Swiss Politics

Cabinet moots steps to clean-up tax haven image

This content was published on Feb 22, 2012 The finance ministry has been mandated to prepare concrete measures by next September in a bid to strengthen Switzerland’s financial centre, which is facing sustained pressure by several countries, including the United States. Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the report discussed in Wednesday’s regular cabinet meeting was designed to outline the strategy for a “credible,…

Swiss Politics

Extra funds requested to boost innovation

This content was published on Feb 22, 2012 The economics ministry said the new funds are aimed at coping with the flood of requests submitted last year after it announced a stimulus package worth SFr100 million to help businesses suffering because of the strong franc. The Commission for Technology and Innovation, which is responsible for disbursing the money, said it received more than…

Swiss Politics

Party pockets lined by business interests

This content was published on Feb 21, 2012 That’s the finding of a report commissioned by the justice ministry as part of its response to repeated criticism by international watchdogs about the opaque political funding system in Switzerland. Based on figures by a leading market research institute, political scientist Michael Hermann of Zurich University examined the spending on advertising ahead of 39 nationwide…

Swiss Politics

Right and centre attract most campaign funds

This content was published on Feb 21, 2012 A report, commissioned by the justice ministry, found that the business community plays a key part in publicity campaigns, indirectly benefiting the Christian Democrats and the Radicals. The People’s Party is clearly ahead of any other party when it comes to election campaign funds, according to the study by Zurich University. However, Michael Herrmann, author…

Swiss Politics

Serbian migration and crime top talks agenda

This content was published on Feb 20, 2012 The two issues were the focus of a meeting in Bern on Monday between Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga and Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic. Over the past two years, the fourth highest number of people seeking asylum in Switzerland have come from Serbia, despite the fact that refugee status is only conferred on a…

Swiss Politics

Few signs of progress seen in Kosovo

This content was published on Feb 20, 2012 swissinfo.ch travelled through Kosovo with Swisscoy, the Swiss contingent with the Nato-led peacekeeping force, Kfor, visiting both the Serb-dominated north, outside the control of the central Pristina government, and the Albanian-majority south, which is more stable but faces problems of a different kind. The first port of call was the divided city of Mitrovica, where…

Swiss Politics

Swiss block spy technology exports to Syria

This content was published on Feb 19, 2012 Both countries were attempting to procure equipment to monitor mobile phones, a Swiss official confirmed on Friday. Mobile phones have become an important source of footage documenting the brutality of the government crackdown in Syria, where an estimated 7,000 people have been killed in 11 months of violence. The opposition movement in Iran also uses…

Swiss Politics

Assisted suicide numbers up in 2011

This content was published on Feb 19, 2012 Dignitas, which caters mainly for people from abroad, accompanied 144 people choosing to die at their premises in Pfäffikon near Zurich, an increase of 35 per cent on 2010. Exit, the organisation which caters for Swiss residents facilitated more than 300 suicides, up from 257 the previous year. “A large proportion were suffering from cancer,”…

Swiss Politics

$6 trillion in fake US bonds confiscated

This content was published on Feb 17, 2012 In Italy on Friday, eight people were arrested across the country and placed under investigation for fraud and other crimes. The bonds, carrying the false date of issue of 1934, had been transported in 2007 from Hong Kong to Zurich, where they were transferred to a Swiss trust, according to prosecutors in the southern Italian…

Swiss Politics

Swiss colonel is Kfor’s “eyes and ears”

This content was published on Feb 17, 2012 Speaking to swissinfo.ch in his office in the Novo Selo military camp near the divided town of Mitrovica, he describes himself as “a diplomat who knows what makes the military tick”. He says 99 per cent of the decisions taken by Kfor commanders are based on input from his team. Kfor is the Nato-led peacekeeping…

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Cabinet moots steps to clean-up tax haven image

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Extra funds requested to boost innovation

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Party pockets lined by business interests

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Right and centre attract most campaign funds

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Serbian migration and crime top talks agenda

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Few signs of progress seen in Kosovo

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Swiss block spy technology exports to Syria

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Assisted suicide numbers up in 2011

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$6 trillion in fake US bonds confiscated

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Swiss colonel is Kfor’s “eyes and ears”

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