Swiss Identity

More Mikaelian magic

This content was published on Oct 19, 2001 Following her astonishing first round win over Russian seventh seed Elena Dementieva on Tuesday, Mikaelian put in another convincing performance on Thursday – beating Panova 6-1, 6-3 – to set up a tantalising quarter-final tie with world number one Jennifer Capriati Great match “I played well and was really concentrated,” a delighted Mikaelian told swissinfo…

Anthrax scare brings postal office to a standstill

This content was published on Oct 19, 2001 An employee at the office in Schlieren, canton Zurich, raised the alarm after detecting an unidentified white substance that was seeping out an envelope. The package is currently being examined and the sorting office has now reopened. A fresh spate of suspicious envelopes continued to propagate anthrax fear around the country on Thursday. Authorities in…

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Russian challenge in Davis Cup

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 The Swiss face a tough challenge against the fifth-seeded Russian team, which boasts the two top-ten Russian players Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. A 1990 encounter between the Soviet Union and Switzerland ended in a 3-2 victory for the Swiss team. The matches are due to take place from February 8-10 next year. The first…

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Swiss teams impress in Europe

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 Reigning Swiss champions Grasshoppers Zurich already have one foot in the competition’s third round after beating Dutch side FC Twente 4-1 in Thursday’s home leg. Uruguayan striker Richard Nuñez was once again the Grasshoppers hero, scoring three of the team’s goals as well as setting up Mladen Petric for the other. An impressive free kick…

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Swiss-Ski looking to consolidate

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 “We’ll be looking to further reduce the gap between us and the Austrians, and hopefully we’ll be right up there with them” men’s head coach Dieter Bartsch told swissinfo on Thursday. “We also intend to travel with plenty of confidence to Salt Lake City (for February’s Winter Olympics).” Bartsch, an Austrian himself, said the reason…

Culture

Liestal discovery pushes back date of first settlement

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 The researchers found 7,500-year-old pottery shards and stone tools at a construction site near Liestal. The discovery pushes back the earliest known date of settlement in the Basel region. Previously found pottery fragments of a different type had placed the first permanent habitation in the sixth millennium BC. The discovery also suggests an important change…

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Tourist industry makes the best of a bad season

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 A stroll through the medieval streets of Lucerne on an autumn day proves there is no better time to visit Switzerland. A middle-aged couple from Canada stop and watch workers fashioning cobblestones into shape before hammering them into place on Rathausquai, just below Lucerne’s famous Chapel Bridge. Don and Marion Gibson are halfway through a…

Demographics

Suspect letters propagate anthrax scare in Switzerland

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 In Basel, 19 packages containing an unidentified white powder were confirmed not to contain the bacteria, although tests are still being carried out on other letters. A spokesman for canton Basel said eighty per cent of the letters had contained publicity material. In Bern, police are investigating a letter sent to Kraft Foods, in which…

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Neuchâtel conference highlights financial crime

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 Pierre-Henri Bolle, vice-president of the International Society for Criminology said recent events make the course very timely. “The terrorist attacks on the United States and terrorist organisations’ financial resources have caught up with us,” he said, adding that “The field of financial investigation is likely to develop.” The Swiss authorities’ decision to hire 400 to…

Demographics

Money laundering damages Swiss reputation

This content was published on Oct 18, 2001 Dina Balleyguier, who takes up her new job this week, told swissinfo that high profile cases of money laundering, such as those relating to the funds of the late Nigerian leader Sani Abacha, had damaged Switzerland’s image. “The problem is that everyone remembers cases like Abacha,” said Balleyguier. “And it will be hard to convince…

Swiss Identity

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