Swiss Identity

Hänggi and Giovanoli must stay jailed

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 An appeal court in Guatemala has ordered a re-trial of two Swiss men convicted for drug-related crimes. Defence lawyers had hoped the court would order the immediate release of Nicolas Hänggi (pictured right) and Silvio Giovanoli (pictured left), but they will now remain imprisoned until the outcome of the new trial. The court said the…

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Russia gives green light to Red Cross in Chechnya

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 Russia’s president-elect, Vladimir Putin (pictured right), has given the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross permission to visit detention centres in Chechnya, after a meeting with the ICRC head, Jakob Kellenberger(pictured left). The ICRC, and other human rights organisations, had called for international observers to be allowed to visit the prisons run by Russian…

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Swiss do not donate enough organs

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 A new report says 30 people died unnecessarily in Switzerland last year because they failed to receive organ transplants in time. A total of 956 people were on waiting lists for transplant operations, but only 413 could get the organs they needed. The vast majority of transplants were of kidneys (251), followed by livers (75),…

Demographics

Violent crime on the rise

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 Violent crime is continuing to increase in Switzerland, despite a marked drop in the number of criminal offences registered last year. The 1999 crime statistics of the Federal Police Office show that young people are increasingly likely to resort to violence to solve their problems. The figures reveal a sharp 6.5 per cent fall in…

Lugano wound Lions and raise hopes

This content was published on Mar 30, 2000 Lugano have dashed Zurich Lions’ hopes of an easy finish to the ice-hockey play-off final series. In Thursday’s knife edge game, amid an electric atmosphere on and off the ice, the Ticinese opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute, thanks to Fedulov. The Lions pulled back in the fifteenth, with a goal from Ivankovic, and…

Culture

Festival introduces live opera to its website

This content was published on Mar 29, 2000 The Avenches open-air opera festival says its première of Verdi’s “Aida” this summer is to be transmitted live on the Internet. Cameras will be installed to broadcast one of opera’s biggest spectacles from the town’s Roman amphitheatre. Avenches has become accustomed to large numbers of visitors since its first festival in 1995 – the amphitheatre…

Demographics

Switzerland cracks down on bribery abroad

This content was published on Mar 29, 2000 The Swiss government has joined an international campaign to fight cross-border corruption. It announced on Wednesday that from May, bribing foreign officials would become a criminal offence. Switzerland’s current laws not only permit Swiss executives to give bribes abroad and at home, but also allow them to write the kickbacks off against tax if it…

Demographics

Stress and unhealthy living: the Swiss take a health check

This content was published on Mar 29, 2000 Stress levels are soaring in Switzerland. The Swiss are also reportedly getting fatter, are eating too much junk food and are not getting enough exercise. The Swiss Foundation for the Promotion of Health has released the worrying report, and has launched two national campaigns to convert people to a healthier lifestyle. The study shows that…

Demographics

Swiss group calls for Tolerance Centre

This content was published on Mar 29, 2000 A group of prominent Swiss politicians, officials and businessmen wants to open a Swiss Centre for Tolerance. The centre, probably to be located in the federal capital, Berne, is intended to be a place for Switzerland’s open encounter with its past and with its present position towards foreigners. The idea for such a centre stems…

Culture

Music museum opens in Seewen

This content was published on Mar 28, 2000 A museum housing Europe’s biggest collection of old mechanical musical instruments has been inaugurated in the countryside of Canton Solothurn. It is in the small village of Seewen because that was where the collection of some 1,000 objects began. The instruments were accumulated over a long period by a Basel businessman, Heinrich Weiss-Stauffacher, who in…

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Swiss Identity

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Hänggi and Giovanoli must stay jailed

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Russia gives green light to Red Cross in Chechnya

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Swiss do not donate enough organs

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Violent crime on the rise

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Lugano wound Lions and raise hopes

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Festival introduces live opera to its website

More

Switzerland cracks down on bribery abroad

More

Stress and unhealthy living: the Swiss take a health check

More

Swiss group calls for Tolerance Centre

More

Music museum opens in Seewen

Popular Stories

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