Swiss Identity

More arrests in FIFA corruption investigation

This content was published on Dec 3, 2015 Alfredo Hawit, president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and vice-president of FIFA; and Juan Angel Napout, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and a FIFA official, both had extradition hearings on Thursday morning. The US will now have to submit formal requests within 40 days to…

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Mountain fatalities increase in hot summer

This content was published on Dec 2, 2015 By the end of September there had been around 2,400 accidents in the Swiss mountains, 330 more than during the same period last year, according to provisional figures supplied by the SAC on Wednesday. The number of fatalities also increased – from 106 to 150. Particularly striking was the increase in accidents in July and…

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FIFA sponsors demand ‘independent oversight’ of reforms

This content was published on Dec 2, 2015 Sponsors were originally promised places on the FIFA reform committee. But instead of being invited into meetings discussing the overhaul of the organisation, they have been offered seats only on an advisory board which is yet to be appointed. The sponsors’ letter was sent from Adidas, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Visa and Budweiser brewer AB InBev to…

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Weil: ‘I was a political scapegoat’

This content was published on Dec 2, 2015 Ex-UBS banker Raoul Weil claims he was used as a political pawn in the tax evasion fight between Switzerland and the US.

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Researchers pinpoint genes in charge of ageing

This content was published on Dec 1, 2015 Swiss scientists have identified a set of genes that control physical ageing in animals. Their findings could help us understand how humans can live not only longer but healthier lives.

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Parliament backs tougher law on dictators’ assets

This content was published on Dec 1, 2015 On Monday, the House of Representatives followed the Senate in approving the new law on the freezing and restitution of illicitly acquired assets of foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs). The law is designed to be applied in cases where leading political figures enrich themselves through corruption or other criminal means and deposit these illicitly acquired…

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Brain region links anxiety and low social status

This content was published on Nov 30, 2015 The research team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) categorised rats according to their level of anxiety. They then placed highly anxious rats into competitive social situations with their less anxious counterparts, finding that those with higher anxiety levels performed less well. The scientists then pinpointed the area of the brain…

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Language dispute postpones Gazprom trial

This content was published on Nov 30, 2015 The trial of four executives – three Russians and a Frenchman accused of pocketing $7 million (CHF7.2 million) via false consultancy contracts – was due to open at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Monday. But the trial was postponed until March 21, 2016 after a dispute over the language to be used in…