pledge for a SFr16.5 billion contribution to an international borrowing scheme. The decision came at the time when Switzerland is struggling to keep its seat on the IMF executive board as the organisation is considering plans for a reform. Three…

Swiss Politics

Del Ponte wants to look into organ trafficking

This content was published on Mar 1, 2011 In an interview with the Zurich-based newspaper, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, on Tuesday, the Swiss lawyer said she would be able to tackle the task quickly. Del Ponte served as prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 1999 to 2007. In 2008 she published a memoir called “The Hunt: Me and…

Swiss Politics

Leaders demand end to Libya violence

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 She was backed in Geneva by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi was using “mercenaries and thugs” to attack unarmed civilians and must leave power “now, without further violence or delay”. Calmy-Rey and Clinton were speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council, where numerous foreign ministers and…

Swiss Politics

Federal budget posts SFr2.8 billion surplus

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 The ministry attributed the surplus to the more rapid economic recovery and only moderate growth in expenditure. But although revenues are expected to climb from SFr62.83 billion to SFr63.72 billion in 2011, the budget is predicted to slide into deficit in this year. The ministry said an extraordinary contribution to the federal railways pension fund…

Swiss Politics

Calmy-Rey condemns violence in Libya

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 Calmy-Rey was speaking alongside the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as she opened the session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Calmy-Rey, who is also the Swiss foreign minister, said crimes against humanity had been, and continued to be, committed by the Libyan government against its people. “The amount of dead…

Swiss Politics

Aid programmes top parliament’s spring bill

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 The House of Representatives on Monday began discussing a proposal to boost aid payments to 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income – a total of SFr640 million ($690 million) – by 2015, in line with the government and the senate. The house will also debate a controversial plan to contribute SFr12.5 billion towards the…

Swiss Politics

Clinton in Geneva to plan for “after Gaddafi”

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 Speaking to reporters on route to Geneva, Clinton said the United States would lend its help to any plan designed to smooth the transition to a “Libya after Gaddafi”. But she insisted that the US was not involved in any negotiations for the departure of beleaguered Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Clinton said the international community…

Swiss Politics

Senior Swiss diplomat leaves Libya

This content was published on Feb 28, 2011 “The interim chargé d’affaires is in transit for Switzerland,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday night. The government will send a new representative to Libya when the security situation in the country has stabilised. Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said all dual Swiss-Libyan nationals who wished to leave Libya had received assistance from the…

Swiss Politics

Government has limited space for refugees

This content was published on Feb 27, 2011 In a newspaper interview, Eveline Gugger Bruckdorfer, a deputy director at the office, said that once the limit was reached migrants would have to be distributed among the cantons. The cantons have in the past weeks been protesting against such a move. “If very many refugees come, we’ll have an absolute emergency situation,” Gugger Bruckdorfer…

Swiss Politics

Humanitarian teams sent to Libya borders

This content was published on Feb 27, 2011 Experts will assess the needs on the ground and start emergency measures, a statement said on Saturday evening. The move has the agreement of the Tunisian and Egyptian authorities. The ministry said that people fleeing from the unrest in Libya were arriving in Egypt and Tunisia exhausted and in need of support. The two rapid…

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Extra IMF credit wins parliament approval

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Del Ponte wants to look into organ trafficking

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Leaders demand end to Libya violence

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Federal budget posts SFr2.8 billion surplus

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Calmy-Rey condemns violence in Libya

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Aid programmes top parliament’s spring bill

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Clinton in Geneva to plan for “after Gaddafi”

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Senior Swiss diplomat leaves Libya

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Government has limited space for refugees

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Humanitarian teams sent to Libya borders

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