Category Archive: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

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The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 7

2022-08-02

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In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine? This is one of many questions SWI readers sent to us. Daniel Reist, head of media relations for the Swiss armed forces, takes a shot at answering them. Our seventh question and the last in our series is: why are women not conscripted in Switzerland? ---...

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The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 6

2022-07-26

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In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine?

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The UK and Switzerland’s fall outs with the EU

2022-07-21

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What do Brexit and the Swiss breakdowns in relations with the EU have in common? According to a Swiss social historian, quite a lot. Switzerland has never been an EU member but enjoys almost full access to the EU’s internal market, thanks to 120 bilateral agreements. Attempts to update these with a new framework agreement collapsed in 2021 when the Swiss walked out of talks with the EU. The Financial Times dubbed the fallout “Swexit” in reference...

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The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 5

2022-07-19

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In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine?

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Large Hadron Collider restart at CERN

2022-07-06

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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is back. Scientists are again firing proton beams at nearly the speed of light around its 27-kilometre loop as they resume their search for clues to the origins of the universe. After three years of maintenance work, the world’s biggest particle accelerator, located at the CERN particle physics laboratory near Geneva, has started its third operational cycle, officials said this week. The increased amount of energy...

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James Webb – A glimpse into the origins of the universe

2022-07-01

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The James Webb Space Telescope, which lifted off into the heavens in December 2021, is on the hunt for distant galaxies, faint comets and early star formations. A key component of the telescope was part-developed in Switzerland. The Webb, the biggest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space, is considered as the successor to the Hubble telescope launched in 1990 by NASA. However, while the Hubble captures images in the spectrum visible to...

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The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 2

2022-06-28

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In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine?

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Ukrainian students adjust to life in Switzerland

2022-06-24

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The Lucerne School of Art and Design has taken in 29 Ukrainian students as exchange students rather than refugees. This means their time in Switzerland counts towards their degree. The 29 students come from the Lviv National Academy of Arts, a partner university. They came by bus via Warsaw, Poland, and then through Germany and on to Lucerne shortly after the war started in Ukraine. Monika Gold, head of the Bachelor’s Programme in Graphic Design,...

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The Swiss army: your questions answered Part 1

2022-06-21

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In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine? This is one of many questions SWI readers sent to us. Daniel Reist, head of media relations for the Swiss armed forces, takes a shot at answering them. Our first question is can a small army be effective? More questions and answers are to follow in the coming...

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24 hours inside a new Swiss prison

2022-06-14

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Over 800 people volunteered to be locked up in a Zurich prison last month to test the new facility. SWI swissinfo.ch reporter May Elmahdi-Lichtsteiner was one of the lucky inmates selected for the trial. The Zurich cantonal authorities recently came up with the unusual idea to give the detention facility and staff a test run before the prison starts taking real inmates. The pilot project was intended as a good way of “ensuring the proper...

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Meet Yello, the techno aliens from Zurich outer space

2022-06-07

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Hailed as pioneers of techno music and still filling halls in the wake of a career spanning four decades, the Zurich duo has just won the Swiss Grand Award for Music. Speaking to SWI swissinfo.ch, they explain the secret to success: not to care about success at all. Boris Blank is the musical brains, but he confesses that he can’t read a score. Dieter Meier is the singer who learned how to sing on the job. Together they are Yello, probably the...

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Why young people no longer want to work in hotels

2022-05-31

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The Swiss catering industry is finding it hard to attract staff – apprentices included. Young people are turning their backs on the long and irregular hours that come with working in hotels. The Covid pandemic has not helped.

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How canton Ticino became a democracy pioneer in Europe

2022-05-17

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History books often point to the second French Revolution in July 1830 as the start of a democratising wave that swept Europe, including Switzerland. What is often overlooked is the role of canton Ticino, which pioneered many of the ideas at the heart of these revolutions. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on...

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Afghan women footballers take to the field again in Bern

2022-05-10

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Two former players with Afghanistan’s national women’s team have started football training for women in Bern, both to improve their footballing skills and to defend the rights of women to play the game. It’s part of Armisa and Sahar’s (pseudonyms) continuing efforts to rebuild their lives after being forced to flee their country for fear of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist group that was waging an insurgency in Afghanistan when they left....

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Hacking as a tool for highlighting grievances

2022-04-26

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Hacker Tillie Kottmann exposes security holes in computer systems and has been charged in the United States for making them public. For Kottmann, tracking down digital vulnerabilities provides a dose of euphoria and adrenaline. The hacker wants to shine a light on data of public interest. This video portrait is part of the “Digital offensive” series by Swiss public television SRF. It looks at the work of five young people trying to make a...

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Saying no to a tax on streaming companies in Switzerland

2022-04-19

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Should streaming services like Netflix be forced to support filmmakers in the countries where they operate? Under the the so-called “Lex Netflix” law, they will be required to invest 4% of their Swiss turnover in local productions.

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Upmarket Swiss hotel welcomes Ukrainian refugees

2022-04-13

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The four-star SeePark Hotel in the lakeside town of Murten in western Switzerland has opened its doors to refugees from the war in Ukraine. They get to stay for free in rooms that would normally cost more than CHF200 ($214) a night. The hotel is owned by a limited company of ethnic Russians based in western Europe. The hotel administrator, Ukrainian-born Lyudmyla Rigert, persuaded the director to help her compatriots fleeing the war. So far, 200...

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The birth of modern democracy in the heart of Europe

2022-03-29

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The "Swiss Revolution" brought democracy to Switzerland. It was an uprising against the aristocracy – and the beginning of a long journey that the country could only complete with foreign help. On a spring day in 1798, Peter Ochs of Basel declared the birth of the Helvetic Republic from a balcony of the Aarau city hall. There was great rejoicing on the streets because this marked the liberation of the central territories from their...

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Swiss act as early warning system in Bosnia

2022-03-22

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Swiss information gatherers are keeping a close eye on the situation in Bosnia & Herzegovina, as the country is facing a political crisis that some fear could lead to armed conflict. The Swiss Liaison and Observation Teams (LOT) in Mostar and Trebinje are part of the EUFOR peacekeeping mission.

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Switzerland’s S permit for refugees from Ukraine

2022-03-18

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People fleeing the war in Ukraine will be granted an S permit upon arrival in Switzerland. It's the first time this permit will be issued since its introduction in 1999.

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