Swiss Identity

Switzerland rates poorly in pedestrian safety

This content was published on Nov 25, 2008 The results of a study of 16 European countries carried out by the Touring Club of Switzerland (TCS) revealed a poor performance by Switzerland concerning road safety. In 2006 a total of 370 people died on Swiss roads, a fifth of them pedestrians. Of those a quarter were killed on zebra crossings. At 20.5 per…

Culture

Gustav Mahler. Symphony No. 6. “The Tragic Symphony”. Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. David Zinman.

This content was published on Nov 25, 2008

Demographics

Surplus baby hippo could end up as animal food

This content was published on Nov 25, 2008 But Basel-born Farasi could face a spectacular reversal of fortune: ending up as fodder for other zoo animals. The zoo says this is not uncommon, and it is unusual for the media to pay so much attention to the fate of one animal. “Hippo to end up as animal food,” ran the headline in one…

Demographics

Switzerland marks violence against women day

This content was published on Nov 25, 2008 The government said on Tuesday that of the 1,067 murders between 2000 and 2004, 45 per cent were related to domestic violence. The statement, released to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, said that of over 29,000 counselling cases in 2007, more than half involved a domestic relationship between a victim…

Demographics

Recession likely in 2009, says SNB head

This content was published on Nov 25, 2008 “In September, expectations were that there will still be growth next year. But now, we’re looking at a contraction for 2009,” Jean-Pierre Roth told an audience in Lausanne. Roth said Swiss consumption was deteriorating. In September the SNB pegged growth at between 1.5 and two per cent for 2008 but has not published any predictions…

Demographics

Journalist assassination condemned

This content was published on Nov 24, 2008 Didace Namujimbo of Radio Okapi, a station supported by Switzerland’s Hirondelle Foundation, was shot dead last Thursday close to his home in Bukavu in eastern Congo. Namujimbo was the second journalist from Radio Okapi to have been killed within the past year. In a statement on Monday, the Swiss foreign ministry said it was “deeply…

Culture

Obama could boost genealogy craze

This content was published on Nov 24, 2008 People have been encouraged to delve into their ancestry in part due to the large number of websites specialising in genealogy, according to a Swiss archivist. “More and more books on genealogy have been published over the past 25 years and we have greater demand from people abroad who want to know about their ancestry,”…

Demographics

Snowstorms leave some ski areas scrambling

This content was published on Nov 24, 2008 From Sunday to Monday as much as 45 centimetres of snow collected on peaks across the country. That is on top of other storms that have dumped more than a metre of snow in three days. “I’ve been working in the ski industry for 16 years and in that time I’ve seen conditions this good…

Demographics

Nuclear smuggling case taken to European court

This content was published on Nov 23, 2008 A lawyer for Urs and Marco Tinner said Switzerland had disregarded the European Convention on Human Rights by keeping the engineers in custody for the last four years without an arraignment. He described the practice as “worthy of Guantanamo”. The brothers along with their father, Friedrich Tinner, are suspected of helping to supply parts for…

Demographics

Healing through community health care

This content was published on Nov 22, 2008 The radical agreement, which took a community-based approach to health, never became universally accepted, although its ideals live on in Switzerland’s work in foreign countries. Named after the declaration’s birthplace in Soviet Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata was hailed as a pioneering document at the time. It assumed that raising health levels would drive overall development. “[It] broadened…

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