Swiss Identity

Swiss heroin model reporting benefits

This content was published on Sep 4, 2006 Initially met with criticism and apprehension, the Swiss model is now attracting the interest of other countries. Programmes for the administration of heroin under medical supervision are still viewed warily by the World Health Organization, which is heavily influenced by governments with repressive drug policies, principally the United States. But the Swiss model, dating from…

Culture

Children’s books bring back Rwandan smiles

This content was published on Sep 4, 2006 “Books are part of my own history; I fell into the literary world years ago,” Agnès Gyr-Ukunda, one of the driving forces behind the NGO, Books for Rwandan Children, told swissinfo. Growing up in Rwanda in the 1970s, Gyr-Ukunda was fortunate enough to receive a “privileged” education, allowing her to discover new worlds through literature.…

Demographics

Maire and Grab win glory at Unspunnen

This content was published on Sep 3, 2006 The festival, the largest of its kind in Switzerland, brings together sportsmen, yodellers, flag throwers, alphorn blowers, singers, dancers, as well as those wearing traditional costume. The Swiss Traditional Costume and Alpine Herdsmen Festival attracted around 120,000 visitors from all over Switzerland and plenty of tourists keen to see Swiss folklore at its best. Maire,…

History

Swiss Papal Guard celebrations come to an end

This content was published on Sep 3, 2006 More than 1,000 people attended the final events in Bissone, canton Ticino, which was deliberately chosen for the occasion. Architects Carlo Maderno, Domenico Fontana and Francesco Borromini, who were responsible for highly respected sacred buildings in Rome, came from the region. The president of the Ticino government, Luigi Pedrazzini, and Bishop Pier Giacomo Grampa, who…

History

Swiss bishop comes out in favour of minarets

This content was published on Sep 3, 2006 In an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, Koch was reacting to the strong opposition among some Swiss to plans for minarets at a number of locations in the country. He said the conflict behind the debate was much more important than the minarets themselves and fears had to be discussed. “A minaret for…

History

Opening the doors to Jewish culture

This content was published on Sep 3, 2006 Visits to synagogues, cemeteries, ritual baths and museums are designed to arouse interest in Jewish culture. Events are taking place in Basel, Bern, Zurich, Endingen-Lengnau, Geneva, Delémont and La Chaux-de-Fonds. The theme this year is “European Routes of Jewish Heritage”. They include a guided tour of the Jewish cemetery opened in 1673 just across the…

Culture

Lucerne says goodbye to the Cold War

This content was published on Sep 2, 2006 The Sonnenberg Tunnel, originally built to offer shelter to 20,000 people in the event of war, is to be turned into a motorway tunnel. The decision reflects the changed times, in which the civil defence authorities are more concerned with the threat of natural disasters. The Sonnenberg tunnel in Lucerne is believed to be the…

Demographics

Schmid defends keeping army rifles at home

This content was published on Sep 2, 2006 Schmid rejected calls for the weapons to be kept in military storage to reduce Switzerland’s high rate of suicide by firearms. In an interview in Saturday’s Tages-Anzeiger newspaper of Zurich, Schmid said storing soldiers’ rifles away from their homes “would not solve the underlying social problem” of suicide. “The army is not responsible for the…

Demographics

Red Cross delegate is killed in Senegal

This content was published on Sep 2, 2006 The Geneva-based ICRC said Jeannette Fournier, 50, died when the vehicle transporting her and three colleagues struck the object in the southern Casamance region. Fournier had been conducting a survey of the needs of people displaced by armed clashes in the region along with the three when the incident happened on Friday north-west of Ziguinchor…

Culture

Young voices

This content was published on Sep 2, 2006

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