The Swiss American Blog

Right Wing Party Shocks Again With Posters

2009-10-07T13:23:00.003-04:00

The Swiss are voting on a proposal to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland.The ban was proposed by the conservative Swiss People’s Party, the largest party in the Swiss parliament. Supporters of the initiative see minarets as political symbols and signs of an increasing Islamic presence in Switzerland.

The right-wing party now has unveiled a campaign poster depicting a woman wearing a burka against a background of a Swiss flag upon which several minarets ressembling missiles were erected. It is aimed at getting the population to vote for a ban on minarets in Switzerland in a referendum on the issue in November.

The Swiss Commission Against Racism said Wednesday that the poster campaign defamed the country's Muslim minority. 'The commission believes that this could threaten social cohesion and public peace,' the government commission said in a statement.

The commission said it found that the posters 'feed prejudices, are over-simplistic and presents Islam overall in an unfavourable manner.' They 'suggest that the Muslim minority living in Switzerland represents a danger' and send the message that the Muslim population is seeking to dominate the Swiss people, oppress women and disregard fundamental rights, it noted.

The BBC reported that mosques in Switzerland tend to be found in old warehouses and factories. It said the largest mosque in the Swiss capital, Bern, is in a former underground parking garage. The broadcaster said Switzerland only has two small minarets, one in Zurich and one in Geneva.

More than 310,000 of Switzerland's 7.5 million population are Muslims, making Islam the second biggest religion in the country after Christianity.

202 Swiss Work in the UN-Secretariats

2007-05-21T13:17:00.000-04:00

'Good Swiss' for the UN: Ambassador Maurer.
Of the same briefing as mentioned below, Matthew Lee also reports the following on Inner City Press. Interesting seems to process of prescreening Matthew writes about. And of course, the quote of the good Swiss, which Ambassador Maurer indeed used:

UN Withholds Nationality and Job Data Which Even Swiss Would Release, As Japan Wants More Posts

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 -- There is a publication which the UN withholds from the public, which lists staff of the UN Secretariat sorted by nationality. At the UN's noon briefing on May 17, when Inner City Press asked why the document is restricted, the UN Spokesperson replied that "there are things that go to the Member States. You are not a Member State that I know of. Okay?"

Later on May 17, Inner City Press interviewed Switzerland's Ambassador Peter Maurer, and asked if it is the UN's member states that demand that the list of who the UN hires and from where be kept secret. "We are certainly not a member state thinking that this should be secret," Amb. Maurer said.

The Spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon, who said that transparency is one of his major goals, told Inner City Press on Thursday that this list, which only contains names, job rank and location and nationality, "can be consulted by a Member State but not by you." Unsaid is that, while not a solution and within any thanks to the Secretariat, a Member State can make some or all of the list available.

Switzerland had, as of the publication ST/ADM/R.60, 202 UN Secretariat jobs. (The figures in this report tally UN Secretariat jobs in all duty stations, including Geneva, Nairobi, Santiago, Bangkok, Addis Ababa and Vienna, but not including jobs with funds and programs like UNICEF or the UN Development Program, which separately keeps track of each staff member's nationality, reputedly to trade posts for donations.)

While France had 1046 UN Secretariat jobs, Japan had only 213. Inner City Press on Thursday asked Japan's Deputy Permanent Representative Takahiro Shinyo about this. Amb. Shinyo replied that Japan's "is a very small number... we ask the Secretariat to give more chances." He added that job selection is "of course merit-based."

Amb. Maurer used the same term, saying that while a nation being "under-quota" meant that its nationals would be given a leg up in competition for UN jobs, they still have to be qualified. In fact, Switzerland pre-qualifies its nationals who apply to the UN. "We would like to make available to the UN good Swiss," he said. "It is a question of reputation, at the end of the day."

The question remains why this basic information -- names of UN staff members, the job level and location, their nationalities and pay-status -- is being withheld from the press and public. Names and locations, along with telephone numbers and email address protocols, are available in the UN phone book. So why is nationality, so often mentioned under the code word "geographic balance," still so taboo?

Swiss Ambassador: Discussions about Security Council Reform 'Almost Transcendental'

2007-05-21T13:02:00.000-04:00

Again Matthew Lee of Inner City Press writes about the Swiss and the UN. Matthew neglects to mention that Switzerland has decided not to allow the contingent of
500 Iraqi refugees (see end of story.). Re Maurer's 'burst of candor': The Swiss Ambassador is usually very forthcoming and frank. Here's Matthew's story, unabridged:

At the UN, Clashing Stories on Council and Peacekeeping Reform, UNHCR on Swiss and Thailand

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 -- The Ban Ki-moon team insists that the General Assembly will by June 1 grant them a requested $65 million for the splitting of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in two. Meanwhile GA experts, already admonished by Team Ban for not being upbeat enough, privately tell Inner City Press such rubber-stamp passage of this amount of money is unlikely. Why did they start so late? It is not clear.
In another bit of cognitive dissonance, on Thursday Japan's Deputy Permanent Representative Takahiro Shinyo told reporters that there is still a chance that Security Council reform will be acted on in the less month-and-a-half.
Less than an hour later, eight blocks south, Swiss Ambassador Peter Maurer told a different group of reporters that "I am under no illusion we will find a solution on Security Council reform in this General Assembly." The smart money is on Amb. Maurer's position because, as he said, the Permanent Five members are basically not in favor of reform. He said if a serious proposal emerged that might command a significant majority, then and only then would the Permanent Five taken any interest.
In a burst of candor, over a conference table in the Swiss mission's 29th floor office over Third Avenue, Amb. Maurer laughed and said, "I know this sounds like something on another planet... transcendental." He recounted how in Switzerland's role in sports-promotion, it has more positive relations with countries such as Tunisia than it does when discussion, for example, the UN Human Rights Council (to which on Thursday Angola, Egypt and Qatar were elected, while higher-profile Belarus fell short).
Iraqi refugees per UNHCR (see below)
Amb. Maurer also mentioned Switzerland's collaboration with Tunisia on "World Information Society" events. He did not mention that during this process, Tunisia provided a highly censored version of the Internet. Amb. Maurer reiterated a point made in his speech in the ECOSOC chamber earlier in the day, that information technology improvements are needed not only in poor countries but also in the UN system, which he called "retarded when it comes to information and knowledge management."
In light of Switzerland's barring, at least temporarily, of refugees from Iraq, Inner City Press first asked the UN's refugee agency UNHCR for a comment, which Geneva-based Jennifer Pagonis provided:
"On the Swiss not taking Iraqis, we are disappointed with the outcome, as we are anxiously looking for countries that can take up vulnerable and uprooted Iraqis and Palestinians from Iraq who are or have been targeted and are fleeing/have fled persecution. We do however appreciate Switzerland's willingness to discuss the issue and we hope that Switzerland and UNHCR can continue discussing the potential resettlement of Iraqi/Palestinian and other refugees to Switzerland in the future."
Inner City Press asked Ambassador Maurer about the issue on Thursday afternoon. Amb. Maurer said it is a "political hot potato," and that it is his understanding that the Swiss foreign minister has proposed in a cabinet meeting that Switzerland accept a "continent" of 500 Iraqi refugees. We'll see.

Ban's Support for Geneva Criticized in New York

2007-05-07T13:43:00.000-04:00

In a detailed report, Matthew from Inner City Press reports of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's comments in Switzerland, describing Geneva as "the biggest UN city". Bans support for Geneva had long been expected in Switzerland and was seen there as long overdue. Ban said in one of his speeches, he had "saved the best for last". This caused quite a discussion in the UN headquarters, as you can see below. Meanwhile, Swiss UN experts such as Simon Gemeperli from NZZ saw no firm committment to Geneva in reports on the Secretary General's visit to Switzerland.

In Geneva, Mr. Ban, the Swiss president, Mrs. Ban, the Swiss Ambassador to the UN in New York, Peter Maurer

In UNCA-gate, Mr. Ban's Dig from Geneva Leads to Speechwriter Questions in New York

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 24 -- Speaking at a dinner for the correspondents' association at the UN in Genera on April 21, Ban Ki-moon began with a statement which his spokesperson has since characterized as a joke, and which is quoted from below.

            Doubtless, there is a place for more humor in the UN system, on both sides of the Atlantic. And written transcripts cannot convey tone of voice or winks, if any. But the main job of a diplomat is to master communications. Lack of clarity, as the Federal Reserve's Alan Greenspan used to do it, should be intentional. It is difficult to imagine that the parochial echo in New York on Tuesday to Mr. Ban's Saturday remarks had been intended.

            First, here are Ban's remarks, as emailed to reporters by the UN on April 23:

SG: "Mr. President of the Correspondents Association in Geneva, Ladies and Gentlemen,

"It's a great honor and pleasure for me to meet all of you. In fact, it is the first time for me to be invited by this whole Correspondents Association. I have not even been invited by UNCA, the United Nations Correspondents Association in New York. I hope that this fact, on the record, should be recorded from Geneva so that our people in New York know about this. I am personally very much honored. Normally I have been inviting journalists all the time in my life. It's almost the first time for me to be invited by an association of correspondents like this one today, and I am very much personally honored by this event. And thank you very much for your warm welcome...

"There is one thing which I have found, new information, is that Geneva is the largest UN city in the world, even larger than the United Nations Headquarters in New York. There are more international organizations, more diplomatic staff, more conference days in the year. This is what I have found, in the sense that it may be a real sense of a headquarters of the United Nations."

            Tuesday at the UN's noon press briefing in New York, these statements were the subject to the first five questions, out of a total of only thirteen questions. Some are in true-jest now calling the matter "UNCA-gate," UNCA being pronounced Uhn-Cuh, the UN Correspondents Association. Five reporters, like this one members of UNCA, fastened on the statement that "I have not even been invited by UNCA, the United Nations Correspondents Association in New York. I hope that this fact, on the record, should be recorded from Geneva so that our people in New York know about this."

            People in New York asked what this meant:

Inner City Press: There was this, I am sorry if I missed this, there was this speech by Mr. Ban in Geneva, in which he said that they were the first Correspondents' Association...

Correspondent [UNCA President]: I have to raise the issue officially. The Secretary-General met with the Association of Correspondents last week in Geneva, and he told them that we here, [the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA)], have never invited him out. So I wonder... and we have an official transcript of his remarks. My colleagues were shocked by the remarks, to say it mildly. I want to ask you, what was the reason for him to say that and why did he say that, in Geneva, while we had meetings with him here, in New York, at our invitation. And I am pretty sure that he enjoyed the meetings, also.

Correspondent [UNCA Past President]: And also, just to add, we did invite him to the annual UNCA dinner. He was seated with the [inaudible]. So all proper courtesies were extended to him by UNCA.

Spokesperson: Well, thank you to all three of you. I am sorry these remarks created a misunderstanding, which I want to lift immediately. It was meant in a light-hearted way by the Secretary-General. It was referring to the irritation expressed by some members of the Geneva press corps that he was not able to travel to our second headquarters at the Palais des Nations until last week. The comments were meant in jest, and not intended to be taken seriously. I can assure you, that the Secretary-General is most appreciative of his meetings with UNCA, particularly the two gracious invitations extended by you to him early in his tenure and, most recently, for his 100 days in office. He has told me how highly he values these informal exchanges and the exchanges he had with the correspondents' association. And the work you do, covering the UN, is to him essential...

Inner City Press: In his talk there, he said that Geneva was the largest UN city in the world and that there were more international organizations and more diplomatic staff. It may be the real UN headquarters. I am wondering, I don’t know if that was a joke as well, but if anyone could get the numbers, to know what the basis of this is. And also, I don't know if you will answer this, but who is writing his speeches now, like what is the process of that?

Spokesperson: I don't know if that was a speech. [See below.] He just improvised that. He was answering questions after a lunch. It was not a speech in any way.

Inner City Press: Got you. Can we get those numbers?

Spokesperson: Sure, sure, you can have those numbers on how many agencies there are in Geneva, how many people work there, that you can have. No problem there.

Sunny Correspondent: Just for the record, some in New York have advocated moving the UN out of New York, but… just for the record.

Correspondent [AP]: I would just like to make a suggestion that, since the transcript does appear on the UN website, that perhaps there could be a note attached saying that this was said in jest.

Spokesperson: Well, it is not right now on the website. It has been sent to you, but it is not on the website.

Correspondent [UNCA President]: Some diplomatic missions saw the transcript. I got a reaction from some missions also.

Spokesperson: Okay.

Inner City Press: Maybe there should be a section on the website for humorous speeches.

            This hasn't yet happened. As some correspondents remarked later on Tuesday, at first Mr. Ban's jokes were accorded laughter. His "Ban Ki-moon is coming to town" song at the UNCA Ball in December (click here to view), his referrals to himself as the Slippery Eel, a more recent statement -- to UNCA in New York, as it happens -- that "you all must be disappointed in me." Some wondered: was he joking?

            And that may be the point. The UN Secretary General doesn't intrinsically have much power. It is a bully pulpit, or place from which to play diplomat. In that game, if you're going to joke, make sure it's funny, or at least, make sure people who read it will know it was intended as a joke.

            As documentation of Mr. Ban's statement that "Geneva is the largest UN city in the world, even larger than the United Nations Headquarters in New York," a spokesperson later on Tuesday gave Inner City Press a one-page print-out from the UN's Geneva web site, with a sentence highlighted that "with more than 1,600 staff, it is the biggest duty stations [sic] outside of the United Nations headquarters in New York." Inner City Press is informed that during his meeting with the Geneva UN staff union, Mr. Ban said he had "saved the best for last." And what to say in at the UN's hub in Nairobi?

            In answer to which speechwriter is traveling with Mr. Ban, contrary to the UN's written transcript quoted above, the spokesperson began "I don't know who wrote that" -- click here for video, at precisely Minute 10:25.

            On the question of Mr. Ban's speechwriters, it emerges that Edward Mortimer is gone, and that Richard Amdur is leaving. Coming in, Inner City Press is told, is Mike Myers -- not from Wayne's World or the bullpen, but from Newsweek. If this Mike Myers is taking the speechwriters job that was one of the 12 much-hyped mobility posts, that would be one that should be announced.

Swiss Push in Boston exhibition for Respect for Human Rights - Exhibition at Logan

2007-05-02T11:10:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Rita Emch at Swissinfo for this:

A year after the constitution of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (HRC), the public will be able to view the exhibition at Logan airport's international terminal. Thirteen themes each illustrated by three pictures are meant to address specific aspects of human rights.

"We were trying to find a way of explaining how essential these rights are," Swiss law professor Walter Kälin told swissinfo in Boston. For Kälin, considered by many to be the spiritual founder of the HRC, human rights are among the most significant advances of modern civilisation.

"But they are under pressure," he added. "On one side from terrorists, and on the other from governments who consider that to fight terrorism they can ignore these fundamental rights." Kälin hopes the exhibition will help people deal with growing cynicism towards human rights. "If we can make people realise the relevance of human rights for themselves and others, we will have reached our goal," he said.

For Switzerland's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Blaise Godet, it is not just in the interest of states to ensure that human rights are respected, but also a duty. Speaking at the official opening of the exhibition on Monday, he said that to reach that goal, nations must give more support to the HRC and forget the meanderings of its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission.

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

2007-03-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back. A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

Officials in Liechtenstein played down the incident. Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. ''It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,'' he said. Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.

Federspiel Found Dead

2007-02-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) -- Juerg Federspiel, best known outside his native Switzerland as the author of ''The Ballad of Typhoid Mary,'' has died. He was 75. Federspiel had been missing since mid-January and his body was found on Sunday close to the border with France and Germany, local officials in his hometown Basel said. No cause of death was given, but Klaus Mannhart of the Basel safety department did not rule out suicide, saying there were no outward signs of injury.

Born near Zurich on June 28, 1931, Federspiel worked as a journalist, film critic, essayist and fiction writer, publishing over 20 novels and collections of stories. His books were translated into six languages and his best-known work in the English-speaking world is ''The Ballad of Typhoid Mary,'' based on the true story of a woman in early 20th-century New York who refused to accept that she was the source of numerous outbreaks of typhoid fever.

Federspiel was strongly influenced in his work by the prose style of the American short story, and he spent repeated periods of his life in New York. It was not immediately known whether Federspiel, who had been suffering from diabetes and Parkinson's disease in recent years, left behind any family.

Switzerland admits mediating Syria-Israel talks

2007-01-22T16:12:00.000-05:00

Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey divulges that her country arbitrated secret peace talks between Israel and Syria, at special press conference for the occasion of her election

Roee Nahmias
Latest Update: 01.22.07, 20:19
Original Article at: YNETNEWS

Switzerland mediated the secret peace talks between Israel and Syria which were exposed in the media last week, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey admitted Monday.

The recently elected Federal Council president revealed her country’s role in the Damascus-Jerusalem contacts during a press conference held for the occasion of her presidential appointment, Swiss media reported.

Former Foreign Ministry Director General Dr. Alon Liel was the Israeli representative at the unofficial talks, opposite Ibrahim Soliman , a Syrian American with close ties to Damascus.

Speaking to reporters at the Netanya Academic College last week, Dr. Liel admitted that the talks were mediated by a European country, whose identity he refused to divulge.

“Our only way of ascertaining that our counterparts were serious was sending someone to Damascus nearly every month to verify this,” Liel explained. He described the mediator as “a super-professional, super responsible European dignitary.”

Confirming Liel’s statements, Calmy-Rey said Monday that the mediator was in Syria at present, adding that Switzerland’s foreign affairs secretary would depart for Damascus next week.

Calmy-Rey served as Switzerland’s foreign minister last year and made multiple visits to Israel . She was known to make frequent non-neutral, activist comments which were not always well-received in Israel, and which contradicted the neutral stance of previous Swiss foreign ministers.

She made particular efforts to advance the recognition of Magen David Adom by the International Red Cross.

Her activism earned criticism within Switzerland as well, as her activism was often perceived as deviated from her country’s traditional policy of neutrality. She currently holds the topmost position in Switzerland’s political system.

The Swiss government, which represents the state’s various cantons, comprises a multi-party coalition, making up a seven-member executive council which is newly elected each year.

'Syria sincere about peace'
In a rare interview with Ynet from his home in a Washington suburb this weekend, Syrian representative in the talks Ibrahim Soliman said that talks were held with the knowledge and support of the administrations in both Jerusalem and Damascus.

"Syria wanted to make peace with Israel, Syria wanted to build relations with the United States; President Assad said time and again that he wanted to have good relations with the United States. He extended his hand in friendship and peace to Israel and the US, and they turned him down,” Suleiman said.

Soliman was scheduled to address the Israeli public for the first time next week, in a speech at the Herzliya conference, as the special guest of Dr. Uzi Arad, chief diplomatic consultant to the prime minister during Benjamin Netanyahu’s term. However, when his efforts were publicized, Soliman, who believes strongly that media exposure sabotages diplomatic negotiations, decided to cancel his visit.

First Published: 01.22.07, 20:08

The Kick NYC (The Universal Language) Trailer

2006-12-11T15:52:00.000-05:00

For all you Soccer fans in New York, this is the first trailer of our planned documentary of soccer in New York. The movie shows how Football, as it's called in the world outside the USA brings together people from all walks of life, different cultural backgrounds, ethnicity, beliefs and social environments, all united by a single ball and two - mostly improvised goals. If you live in or around New York and have a special soccer story to tell or want to show off your skills on camera, please contact us. We will be shooting all year long in 2007.

A German Goes His Way in America

2006-12-01T12:57:00.000-05:00

This is definite proof that Germans can be very funny. It is originally from German TV NDR and maybe the funniest polit spoof i've ever seen on the internet! Enjoy.

Human Rights Council: Switzerlands Meisterstueck

2006-03-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

The resolution is accepted: Picture from behind the Swiss delegation in the General Assembly hall.

They only joined the United Nations a bit more than three years ago, but today was proof that Switzerland can make itself and its ideas heard at the UN: A brainchild of Swiss human rights expert Walter Kaelin and high prioriety for Switzerlands agenda at the UN, the General Assembly today moved to creat a new human rights council which replaces the human rights commission in Geneva. Higher standards, less members, more rotation, better protection of the rights and a clear committment to upheld the human rights for every member in the council is what the new organisation will bring. The USA, Israel and the Marshall Island voted against it, the rest of the world pretty much can agree. Whether US ambassador John Bolton will be right and we will see human rights violators on the council, remians to be seen. For now, the UN can start to clean up and renew its human rights machinery. High time.

Why the Swiss Have a Good Shot at the World Cup

2006-02-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

For football, I'd do anything, and I mean soccer, of course. Even this:
Zigarrenbaron und Fussballfreaks on Blick Online. For more info about the movie project "The Kick - NYC", write to me, any input, sponsoring ideas and alliances are welcome. It's little known, but a fact, that for some reason many Swiss were involved in the beginning of building up national and then international leagues and tournaments. FC St. Gall, for example is the oldest Soccer Club on the continental Europe. Or ask Peter Brunschweiler about South Africa. Also in our little team in NYC, the Swiss are overrepresented with about a fourth of all members. So if it runs deep through the Swiss soul, even abroad, to pass that ball, why shouldn't they have a fair change to go somewhere during the World Cup this summer in Germany?

"More Holes than a Swiss Cheese"

2006-02-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

Just keeping an eye out for the swiss reputation in the USA. Here's somebody at Human Events
slashing Marty's report badly. The Americans just hate it when the Europeans tell them what to do.

"In addition, the United Nations, with its hugely discredited human rights apparatus in tow, could not resist the opportunity to take a swipe at the United States. Louise Arbour, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, launched a fierce attack on America's "so-called war on terrorism," condemning U.S. interrogation techniques and the rendition of terrorist suspects. While millions languish under the boot of brutal dictatorships from Rangoon to Pyongyang to Tehran, the UN’s chief concern on its "Human Rights Day" last December was U.S. tactics in the battle against the most barbaric terrorist movement in modern history.

The Council of Europe Report

The European Parliament's investigation follows a major inquiry by the Council of Europe, which published its initial findings in late January. In presenting his report, Dick Marty, the Council’s Rapporteur, condemned the "gangster-style methods" of the Bush Administration, stating that "individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and all rights, and transported to different destinations in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered degrading treatment and torture."

On closer examination however, Marty's case is paper-thin and lacks any concrete evidence. If this case were presented in a court of law, it would be dismissed out of hand. In the words of Denis MacShane, the UK's former Minister for Europe, the report has "more holes than a Swiss cheese."

Marty's report contains no primary source documentation and relies entirely upon media accounts. It is filled with conjecture, innuendo, and a barely disguised sneering contempt for the U.S. approach to the war on terrorism. For example, Marty concludes that "the current U.S. Administration seems to start from the principle that the principles of the rule of law and human rights are incompatible with efficient action against terrorism," a clear misrepresentation of the U.S. position.

Significantly, the Council of Europe's report admits, "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret CIA detention centers in Romania, Poland or any other country." It cites the findings of an investigation appointed by the Romanian Parliament and conducted by OADO, a human rights NGO, that "do not seem to provide any evidence of such centers." Nevertheless, the report freely cites rumors and circumstantial and highly ambiguous facts as justification for condemning U.S. efforts to protect itself and its allies against terrorist attacks. ... "

Swiss investigator says US is 'outsourcing torture'

2006-01-28T14:02:00.000-05:00

By Boston Globe's Farah Stockman | January 25, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A Swiss investigator for the Council of Europe said he is collecting mounting evidence that the United States has flown more than 100 terrorism suspects through Europe in recent years to countries where they could be tortured.

Dick Marty, who is charged with investigating reports of CIA prisoner transfers and detentions in Europe, called it ''highly unlikely" that European intelligence services were not aware of the practice, which he referred to as ''outsourcing torture."
Marty released an interim assessment in Strasbourg, France, yesterday that said he needed more time to determine whether secret CIA prisons had ever existed in Europe, as the Washington Post reported in November. But he said there was reason to continue the probe. Marty said he needed time to analyze flight logs of private planes used by the CIA in Europe and satellite imagery of airbases in Romania and other locations that were allegedly used as secret prisons, which he just received on Monday.

He also cited the need to find out more about allegations published this month by Switzerland's SonntagsBlick newspaper, that detention centers had existed in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Ukraine, as well as Romania and Poland.
The newspaper said Swiss intelligence services had intercepted a fax from the Egyptian Ministry of European Affairs to the Egyptian Embassy in London in November listing those countries as past locations of secret detention centers. The Swiss government has since set up an investigation into how the information made it into the press.
Yesterday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed Marty's interim assessment as ''the same old reports wrapped up in some new rhetoric."

But others said the European probe underscores how the United States risks alienating crucial allies in the war on terror by using tactics that human rights groups have condemned for decades. ''It's embarrassing that the Council of Europe is investigating practices of the United States, of the CIA," said Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, who has asked the House International Relations Committee to set up a probe into the alleged secret prisoner transfers. ''The United States should be leading the effort to investigate violations of human rights, not being dragged by Europe to acknowledge the outsourcing of torture, which has been the US policy."

Swiss may have known about secret CIA prisons

2006-01-09T19:14:00.000-05:00

...or is it just a swiss media hype - a strom in a teacup?

The Swiss intelligence community has allegedly been aware of secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe for nearly two months, according to leaked documents.

The intelligence services are refusing to comment on the affair, revealed at the weekend by the SonntagsBlick newspaper.
According to the SonntagsBlick, Swiss military intelligence intercepted a fax received by the Egyptian embassy in London supposedly confirming the existence of the detention centres.

The message was picked up by the secret service's Onyx satellite listening system on November 10, just three days after the Council of Europe launched its investigation into allegations that the CIA was running secret interrogation centres in Europe.

The non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch had claimed shortly beforehand that American intelligence services were interrogating suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network at these centres.

The NGO also claimed that American planes had carried prisoners from Kabul to Polish and Romanian military facilities on at least two occasions.

The Egyptian fax stated that 23 Iraqi and Afghan citizens had been transferred to a Romanian military base near the port of Constanza for interrogation purposes. It added that similar detention centres had been set up in Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

The SonntagsBlick's story is based on a document leaked from military intelligence. The complete contents of the report are classified as "secret".

Jean-Blaise Defago, a spokesman for the defence ministry, declined to comment on the contents of the document, saying only that the authorities did not know how the newspaper had got hold of it.

He told swissinfo that Defence Minister Samuel Schmid had ordered an inquiry and confirmed that legal steps were being considered. The parliament's control committee, which oversees military intelligence, has been informed of the leak.

Dick Marty, who is leading the Council of Europe's investigation into the prison allegations, is cautious about the SonntagsBlick's revelations.

"I cannot say whether this is an authentic document, and furthermore the fax relays information confirming things we already knew," he told swissinfo."But it seems inappropriate to me to talk of absolute proof. It is the kind of scoop I was expecting to see and I'm sure there will be plenty more."

A more pressing concern in his view is how the document came to light."How is it that the Swiss intelligence services are intercepting messages between Cairo and the Egyptian embassy in London?" he asked. "Or is it another foreign [security] service that passed on the information to Switzerland and then to the SonntagsBlick?"

swissinfo, Scott Capper

Switzerland remains among least corrupt nations

2005-12-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

On International Anti-Corruption Day, Transparency International (TI) tells Swissinfo that corruption remains a problem in Switzerland. Here's what the survey finds:

The Global Corruption Barometer, based on a 69-nation survey, shows that the Swiss public have the least confidence in politics, business and the media.

Just one per cent of the Swiss respondents admitted they had paid a bribe over the last 12 months. However, Schwübel complains that there have been very few criminal convictions for corruption since the law was tightened in 2000.

Political parties were perceived as by far the most corrupt institutions in society in 45 of the 69 countries surveyed, including Switzerland.

The private sector and the media are next in line for lack of Swiss public trust.

However, sectors such as the police, customs, the legal system and tax authorities are considered trustworthy in Switzerland, unlike in many other countries.

"Swiss Roots" Makes First Media Splash

2005-11-22T17:25:00.000-05:00

After more than a year of deliberations, the brain child of the Swiss consulate in New York, a project called "Swiss Roots" makes the headlines in the USA, at least in Wisconsin. "Swiss Roots" aims to build bridges between the Swiss and the Americans and lets more than a million Americans look up their Swiss roots. The following article and picture were published by The Monroe Times. The picture shows Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, talking with Lukas Fitze and Ambassador Raymond Loretan, Consul General of Switzerland.

Swiss roots firmly anchored in American soil
By Ellen Williams-Masson

NEW GLARUS -- Chevrolet may be as American as apple pie, but the automotive legend, like more than 1 million U. S. citizens, has Swiss origins that emphasize common interests, a shared history and more importantly, a shared future between the United States and Switzerland.

"Especially after the war in Iraq, there has been a decrease of understanding between Americans and Europeans, including in Switzerland," Ambassador Raymond Loretan, Consul General of Switzerland, explained. "We could see in Europe a rise in anti-Americanism. The project 'Swiss Roots' is a way to address this problem at the level of people-to-people."

Loretan spoke to a group of Swiss and the Swiss-minded at the New Glarus Hotel Monday, not in his official role as Ambassador but as the co-chairman of Swiss Roots, an initiative program to connect Swiss and American people.

"What we want to achieve with this project is (to allow) American and Swiss people to get in touch with each other to confirm or rediscover that the values that we are defending are the same -- the basic values like individual freedom, human rights and democracy," Loretan said. "These values today are challenged in the world and we think that only together we will be able to make them prevail."

Swiss Roots seeks to establish links between the Swiss, Swiss-Americans and those of Swiss affinity. In order to accomplish this goal, the organization is building a Web site where people may research their Swiss genealogy, contact Swiss families who share their name and learn about all things Swiss.

Promotional events are planned throughout 2006 in the five regions of the United States with the highest Swiss populations: California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New York. A Swiss Postal Bus roadshow and Pro Helvetia cultural program will connect the regional events and the bus will appear locally with a variety of Swiss-themed activities for the Wilhelm Tell festival in New Glarus and Cheese Days in Monroe in September of 2006.

Swiss Roots shares many goals with the Swiss Center of North America and may turn over management of the Swiss Roots Web site to the SCNA after 2006. Kaye Gmur of the New Glarus-based SCNA said her organization is delighted to have been selected to work with Swiss Roots.

"Out of all the places in the country with Swiss populations and traditional Swiss events, they picked New Glarus and Monroe," Gmur said. "In Green County, if you are Swiss, then you know it and celebrate it, but many people around the country aren't aware and we want people to make that connection back to Switzerland."

Numerous regional and international businesses are of Swiss origin or have Swiss ties, including Nestlé, General Casualty Insurance, UBS Financial Services, Joseph Huber Brewing Company, The Swiss Colony and Roth Käse. And Louis Chevrolet, the Swiss mechanical genius who designed the first car endowed with his name, will be forever linked with the American icons "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet."

Swiss choose Siegel for 2006 Eurovision

2005-11-09T14:38:00.000-05:00

This is an insult for every Swiss songwriter. Couldn't they find anybody who is less pathetic than Siegel? does that man have an everlasting contract for evercheesy songs for an ever same contest? Have these dear people at Swiss TV no mercy for us viewers? Progress is the word, folks. The following can be found at doteurovision:

Eurovision song contest veterans Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger will compose the Swiss entry to the 2006 contest.

Composers from seven countries (Spain, the UK, France, Malta, Germany, Canada and Switzerland) submitted songs to broadcasters SF DRS, TSR and TSI. A national jury then had the final say on which song would represent Switzerland in Athens.

Swiss TV issued an open call to find performers for next year. The broadcasters are looking for “a performer with a strong voice, extensive live performance experience and a great stage presence.” A shortlist of performers is under consideration, as soon as the final choice has been made, Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 will be presented to the public.

Toni Wachter, Head of the Swiss delegation, remarked: “It goes without saying that we will also be considering strong Swiss voices among the possible performers.”

Ralph Siegel has written 17 Eurovision final songs and has won once in 1982 when Nicole sang ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden”. His songs have ended in second place three times.

Lyricist Meinunger is also no stranger to the contest, having seen 15 songs make the final of the contest. In 2005, he co-wrote ‘Cool Vibes’ for Estonian group Vanilla Ninja. When the song ended in eighth place, it secured a place in the 2006 final for Switzerland.

Source: SF-DRS

UNHCR Disappointed with Swiss Restrictions on Asylum

2005-09-29T15:35:00.000-04:00

While the Swiss accepted plans to open the labor market, they are about to pass a very strict law on asylum, despite rapidly falling numbers of applicants. The UN Human Rights Agency even says the law might violate the Human Rights charter. Here's the UN press release:

Despite a falling number of asylum applications, restrictive legislation being adopted by Switzerland could make access by genuine refugees to the country exceedingly difficult, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

“This provision is amongst the strictest in Europe, UNHCR Spokesperson Ron Redmond told a briefing in Geneva today. “We are concerned that …this law could result in some deserving cases being denied access to international protection,” he added, noting the new need for valid travel or identity documents.

“We should not forget that people trying to enter a country without documentation may have valid reasons to do so,” he said. “It is often not possible for people fleeing for their lives to obtain such documents,” he said, adding that the UNHCR has repeatedly voiced its concerns relating to this type of asylum restriction.

The legislation is not consistent with the rights of refugees to enter without travel documents outlined in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Switzerland was an early signatory. While acknowledging that governments do have the right to control migration flows, Mr. Redmond said the UNHCR will work with the Swiss Government to develop a “fair and effective asylum system.”

Equally disappointing Mr. Redmond said, the Swiss legislation also voted down protection for individuals who though not applying for refugee status, might be fleeing serious harm from an ongoing conflict, making the country out of lockstep with European standards.

Last year there were 14,000 asylum applications to the country, which was 32 per cent lower than in 2003. So far, in 2005 there have only been 4,700 applications, 44 per cent lower than the same period last year, the agency said.

Swiss Are Easing Foreign Workers' Way

2005-09-29T15:31:00.000-04:00

Federal Councillor Joseph Deiss congratulated the Swiss for their courage: Surprisingly, they accepted government plans to open the labor market (Personenfreizuegigkeit). Here's what the New York Times wrote:

Swiss voters supported a referendum in favor of easing restrictions on Eastern European workers, helping to temper the country's image as an alpine fortress at the center of Europe. The referendum, on government plans to open the labor market in stages to the 10 mainly Eastern European nations that joined the European Union in May 2004, passed with 56 percent of the vote. The approval in Switzerland, which is not a European Union member, was the first in Western Europe, and it came amid growing discontent among nations like Germany and France about immigration from Eastern Europe.

Back from Vacation in Paradise: Switzerland

2005-09-23T00:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry for letting you just hang in there - we took a month off and recharged our batteries in Switzerland. As the pictures below will show you, it still is the most beautiful and wonderous place in the world. Lean back and enjoy, we will get into politics again next week... Click on the photos for more info!

Rorschach - The Oasis at Lake Constance

Sunset over the Lake of Constance

Maccagno - Door to the South

Appenzell - Two Roads Lead to Rome

Of Guns and the Swiss Tradition

2005-07-29T09:51:00.000-04:00

Uh oh. Another praise of Switzerland, coming from the gunslingers. Most of the facts are accurate, but to say that crime is "virtually non-existent" in Switzerland is quite overdoing it. Check out the full article at Mens Daily News.

by Eric Ross, Ph.D.

Guns bad, gun laws good, confiscate guns, put gun manufacturers out of business, and let’s all live happily thereafter, crime-free. Right? – Wrong, my dear friend, dead wrong.

Let’s look at Switzerland. Tourists are astonished to see citizens carrying military rifles in public, especially at the time of a rifle competition, Schuetzenfest (shooting festival) in town. You may see men and women, old and young, even children as young as 12, carrying rifles over their shoulders on the streets, right past the police stations. (Make no mistake of trying this at home, in the U.S., as a trigger-happy police SWAT Team, with helicopters, night-vision scopes, and armored vehicles will be called upon you.)

We all heard of those famous brand names, the Swiss banks that don’t bow down to the world’s political powers, the powers which come and go, and the Swiss Army knife, and Swiss Army watch, but this is not what the Swiss military is really known for. The Swiss military has a reputation of having the world’s best marksmen and athletes in its ranks, and it is not a regular army, rather – it’s a citizen’s militia. Between their regular annual tour of duty of two to three weeks per year from ages 20 to 42, Swiss soldiers and officers are obliged to keep their weapons at home, and may practice at the many rifle and pistol ranges managed by local communities. The old tradition of armed citizenry brought the country peace, prosperity and neutrality, which nobody, not even Hitler dared to violate. Nazi armies chose to invade other countries, those with strict gun controls, and easily controlled citizens.

In fact, Switzerland has more firepower per person than any country in the world, and an average Swiss citizen has more firepower than available to combat troops in many armies. Yet, Switzerland is one of the safest places on the planet, a country where crime is virtually non-existent.

Swiss Federal Police Office data often sounds almost too good to be true, with no homicides at all reported in Geneva. Most crime in Switzerland, about 70 percent, is attributed to foreigners. The country had a rate of 1.2 homicides per 100,000 population in 1997, with only a fraction of those committed with firearms, and 36 robberies per 100,000. In 2000, the total number of murders in Switzerland was 69, of which 40 were committed with firearms. That’s a rate of 0.57 per 100,000, or 2.5 times less than in England.

Bill Maher is Swiss this Weekend!

2005-07-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

Let this be the first blog to support all efforts to make political satirist Bill Maher an honorary Swiss Citizen! The man deserves it. Now that's promotion! Thanks, Bill!

By FRAZIER MOORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Comedian Bill Maher is chuckling, but miffed.

He's miffed, he tells the crowd, after "apparently voting in a completely different election than most of the country. I thought we were having a rational discussion about how best to protect ourselves in perilous times. And actually, it was a referendum on boys kissing."

There he goes again. And fans of his impish insightfulness will surely delight in this new comedy special, "Bill Maher: I'm Swiss," which premieres 10 p.m. Saturday on HBO.

Taped before a live audience in Portland, Ore., the 90-minute concert follows right on the heels of last November's election.

And, at least for the losing side, Maher brings brilliant clarity to the outcome. (Declaring himself embarrassed by our nation's direction, Maher shares his secret for saving face: He will claim to be Swiss.)

The famously iconoclastic comic (who returns next month with a new season of HBO's weekly "Real Time with Bill Maher") also tackles homeland security, our culture's sexual squeamishness, the war on drugs and the war in Iraq.

"I'm not one of those people who says that Iraq is Vietnam," Maher assures his audience, explaining slyly, "In Vietnam, Bush had an exit strategy."

It's a righteous performance, and -- for slightly less than half the electorate, at least -- an exercise in hilarious good sense.

Swiss Celebrate National Day in NYC

2005-07-21T11:33:00.000-04:00

Celebrate the Swiss National Day in a Swiss-New York Fashion at Pier 54 on the Hudson, July 30, Noon - 10 pm
New York, July 2005. The Swiss community in New York for the second time invites all New Yorkers and friends and neighbours to celebrate Switzerland's 714th birthday on Saturday, July 30, at Pier 54, from noon to 10pm.
For more information go to Swisspeaks.

African Dictators, Live 8 and Swiss Bank Accounts

2005-07-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

Here is an excerpt of what Walter Williams writes in the Jewish World Review. He has a point, I guess, but it is tiresome to have the term "swiss bank account" equal "ill gotten money", no?

"The worst thing that can be done is to give more foreign aid to African nations. Foreign aid goes from government to government. Foreign aid allows Africa's corrupt regimes to buy military equipment, pay off cronies and continue to oppress their people. It also provides resources for its leaders to set up "retirement" accounts in Swiss banks.

What Africa needs, foreign aid cannot deliver, and that's elimination of dictators and socialist regimes, establishment of political and economic freedom, rule of law and respect for individual rights. Until that happens, despite billions of dollars of foreign aid, Africa will remain a basket case. easy."

US envoy regrets death of Swiss-Iraqi man

2005-07-06T15:19:00.000-04:00

The United States ambassador to Bern has expressed regret to Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey over last week's killing of a Swiss-Iraqi man.

During a meeting with US envoy Pamela Willeford on Tuesday, Calmy-Rey expressed her "dismay" about the fatal shooting and repeated a call for a rapid clarification of the circumstances.

Salah Jmor, who came from the Kurdish north of Iraq, was killed near the capital, Baghdad, last Tuesday as his car travelled past a US patrol.

The foreign ministry two days ago called on the US authorities to launch an investigation into what appeared to be a mistake by the US army.

Jmor, aged 49 and of Kurdish origin, died on June 28 in a car being driven by his brother on a motorway near Baghdad.
According to his family, he was hit by a bullet fired by a US soldier from a convoy of three military vehicles.

"I was driving when I heard a sharp snap. My brother collapsed. I did not even know who fired because we were slightly behind the Americans... Then I saw the blood flowing," said Abdel Jabbar. Jabbar told the French news agency AFP that two or three soldiers got out of their vehicles, saw his brother and simply said that they were sorry. An ambulance then arrived and took Jmor away from the scene.

NZZ ranking 5th, before NY Times

2005-07-06T09:42:00.000-04:00

Think that The New York Times is the best paper newspaper in the world? Think again. A Swiss consultancy asked 1,000 respondents in 50 countries what newspaper they thought was the world’s best, and the Times ranked a dismal sixth — down from first place just two years ago. The Financial Times came in first this year, and the Journal was number two.

Complete top-ten list after the jump.

1. Financial Times (U.K.) 19.4% (20.7% in 2003% in 2003)

2. The Wall Street Journal (U.S.) 17.0% (7.5% in 2003)

3. Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany) 16.2% (10.9% in 2003)

4. Le Monde (France) 12.5% (2.1% in 2003)

5. Neue Zuercher Zeitung (Switzerland) 12.1% (15.0% in 2003)

6. The New York Times (U.S.) 8.1% (21.3% in 2003)

7. International Herald Tribune (France) 5.2% (11.3% in 2003)

8. Asahi Shimbun (Japan) 2.6% (0.4% in 2003)

9. El Pais (Spain) 1.9% (4.8% in 2003)

10. Corriere della Sera (Italy) 1.3% (0.7% in 2003)

Other papers 3.7% (3.8% in 2003)

(Internationale Medienhilfe)

Klee's Art Finally Finds a Home in Switzerland

2005-06-22T14:17:00.000-04:00

The Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne,
originally uploaded by romangame.

On Monday, the Zentrum Paul Klee opened in Berne. The German painter was refused Swiss citizenship after fleeing from the Nazis, because it was feared that if his art should "take root in Switzerland, it would insult real art and cause good taste to deteriorate."

Sixty-six years later, the work of the painter, now considered one of the greatest modern artists, has found a permanent home in Bern, the Swiss capital that finally accepted him.

"This is a belated reconciliation (of Switzerland) with Klee," says the artist's 65-year old grandson, Alexander Klee.

The Zentrum Paul Klee is much more than a traditional fine arts museum. The Italian architect Renzo Piano's three waves nestling in a landscape sculpture are more of an interdisciplinary cultural centre.

The world's most comprehensive collection of works by Paul Klee will be the mainstay of the museum. Marvel at the life and work of one of the foremost artists of the 20th century and experience Paul Klee's approx. 4,000 paintings, watercolors, drawings, puppets, sketches and other works of his life's work displayed at the Zentrum Paul Klee.

Home of the Free: Switzerland

2005-06-22T13:02:00.000-04:00

A detailed praise of the Swiss system can be found at Frontpagemag. The article by J.P. Zmirak, an author and economist is a bit idealistic about the Swiss and excludes certain realities (i. e. immigration policies), but it feels good to read it. Here are two excerpts:

"We can hold Switzerland up to a world striving for guidance, as one of the most shining examples in history of spiritual greatness within physical smallness and as the most vital and convincing refutation of the assertion that the fundamental problems of mass civilization, of democracy and of the moral crisis of the West are insoluble."

Wow. And this:

"The tradition of direct democracy by referenda in all the cantons vividly reminds each politician that authority in Switzerland does not descend from above, as the monarchs of Europe used to assert. Rather, it rises from the people. Direct democracy is itself a standing rebuke to those politicians who would transfer key decisions about the lives of citizens to unelected, supranational bureaucracies.

Nice.

Switzerland Wants Free Trade Pact With U.S.

2005-06-20T13:49:00.000-04:00

Finally, the U.S. press picks up on the Swiss efforts to get a free trade agreement with the U.S. This is what the LA Times reports today:

ZURICH, Switzerland — Switzerland wants a free trade agreement with the U.S. to remove average import duties of 4.5 percent on Swiss processed goods, Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said Monday.

Such an agreement would create preferential access for Swiss exporters to one of their most important markets, Merz said, according to a text of his speech to the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in Zurich.

"The preservation and improvement of the competitiveness of the Swiss economy require a review of the relations between Switzerland and the United States and an analysis of all options," Merz said.

The Finance Minister cited existing free trade agreements between the United States and other countries, saying that they were harming the competitiveness of Swiss industries such as chemicals and watch making. Switzerland is not a member of the 25-country European Union.

Swiss take the rap for human rights wrongs

2005-06-08T18:30:00.000-04:00

Swissinfo reports this rise in xenophobia in Switzerland:

The Council of Europe has praised Switzerland's commitment to human rights but had some strong criticism for its asylum policy.

Alvaro Gil-Robles, the council's Commissioner for Human Rights, said he was particularly worried by "attitudes of rejection towards foreign nationals".

In a report published on Wednesday, Gil-Robles said he was satisfied that Switzerland is a country that ensures "a very high degree of respect for human rights within its borders, while actively and persuasively promoting respect for human rights throughout the world".

But certain aspects of the country's policy towards asylum seekers left much to be desired and fell short of the obligation to respect human rights, he said.

Gil-Robles singled out the fact that asylum seekers were only given 48 hours to present their identity papers to the authorities, saying that this undermined human rights.

"Such a short time-limit is unreasonable; one cannot, as Swiss law does, allow the mere lack of identity documents or failure to present them to have adverse consequences for the asylum-seeker," he said.

He added that if an asylum seeker was unable to present their papers within the designated time, then his or her application should not be adversely affected, as this was contrary to international law.

Gil-Robles also criticised the practice of asking asylum seekers wishing to appeal against an immediate rejection to pay SFr600 ($482). If they were unable to pay this sum, the appeal was declared inadmissible, without consideration of the merits.

The commissioner complained about proposals to stop paying welfare benefits to those whose applications had been rejected, saying these would "plunge [people] into poverty and demean them in their own eyes and other people's eyes".

As in other reports into Switzerland's human rights' record, the police were criticised for their inappropriate behaviour targeted "mainly at dark-skinned people". Gil-Robles said that while it was understandable that police officers perhaps experienced a "culture shock" when dealing with people of other races, more had to be done to expose them to other cultures.

The rise of racism and xenophobia in the country was also highlighted as a problem.

Swiss Say Yes to Schengen

2005-06-07T17:48:00.000-04:00

France and the Netherlands have turned their backs on one version of a united Europe, but, defying that rejectionist spirit, with an important vote, Swiss voters have expressed their desire to cozy up closer to their neighbors in the European Union.

In the proudly neutral Swiss Federation, as Switzerland is technically known, decisions on major national policy issues, by tradition and by law, are put to nationwide referendum votes. This time, 54.6 percent of Swiss voters chose to join the so-called Schengen zone of 15 other countries whose citizens may travel between the zone's member states without the usual passport checks at their borders. (Basler Zeitung and Neue Zuercher Zeitung)

The vote means Swiss law-enforcement officials will also work more closely with their counterparts in the other Schengen-zone countries as far as cross-border security is concerned. The other countries in the passport-free zone include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Swiss President Samuel Schmid called "the people's yes to Schengen" a "confirmation of a bilateral approach to Europe." In a joint statement, top E.U. officials said of the Swiss vote, "On the one hand, freedom of movement will obviously be facilitated; on the other hand, the cooperation on internal security can be strengthened." Sounding grateful for even a hint of support for what E.U. backers have long called "the European project," Germany's interior minister, Otto Schily, said that Swiss voters had given "an important, positive signal for Europe at a time when Euro-skepticism -- hopefully only temporarily -- is gaining the upper hand." (China Daily)

The vote was not without heated debate, however, some of which echoed recent French and Dutch argument over the tanked E.U. constitution. The yes vote on Schengen, political scientist Rene Schwok told the Swiss daily 24 Heures, was "[f]irst of all, a little yes." It signified, he said, "that there isn't a majority in this country that's [really] in favor of joining" the European Union.

He added that in offering Switzerland membership in the free-travel zone, the European Union had guaranteed the federal government in Bern that the country would give up none of its sovereignty. But that gesture, Schwok pointed out, paradoxically actually weakens the European Union in relation to little Switzerland, for the former normally diminishes the respective sovereign powers of countries that decide to join its multistate institutions. This time, though, in effect, in offering Schengen-zone membership to Switzerland, the European Union made it attractive for the country to take part in the free-travel zone, Schwok noted, but not necessarily to aspire -- someday -- to full E.U. membership. (24 Heures)

That would be just as well for the more conservative, mostly rural Swiss who voted against taking part in the Schengen agreement. As they saw it, echoing the fears and criticisms of French and Dutch voters who rejected the E.U. constitution, "the removal of border controls [will leave] Switzerland vulnerable to greater crime and economic migrants who would undercut high local wages and steal jobs." (Financial Times)

Adamov and the Kremlins Use of the Legal System

2005-06-03T12:33:00.000-04:00

The Eurasia Daily Monitor in Washington features the following interesting article about former Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov. Note the last sentence of the article!

Just as the Khodorkovsky process was reaching its finale, a new spectacle was gearing up in Bern, Switzerland. On May 2 ex-nuclear power minister Yevgeny Adamov was detained by the Swiss authorities in light of a U.S. arrest warrant. A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh charged him and business partner Mark Kaushansky with 20 counts of money laundering and tax evasion. The 66-year old Adamov is accused of purloining some $15 million from funds the U.S. Department of Energy gave to the ministry's research institute, which Adamov headed from 1986 until his appointment as minister in 1998. Adamov was in Bern to help his 30-year old daughter, Irina, whose $250,000 bank account had been frozen as part of the same investigation (Rossiiskie vesti, May 12, Nezavisimaya gazeta, May 30, Nucleonics Week, May 12).

In March 2001 the State Duma's Anti-Corruption Commission released a report accusing Adamov of corruption, including reference to his buying a house in Pittsburgh. He was fired as minister, but no criminal charges were lodged against him.

Adamov declined speedy expedition to the United States. But his U.S. lawyer, Lanny Breuer, told Kommersant on May 13, "Adamov wants to come to the United States and answer all questions there as a free man, in order to dispel all the rumors tainting his name. But Dr. Adamov and I would like to know the position of the Russian government, because Dr. Adamov is privy to a lot of secrets."

Dmitry Cherkashin, Russia's ambassador to Switzerland, said, "He served as Russia's nuclear-energy minister; and his extradition would threaten Russian national-security interests" (RIA-Novosti, May 23). The fear is that as part of a plea bargain Adamov might spill the beans on Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran. There was an angry debate on the floor of the State Duma on May 12. Deputy Sergei Abeltsev said that Adamov should be assassinated in his jail cell. His Liberal Democratic Party of Russia colleague Alexei Mitrofanov merely recommended abduction.

The Russian government protested that they had not been informed of Adamov's impending arrest and claimed sovereign immunity for him as an ex-minister. When that did not work, they came up with a better idea – let's prosecute him ourselves! Moscow's Basmanny Court issued a warrant for his arrest on May 14, and the government promptly filed an extradition request on May 17, claiming priority under an 1873 Swiss-Russian treaty. (The U.S. has not yet filed a formal extradition request.) But on May 20 Adamov declined an invitation to accept expedited extradition to Russia, which suggests that he may be holding out for a "get out of jail free" card on his return (Kommersant, May 27)

Taken together, the Khodorkovsky and Adamov cases starkly reveal the utter cynicism of the Russian authorities in their use of the legal system. At least the Adamov arrest suggests that the Swiss are finally getting serious about tackling money laundering.

Scientists develop a 'trust spray'

2005-06-03T12:15:00.000-04:00

Newindpress reports this story from the fields of science. Who cares about stem cells when we have hormones, huh?

LONDON - Using what are called love hormones, scientists claim to have developed a revolutionary nasal spray that will have the power to make a person more trusting.

A team of American and Swiss scientists has found that after a few spouts of the spray containing the hormone oxytocin, humans were significantly more trusting.

The team also suggested the spray could be used as a therapy for trust-diminishing conditions, such as autism or some social phobias, reported the Scottish daily ‘The Scotsman’. The research showed that after using the spray, volunteers became more willing to risk losing money to a stranger. Volunteers who sniffed oxytocin gave away their money much more easily.

Even animal studies have proved that oxytocin takes away the unwillingness to approach one another, "which is a parallel with trust in humans", said Michael Kosfeld, one of the scientists involved in the research. "Along with psychotherapy it could have a positive effect," he said.

Oxytocin is widely known as "love hormone", and is released during orgasm. It has also been proved to be released when cuddling or touching takes place, and women release it in labour and during breastfeeding.

After the experimentation, scientists have claimed to show that increasing the amount of the hormone present in the body could directly affect the trust factor.

Swiss to vote on passport zone

2005-05-31T13:07:00.000-04:00

Reuters offered this short summary on the upcoming vote in Switzerland:

ZURICH Swiss voters are expected to support joining the European Union's passport-free zone in a referendum on Sunday that will challenge Switzerland's reputation as an isolated fortress at the heart of the EU.

Membership of the "Schengen zone" would mean sharing border security and police information with surrounding EU countries, something supporters said would protect Switzerland, but critics said would undermine its sovereignty and centuries-old neutrality.

After France's rejection of the EU constitution, Swiss voters will give another glimpse of public feelings about the EU when they head to the polls for a regular referendum.

The government and industry favor Schengen and another treaty with the EU to coordinate asylum claims across Europe.

The EU countries that are part of Schengen pool information on wanted people, prompting fears that criminals listed by the zone's shared data bank might seek refuge in Switzerland.

"We can't allow the image of Switzerland to become that of a haven for rogues," said Damien Cottier, head of the Schengen support campaign at Economiesuisse.

But the nationalist Swiss People's Party, though part of the coalition government, has campaigned for a no vote, with a stress on Swiss independence that has resonated with some voters.

India to raise permanent UN seat with Swiss

2005-05-27T22:33:00.000-04:00

Looks like the Swiss have become quite savy of knowing how to throw their weight around at the UN. This was in the Financial Express today:

GENEVA, MAY 27: As part of its intensified efforts to garner support for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, India will raise the issue with Switzerland which has stuck to a neutral position and maintained that it will not endorse any candidacy as long as the modalities of the council’s enlargement were not settled.

President A P J Abdul Kalam, who is on a four-day state visit, will put forth India’s position during wide-ranging talks with his Swiss counterpart Verena Schmid who will also be hosting a banquet in his honour.

The focus will be on boosting Indo-Swiss trade ties which were "definitely below potential", secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, Shashi U Tripathi told accompanying Indian journalists. She said the two sides would discuss ways of strengthening cooperation in science and technology.

Ogi promotes Sports for Peace in NYC

2005-05-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

Seeking to reap the benefits of sports for peacebuilding, socio-economic development and health, a consortium of athletes, United Nations officials, government leaders and sports federations is meeting today at UN Headquarters in New York to adopt a policy declaration aimed at national governments around the world.

The International Working Group on Sport for Development and Peace was established during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens in an effort to combine sport and play programmes worldwide with development policy. 2005 was proclaimed the Year of Sport and Physical Education by the UN General Assembly.

The Group will make specific recommendations on how governments can incorporate Sport for Development initiatives into their policies and development assistant programmes, adopting a declaration of commitment to ensure that Sport for Development recommendations are reflected in national policies and receive government funding.

Participants in the day-long meeting will include Louise Fréchette, UN Deputy-Secretary-General; Adolf Ogi, Special Adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sport for Development and Peace; Stephen Owen, Canadian Minister of State for Sport and Dr. Dennis Bright, Minister of Youth and Sport of Sierra Leone.

The International Working Group is supported by the Governments of Switzerland, Canada and Norway, along with the UN Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP) and the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) chairs the initiative.

Foreign policy puts business before aid

2005-05-24T14:31:00.000-04:00

Swiss State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Michael Ambuehl,
originally uploaded by romangame.

I post this as some background information on the visit of State Secretary Michael Ambuehl visit to the U.N. and New York. Ambuehl will speak before the Security Council on Thursday. This article was published by Swissinfo.

Experts say the government new foreign policy strategy puts business interests before the traditional priorities of development aid and human rights.

Unveiling the new strategy this week, the foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, said the focus in future would be on strengthening ties with countries such as the United States.

Development aid spending is to be frozen at its current level of around 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product. Critics say this effectively means Switzerland has no intention of even trying to reach the United Nations' Millennium goal of increasing aid spending to 0.56 per cent of GDP by 2010.

The strategy also makes much of Swiss plans to forge bilateral free trade agreements with the US, China, India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa (see related item).

Calmy-Rey's state secretary Michael AmbÃ¼hl was at pains to point out that this did not mean that Switzerland was cooling towards the European Union, with which it already has numerous bilateral agreements. He described the EU as the "priority" for Switzerland, while ties with the other countries were "complementary".

Tightrope

"I think it's a tightrope. On the one side, the government is trying to strengthen the economy, and on the other to keep focused on promoting human rights," said Daniele Ganser, of the Centre for Security Studies at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

He told swissinfo that the two objectives were not necessarily incompatible, provided economic policy was "intelligent and sustainable". Ganser added that this was why the government was keen to strengthen ties with the superpower, the US.

Fred Tanner at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy said Switzerland's relationship with the US was crucial if it was to have an influence in promoting human rights globally. "It will give Switzerland more say in determining how the Geneva Conventions are interpreted," he told swissinfo.

But what was missing from the strategy document was an affirmation of how important the EU is to Switzerland, said Tanner.

He added that ministers should have been "courageous" enough to mention the EU, even though they were understandably reluctant to do so just two weeks before a controversial vote on joining the Schengen/Dublin accords on police and asylum cooperation.

Trouble ahead

Tanner said the cabinet's decision to ignore recommendations on increasing development aid was also storing up trouble for the future. "This is a serious development because Switzerland repeated to the UN general assembly in New York that it would try to reach the Millennium goals."

Daniele Ganser says a freeze in aid spending was to be expected given that the government was engaged in a massive round of spending cuts.

"The cuts affect all areas, including the army, so it's no surprise that there is no more money for development aid."

Nevertheless, Ganser said he hoped the issue might be revisited. "If Switzerland, as one of world's richest countries, doesn't stick to its own goals, it's going to be difficult to convince other countries to do so."

Klinsmann Names Swiss Chief Scout

2005-05-13T15:52:00.000-04:00

CNN reports the follwoing today:

MUNICH, Germany -- Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann has finalized his backroom staff for the 2006 World Cup with the appointment of Swiss Urs Siegenthaler as chief scout.

The details of Siegenthaler's deal have yet to be confirmed but the 58-year-old will only receive a contract from the host nation until the end of the finals.

He was a member of the coaching staff with the Swiss national team from 1986 to 1988 and has been involved in training coaches in Switzerland for 20 years.

Siegenthaler, a relative unknown, played with Swiss sides Basel, Young Boys Bern and Neuchatel from 1963-1982.

Surprising Transparency on Swiss Gold Sales

2005-05-12T15:57:00.000-04:00

Read this whole interesting article on Resource Investor.

By Tim Wood
12 May 2005 at 03:22 PM EDT

NEW YORK (ResourceInvestor.com) -- A frank speech in by Dr Philipp M Hildebrand of the Swiss National Bank has taken the lid off the country’s controversial disposal of 1,290 tonnes of gold at the turn of the century.

Hildebrand addressed the Institute for International Economics on May 5 in Washington, D.C. on the largest financial transaction in the SNB’s history.

A bullion expert consulted by Resource Investor described the speech as “amazing after-the-event transparency.” He also noted that followers of the gold price suppression conspiracy would be delighted at the timing and structure of the sales which contributed to lows in the gold price.

The expert said that whilst it was clear from the SNB’s Annual Reports that it had used options for its gold sales, it “will be news to almost all.”

Swiss Muslims’ Bridge of Communication Hailed

2005-05-11T12:55:00.000-04:00

This can be found on Islam Online (click on headline of this posting to go there. The article is by
Tamer Abul Einein, IOL Correspondent

GENEVA, May 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Swiss Muslim activists and parliamentarians hailed the establishment of a new Islamic group, “the Swiss-Islamic World Organization”, as a bridge to solidify ties between Switzerland and the Muslim world and a counterweight to rising campaigns of hatred and stereotype against the Swiss Muslims.

“Promoting ties between the Muslim minority in Switzerland and parties playing an influential role in Swiss policies, such as Muslim countries, should be linked through influential groupings, not only through individual efforts,” Daniel Vischer, a Swiss MP of the Greens Party and co-founder of the organization, told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, May 11.

The Swiss-Islamic World Organization was established Monday, May 9, in Zurich with the ultimate goal of enhancing ties between the Muslim minority in Switzerland and the Swiss parties interested in developing cooperation with the Islamic world such as politicians, economists and research bodies.

“The Swiss Muslims have become part and parcel of Swiss society and have played important role in promoting ties with the Islamic world due to their different cultural backgrounds,” Vischer said.

The Swiss MP, a staunch supporter of Arab issues, stressed that Swiss Muslims are no longer seen as immigrants in European country. “They [Muslims] are integrated in Swiss society, which requires measures to preserve their rights, not sideline them on the issues of their interest.”

Islam is the second religion in Switzerland after Christianity. The country is home to 330,000 Muslims representing a sizable 4.5 percent of the country’s some eight million people.

Switzerland in the Spotlight at Washington’s Top Spring Event

2005-05-05T13:22:00.000-04:00

Washington, DC, May 2, 2005 – Switzerland will be this year’s honorary country for the 66th annual Flower Mart on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral May 6 and 7. The family-centered outdoor festival that raises money for the gardens of the National Cathedral attracts twenty thousand visitors and celebrates a different country each year. Switzerland is the only country to have been selected twice for this honor in the last decade, having served in the role the last time in 1996. The wife of Switzerland’s Ambassador to the United States, Mrs. Susanne Blickenstorfer, is serving as honorary chairwoman and will open this year’s event.

“Susanne and I are delighted by the opportunity to present a glimpse of both traditional and modern Switzerland at Washington’s premiere springtime festival,” commented Ambassador Christian Blickenstorfer. “The National Cathedral neighborhood is our home away from home since the Embassy and the residence have been located there for over fifty years, and we are looking forward to greeting friends from the neighborhood as well as meeting new friends from the greater Washington, D.C. area.”

Along with the regular offerings of the Flower Mart, the Swiss Embassy will have an official tent and host a number of attractions featuring Swiss culture, music, art performances, food, entertainment, and flowers. Specific Swiss attractions include a cheese making demonstration with a fondue tasting out of a giant fondue pot, the performance artists of the renowned Swiss “Teatro Dimitri,” short films and lectures on Switzerland, and a chance to win over 200 exciting prizes at the Embassy Tent. There are also activities geared toward children including a craft area and a special cow waiting to be milked. In addition, a variety of plants, herbs, flowers, antiques and other crafts will be on display and for sale at the Flower Mart, along with a climbing wall, moon bounce, and antique carousel for the enjoyment of children of all ages.

Swiss Policies And Turkish Views Differ

2005-05-02T19:47:00.000-04:00

Under the headline "Switzerland: An ignorant approach" the website Turks.US the following article appeared. It is, of course, very biased, but addresses a sensitive issue.

Following Turkish History Organization President Professor Halacoglu's insistent and public rejection of Armenian genocide claims, Switzerland has issued an order for the professor's arrest, and has trying to have Interpol prepare a "red bulletin" for arrest in his name.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul issed a sharp response to the decision by Zurich Canton and some European parliaments to "forbid rejection of the Armenian genocide." Gul, speaking to Hurriyet, said that Europe making a "terrible mistake" and that if they did not realize this, Turkey would "show them their error by revealing the truth." Gul said that he thought Europe was trampling on its own foundations by issuing such decisions, and then queried "Isn't freedom of expression one of the cornerstones of Europe?" FM Gul also said that the decision taken by the Zurich Canton was anathema to the European Agreement on Human Rights.

Not a court-backed decision

Of the moves across Europe to ban outward rejection of the so-called Armenian genocide, Gul said further "There is nothing that has been proven. This is not a court decision. It is a politically motivated decision. How can you arrest a scientist (Professor Halacoglu) for something he is saying?"

FM Gul went on to condemn the poltics of Armenian backed lobbies in European parliaments across the EU.

Loetschberg Tunnel Breakthrough

2005-04-29T13:32:00.000-04:00

Workers Celebrate Breakthrough,
originally uploaded by romangame.

With a final blast through mountain granite, Swiss engineers linked Europe's north and south by completing drilling Thursday for the world's longest overland tunnel a cavernous shaft that burrows under the Swiss Alps and will shave about an hour off the travel time for skiers in Germany heading down to resorts near the Matterhorn.

The 21-mile Loetschberg tunnel is the latest in a string of engineering feats from the Channel Tunnel linking France to England to a bridge spanning Sweden and Denmark that are breaking down natural barriers in an increasingly borderless Europe.

The Loetschberg, set to open to trains in 2007, will be longer than the current overland record-holder Japan's 16.4 mile Hakkoda Tunnel and will come third overall behind the underwater Seikan Tunnel, also in Japan, and the Channel Tunnel.

Copyright: AP

Victorinox Buys Wenger

2005-04-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

The Real Deal: Swiss Army Knife,
originally uploaded by romangame.

Finally we can end all discussions about which one is the real deal: They both are. Smaller, family-run Wenger is bought by Victorinox. The latter is still owned by descendants of Carl Elsener, the inventor of the all-purpose knife. And no, he is not my great great great grandfather, although both our families are citizens of Zug.

DELEMONT, Switzerland Victorinox, of Swiss army knife fame, has purchased its rival manufacturer. The two companies say Victorinox will purchase the smaller, family-run Wenger firm.
The decision gives a needed boost, as both companies have been struggling with slumping sales of Swiss army knives since Nine-Eleven. Airport screeners have been confiscating anything sharp or pointed, including nail files.
The two firms say Wenger needed greater financial backing to restructure and to return to profitability for next year. Wenger will not cut jobs and operations will remain in its current location. The two companies make about 25-point-seven (m) million knives between them each year.

Copyright: Associated Press

The Swiss, Schengen and Immigration

2005-04-20T14:04:00.000-04:00

This can be found in The Washington Times today. Dont forget to vote in June!

Illegal immigration is a hot-button issue in many countries. Now Switzerland is grappling with the problem, which is exacerbated by not being a member of the Schengen accord. All EU member states except Britain and Ireland have signed the Schengen agreement, which removes internal borders. While Switzerland, which is not an EU member, recently signed the Schengen agreement, ratification depends on a nationwide referendum on the treaty in June. Meanwhile, more stringent checks at the French border are giving the authorities in Vallorbe heartburn, as they scramble to cope with an increasing number of transit rail passengers who lack valid Schengen visas. In the last six weeks more than 250 people traveling by train from Italy via Switzerland to France have been refused entry by French border guards at Vallorbe, the last stop before the French border. A 1960 bilateral accord gives French and Swiss police the right to carry out border checks on each other's territories. Under the accord's terms French border-patrol units survey passengers' documents on the Vallorbe station platforms. Police in Vaud canton are then responsible for ensuring that all those denied entry into France are returned to the country from which they entered Switzerland, and are loudly complaining that the extra border controls are making heavy demands on their time.

American Summary of Swiss Bank Settlement

2005-04-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

This is, imo, a pretty sharp summarization of the Swiss bank settlement with Holocaust survivors - from an american viewpoint.
Check out the full article at Global Politician.

In August 1998, Switzerland's two major banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, agreed to set up a $1.25 billion fund to settle claims by holocaust survivors and their relatives. The red-faced Swiss government threw in $210 million. It seems that banks - from the USA to Switzerland - were in no hurry to find the heirs to the murdered Jewish owners of dormant account with billions of dollars in them.

A settlement was reached only when legal action was threatened against the Swiss National Bank and both public opinion and lawmakers in the USA turned against Switzerland. It covers owners of dormant accounts, slave laborers, and 24,000 refugees turned back to certain death at the Swiss border - or their heirs.

A high level international commission, headed by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, identified 54,000 accounts opened by holocaust victims - not before it inspected 350,000 accounts at an outlandish cost, borne by the infuriated banks, of $400 million. A similar - though much smaller ($45 million) settlement was reached with Bank Austria and Creditanstalt of Vienna. Another $2 billion are claimed from 9 French banks.

Five major insurance firms - Allianz AG, AXA, Generali, Zurich and Winterthur Leben - formed an International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance to deal with unresolved insurance claims of holocaust victims. Assicurazioni Generali went ahead and set aside $12 million in a compensation fund. But the claims may total $1 to 4 billion.

Surprisingly, calls for the restitution of Jewish real-estate, property, bank accounts, insurance policies, and art works confiscated by the Nazis and their collaborators are fairly recent. The International Committee on Restitution took until 1999 to appeal to the Austrian government to restore assets to their rightful Jewish owners.

Governments from Austria to France and from Belgium to the Netherlands appointed commissions to investigate Jewish claims. The United Kingdom has posted to the Internet a list of tens of thousands of assets confiscated - mostly from refugee Jews - under the 1939 Trading with the Enemy law.

More than $60 million were set aside by 18 governments in the 1997 London conference on Nazi gold. A French commission, chaired by Jean Matteoli, a resistance fighter, identified $1 billion in expropriated Jewish property, including 40,000 apartments and hundreds of thousands of works of art.

Swiss Watches from Rap Superstar

2005-04-20T13:12:00.000-04:00

Yo, the Swiss claim to fame in hip hop: Erm...watches!

Jay-Z isn’t letting his executive position at Def Jam hold him back from capitalizing from other business ventures. With jewelry staying a top accessory for hip-hop stars, Hova has signed on to release his own line of watches with Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

According to the New York Post, the rapper-turned-executive will unveil a limited line of watches to commemorate his 10th anniversary in the music industry. The watches, which will be available in stainless steel, rose gold or platinum, will cost anywhere from $24,000 to $100,000.

Bad News for Swiss Banking

2005-04-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

The LA TIMES headlines today are taking a look at swiss banks. Government officials have said it for a long time: Swiss banking laws have become tough. The result: Clients go elsewhere.

Swiss Banks No Longer Have It All Locked Up
Generating new money in Switzerland has been like falling off a log for decades. Times change.

By Haig Simonian, Financial Times

ZURICH, Switzerland — The names may differ, but the style remains the same. Marble halls, lifts that transport clients without pressing any buttons, anterooms and taciturn flunkies serving refreshments: Welcome to the world of Swiss private banking.

It is a model that has worked for decades, centuries even, as foreign potentates, politicians and the plain rich have sought a haven for their wealth.

But recently, behind the immaculate facades, signs have emerged that confidence may be slipping. Data are hard to find in an industry noted for discretion. But what evidence there is suggests that Switzerland, once a byword for private banking, is no longer casting its special spell.

The oldest and most traditional banks, such as Pictet and Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva, still bear the names of their founding families. Tightly run by partners bearing unlimited liability, they are under no obligation to publish figures.

Others, such as Zurich's Julius Baer and Vontobel, or Basel-based Sarasin, must be more forthcoming. Though still dominated by founding families, their decisions to issue shares have required more transparency.

Deposits at Sarasin rose just 416 million Swiss francs last year, a mere 1.3% of the 30 billion francs under management. At Julius Baer, a relative upstart tracing its roots back only to 1890, clients actually withdrew 800 million francs, on balance. Nearby Vontobel attracted a net 200 million francs.

"It is difficult to generate new money in Switzerland," said Herbert Scheidt, Vontobel's chief executive.

Even UBS and Credit Suisse Group, the giants of Swiss banking, are struggling at home.

The reasons the flood of foreign money has turned into a trickle lie in tougher controls at the banks and changed attitudes among customers.

New laws on money laundering have eliminated Switzerland's former attractions as a destination for illicit, or just undeclared, money.

Declining personal tax rates in Europe have also reduced the fiscal incentives for stashing money in Swiss accounts. Italy, Belgium, France and Germany have even introduced amnesties to entice wealthy citizens to repatriate funds.

Holding money in Switzerland will become even less appealing after a savings tax on some assets takes effect in July.

Clients, meanwhile, have developed different priorities from the days when asset preservation sufficed. Portfolio performance has gained importance, as has cost consciousness. And not every private bank has delivered.

Moreover, financial pressures have multiplied. The Swiss Bankers' Assn. figures the additional staff and software needed to meet new compliance rules have cost hundreds of millions of francs. Rising customer expectations have also meant higher staffing standards; the days when charm and language skills were passports to a career in private banking are long gone.

But the new circumstances do not mean private banking is unattractive or unprofitable, just that the rules have changed.

Rather than going to Switzerland, clients are now seeking the same prestige and service closer to home. UBS, and, to a lesser extent, Credit Suisse, have adjusted by investing heavily in private banking networks in Europe and Asian financial centers, notably Singapore.

UBS is spending an estimated 1 billion francs on its European Wealth Management Initiative, with growth bolstered by acquisitions of private fund managers across the continent. But such investments are beyond the reach of smaller banks.

The changed circumstances have contributed to renewed rumors about consolidation, with attention focusing on Julius Baer, which surprised analysts with plans to eliminate family control by simplifying its share structure. Most analysts see the move as symptomatic of the new circumstances, and the wish of some family owners to cash in before it is too late.

For in spite of the new challenges, Swiss private banks still appeal to foreign groups keen to improve margins and add luster.

Europe won't ask where its aid to Palestinians goes

2005-04-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

This was in the MIAMI HERALD today. It's not good news...

Europe won't ask where its aid to Palestinians goes

BY IKE SEAMANS
Ike.Seamans@nbc.com

What is going on at the European Union, the Palestinian Authority's primary benefactor? Despite the PA's embarrassing history of abetting terrorists and ignoring abject poverty of its own people while tolerating corrupt leaders, EU leaders continue to lavish princely sums on the sordid government. THe EU has forked over $800 million in the past five years, $250 million this year alone, without a clue as to how it is spent. Last month, EU investigators released a long-awaited, two-year report on numerous allegations that its humanitarian aid has been misappropriated and diverted for terrorist pursuits.

The ambiguous, sketchy report uncovered ''no conclusive evidence'' that the money was used for ''armed attacks or unlawful activities.'' A relieved European Commission announced this is 'proof no taxpayers' money'' is expended for such nefarious exploits.

''It's a whitewash,'' charges Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How To Stop It. ``You expect them to admit they fund terrorism? There are terrorists on the PA payroll.''

The EU's anti-fraud squad did manage to locate $238 million in donations that were secretly -- and illegally -- transferred to Swiss banks while sheepishly admitting the PA's ''underdeveloped accounting system may have been used for other than the intended purposes.'' Terrorism, perhaps?

While the European Union shuns the terror connection, others don't. The Funding for Peace Coalition, an England-based watchdog group, established what it believes are clear links between EU bequests and violence, highlighting ``the utter failure to monitor where these funds have been directed.''

Blocher Meets Gonzales, Mueller and Thornberry

2005-03-30T14:06:00.000-05:00

Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher and FBI-Director Robert Mueller,
originally uploaded by romangame.

Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher has held anti-terrorism talks with his United States counterpart, Alberto Gonzales, and FBI head Robert Mueller.

Speaking in Washington, Blocher said that he was "positively surprised that a superpower like the US took the time for such talks". The meetings focused on strengthening cooperation in the fight against terrorism and between the law enforcement agencies of both countries, as well as mutual assistance on criminal matters.

For his part, Blocher praised the close security ties between the US and Switzerland which had developed following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. He singled out cooperation with the FBI in particular, with whom "the work was carried out every day and at all levels, including and especially, at the lowest levels from police officer to police officer".

Blocher said that Alberto Gonzales and Robert Mueller were of the opinion that high-level exchanges should "take place in an informal way and that we should be able to speak to each other on the telephone directly".

He did not discuss human rights violations with his US counterparts. "They didnt wait for me to bring up these issues," he said at a press conference in Washington.

The Swiss treatment for Syria?

2005-03-11T16:31:00.000-05:00

THIS IS A REALLY MEAN AND OFFENSIVE Op-Ed piece by Douglas M. Bloomfield in the Washington Jewish Week. He is a US syndicated columnist. I strongly object to the sentence "The Swiss ... were the ones who did the most to fuel the Nazi war machine". The USA could not have gone to war with Switzerland: The Swiss helped the allies at least as much as they helped the Nazis. But to compare Syria and Switzerland and the rebels in Iraq with Nazi Germany is pretty strong...
R.

"As it considers how to deal with Syria, the Bush administration should look at the example of Switzerland more than half a century ago.

During World War II, "neutral" Switzerland provided such critical strategic and financial support to the Third Reich that the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff considered bombing its "financial facilities, bunkers and in-transit facilities," according to declassified documents.

A postwar State Department study determined the Swiss prolonged the war by replacing the production of bombed-out German factories. The Swiss -- providing everything from banking to precision instruments to hydroelectricity -- were the ones who did the most to fuel the Nazi war machine.

So the allies sent their air forces to try to persuade the Swiss to change their errant ways. They bombed Switzerland nearly 50 times, insisting every attack was accidental, according to testimony by James Hutson of the Library of Congress. Targets included a firm manufacturing U-boat engines.

The purpose of those Allied bombings was to save American lives by denying critical help to the enemy.

I raise this because it has a lesson for the current U.S. war against international terror. Syria, a major state sponsor of terrorism, poses threats on several fronts. It is an "outpost of tyranny" that is on the ropes, and this is a good time to tighten the proverbial screws.

(...)"

Copyright: Douglas M. Bloomfield, Washington Jewish Week

Swiss Director shoots German-Jewish Comedy

2005-03-09T15:20:00.000-05:00

Swiss director Dani Levy,
originally uploaded by romangame.

It has been a while since Germans last laughed openly at a Jewish joke, especially one that pokes fun at Jews themselves. Sixty years after the Holocaust, most Germans still feel too guilty or insecure to address any Jewish matter in a lighthearted manner. But now a new movie is encouraging them to get rid of their postwar anxieties and join in for a good laugh.

Mixing slapstick humor and political incorrectness, "Alles auf Zucker!," or "Go for Zucker!," said to be the first German-Jewish comedy since World War II, has attracted huge audiences all over Germany. Its success suggests that humor could be an unconventional form of therapy for the strained relations between Jews and gentiles in Germany.

The movie, directed by Dani Levy, a German Jew who grew up in Switzerland, is a lively family comedy about a notorious East German gambler, who long ago distanced himself from his Jewish roots, and his Orthodox brother, who escaped to West Germany before the Berlin Wall was built.

Copyright: New York Times

Swiss to make first solar plane

2005-03-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

ICARUS crashed and burned when he flew too close to the sun, but now a Swiss adventurer wants to carve out a place in history by harnessing solar energy to fly a state-of-the-art plane around the world.

So far, the plane to be used by 47-year-old psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard exists only in the computers of the researchers at the Lausanne polytechnic.

There, a team of about 50 scientists are working on the 40-million-euro ($86.2m) project, funded by four sponsors who so far remain in the shadows.

But Mr Piccard, grandson of explorer and pioneer aeronaut Auguste Piccard, is determined his dream dubbed 'Solar Impulse' will get off the ground.

His ambition is 'to use a great human and scientific adventure to help sustainable development and the survival of our planet'.

Copyright: afp

Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria: Abacha's Lawyers Made Loot Recovery Tough

2005-03-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

AMBASSADOR of Switzerland, Dr Pierre Helg, says the good lawyers engaged by members of the family of late General Sani Abacha have made it difficult for the government of Switzerland to recover the entire $700million statched in 42 banks.

Helg expressed the hope that a member of the family (name withheld) who was arrested in Germany and sent to Switzerland is now assisting the government in identifying new sources of the loots.

He said the late General Sani Abacha did not deposit money in his name, so, the lawyers capitalized on that to drag the issue for over four years. Helg promised that since the $700 million being recovered is the taxpayers money, his country will continue to pursue the issue until it is brought back to Nigeria.

Copyright: AllAfrica.com

Swiss Singer Natalie Ulrich: File under P for Passion

2005-03-04T13:46:00.000-05:00

CD Cover Changing Perspectives,
originally uploaded by romangame.

Is it pop, is it soul or ist it rock? The common categories do not matter here, cause this music is mostly one thing: passionate and personal. Whether Natalie Ulrich sings from the perspective of the angry wounded woman wasting no more tears on her lost love or reflects on the human condition, she does it convincingly, yet tenderly. Her strong voice is accentuated by the soft strings of warm guitars and occasionally piano. Natalie does not reinvent the love song, but she lends it credibility again. This is rare in our times.

Her CD "Changing Perspectives" is out now. Write to Natalie at natalieulrich@aol.com

Car Size No Longer Reflects Status

2005-03-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Geneva Car Salon,
originally uploaded by romangame.

GENEVA (AP) -- Big cars, small cars, sporty cars, practical cars, sleek cars, family cars.

Diversity is the name of the game at 75th International Motor Show in Geneva, which opened to the public Thursday and runs until March 13.

With the huge emphasis placed on catering to as many consumers as possible, today's variety means the show's 861,0000 square feet of floor space at the PalExpo are filed with a mind-boggling range of vehicles designed for every conceivable life style.

"The trend is going toward versatility and a lot of variety," said Yves Dubreil, vice president-deputy director of vehicle engineering at Renault. "It used to be that car brands had a straightforward range that went from small to big. It reflected social status. The bigger the car I had, the more important or rich I was.

"Cars are no longer an indication of a driver's social status, instead, they make a statement about a person's lifestyle. And there are a lot of different lifestyles."

The Coldest Night Since 18 Years

2005-03-03T09:09:00.000-05:00

The overnight temperature in a village near Switzerland's border with France sank to minus 34.4 degrees Celsius (minus 29.9 Fahrenheit), the coldest in the country this winter and close to a record low, weather forecasters said.

The low temperature was recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in the mountain village of La Brevine in the Neuchatel canton, part of a region often called the "Swiss Siberia."

It was seven degrees Celsius less frigid than the national record low of minus 41.8 degrees, recorded in the same region on January 12, 1987, the weather office said.

Swiss Have Highest Purchasing Power

2005-03-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

Zurich,
originally uploaded by romangame.

GENEVA, Feb. 28 - Residents of Swiss cities have the world's highest purchasing power, despite having to pay more for goods than in most other European countries, according to a results of a survey released on Monday.

The latest update to the Prices and Earnings survey by Swiss bank UBS found that Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Lugano were among the most expensive cities in the world.

The survey, which is published by UBS economists every three years, compares the prices of goods and services, wages, wage deductions and working hours, along with the resulting purchasing power in 71 cities around the globe.

In terms of cost of living, Oslo remains the most expensive city in the world. Zurich ranks fourth, Basel seventh, Geneva ninth and Lugano tenth.

Gross earnings are the highest in Copenhagen and Oslo, with Copenhagen replacing Zurich as the city with the highest wages. It is due to the weaker Swiss franc compared with the Danish currency.

Copyright: Xinhuanet

Estonia Sings For Switzerland

2005-03-01T11:52:00.000-05:00

Vanilla Ninja,
originally uploaded by romangame.

The Swiss song at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest will be 'Cool Vibes' sung by the Estonian girl group Vanilla Ninja.

The song will receive its first television play on Staurday 5 March during a special Swiss TV show dedicated to fifty years of the Eurovision Song Contest.

'Congratulations! 50 years of the Eurovision Song Contest' will include clips from 50 years of Eurovision. Guests will include Lys Assia, Paola, Peter Reber, Pepe Lienhard, Francine Jordi and Piero Esteriore. The show will end with the premiere of 'Cool Vibes'.

The group revealed the title of the song during a web chat session organised by German music channel VIVA. Regular vanilla Ninja songwriter David Brandes composed the Eurovision song; it will feature on their forthcoming album 'Blue Tattoo'.

ECONOMY: Novartis buys Eon Inc and Hexal AG

2005-02-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

Novartis AG announced a major push into the U.S. and German generic drug markets Monday by buying Eon Labs Inc. of the United States and Hexal AG of Germany for $8.3 billion in cash. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant said integrating the two companies into its Sandoz division would create the world's largest generic drug company.

pr

SPORTS: Top Swiss Soccer Club Servette Goes Bust

2005-02-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

One of Switzerland's oldest football clubs, Servette Geneva, slid into bankruptcy after potential investors pulled out of a rescue bid.

Servette said it was withdrawing its appeal against a bankruptcy order, opening the way for its immediate relegation from the top flight to Switzerland's third division.

"Servette is definitely bankrupt", the club announced on its website. They had been eighth in the ten-club Swiss Super League. Servette have won 17 Swiss league titles and seven Swiss cups in their 115--year history.

But the Geneva side's fortunes on the pitch declined in recent years as successive new owners failed to come true on their financial pledges. The final blow followed a battle involving potential Middle Eastern investors, local politicians and the French players' agent Marc Roger who bought the ailing club a year ago with promises of backing from ex-Real Madrid chairman Lorenzo Sanz.

Instead, the club accumulated 11 million Swiss francs (seven million euros, nine million dollars) of fresh debt and struggled to find results or a few thousand fans for league games in the 35,000 capacity stadium built recently for the Euro 2008 tournament.

Copyright afp

The Internet as Blabbermouth

2005-02-16T12:40:00.000-05:00

Is the downfall of CNN's Eason Jordan after a blogger reported his off-the-record remarks a sign that the blogosphere is surpassing the mainstream media?

On Forumblog.org, the World Economic Forum weblog, there is a link to a site called Ohmynews, "where every citizen is a reporter." Rony Abovitz is one of those citizens. The 34-year-old co-founder of Z-KAT, a medical technology company in Hollywood, Fla., had never written a story in the mainstream press when Forumblog asked him to write his first-ever blog from Davos, Switzerland. And now a story he posted online two weeks ago has claimed one of the most senior scalps in U.S. journalism, prompting praise from right-wing bloggers and sparking a debate about the power of the blogosphere over the mainstream media.

Abovitz attended an off-the-record panel in Davos on Jan. 28 addressed by, among others, CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, that was filmed. During the discussion, Jordan reportedly claimed that he knew of 12 journalists in Iraq whom the U.S. military had deliberately targeted and killed. The Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, who was also on the panel, asked him if CNN had reported this. Jordan said no. Abovitz asked him if he had any objective and clear evidence to back up these claims because "if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park." Jordan appeared to backtrack. The debate continued and then moved on.

By Gary Younge, Salon.com

Swiss Firms Admit to Paying Kickbacks for Iraqi Oil

2005-02-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

GENEVA - A key investigator says oil trading firms based in Switzerland paid kickbacks to win contracts under the U-N's oil-for-food program in Iraq.
The investigator, Swiss criminal lawyer Mark Pieth, said that the total amount of bribes paid by companies around the world could be as high as two-point-five (b) billion dollars.
The man says it will be up to national authorities to carry out any legal proceedings against firms which paid illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime.
Swiss authorities have already fined one Geneva-based company for paying kickbacks under the program, which ran until 2003.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press.

Spanish Consulate in Switzerland stormed

2005-02-08T13:59:00.000-05:00

BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Swiss special forces stormed the Spanish Consulate on Monday to end a hostage standoff - but the three men who attacked the building in an apparent robbery had fled hours earlier and managed to elude authorities, police said.
Officers hunted for three, who spoke broken French and forced their way into the consulate, demanding that the staff open the safe, said police Maj. Peter Theilkaes.
The three masked assailants seized the consulate shortly before 8 a.m. (2 a.m. EST), Monday, taking three people hostage, but apparently left the building almost immediately and before police arrived, said Theilkaes, who led the police operation.
Special forces stormed the consulate to bring an end to a standoff, but the suspects, who were armed with knives and a handgun, had left the building about six hours earlier, authorities said. No shots were fired.
``As soon as it was ascertained that no more consulate workers were in the building, the police checked the building and found it empty,'' the statement said. ``The assailants had already fled. From that, we conclude that the attack was of a criminal nature and did not have a political background.'' Neither the workers nor the police knew the intruders had left the building.

POLITICS: Rich Russian before Swiss Court?

2005-02-08T13:57:00.000-05:00

MOSCOW - One of Russia's richest people, Roman Abramovich, might have to appear in a Swiss court to defend against claims filed by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The bank is demanding that Mr. Abramovich return a loan worth 9 million pounds (approximately $17 million). The EBRD is reported to have acquired documents indicating that Mr. Abramovich used part of the loan "inappropriately." In particular, the Russian billionaire is accused of using some of the money to buy two luxury yachts. The court documents prepared by the EBRD include a fax instructing Runicom S.A. to transfer 28,000 Swiss francs to pay for beauty treatment provided for Mr. Abramovich's wife, Irina. Russian legal experts are rather skeptical about the EBRD's chances of suing Mr. Abramovich successfully.

New York Jewish Times

Hollywood Comes to Davos

2005-01-31T09:06:00.000-05:00

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which has been called a "temple of capitalist narcissism," there is, it turns out, a force beyond money and might. Its name is celebrity - and on Friday, Sharon Stone showed why.

Amid hundreds of participants at an earnest debate on "funding the war on poverty," Ms. Stone rose to her feet to say she would donate $10,000 to combat malaria in Tanzania; that country's president. Benjamin W. Mkapa, was one of the podium speakers.

Ms. Stone urged the participants to "be on a team with me" to help President Mkapa because "people are dying in his country today."

"Could you please stand up?" she asked the crowd. Over 30 people did stand up with donations and by the end of the debate, the organizers announced that they had raised $1 million.

Within a few moments, thus, Ms. Stone demonstrated how fame and a flair for drama might inject a passionate message into a complex debate. In the process she stirred a discussion among those attending about whether the conference is harnessing new trends in the pursuit of noble causes, or falling easy prey to the world's fixation with celebrity.

Since the annual gathering of over 2,000 power brokers and executives opened here on Wednesday, much attention has focused on the inclusion in their ranks of those whose renown stems not from boardrooms or bids, but from the movies and rock music, people like Bono, Richard Gere, Angelina Jolie and Ms. Stone.

Call it Hollywood comes to Davos.

Alan Cowell, New York Times

SPORTS: Zurich stadium to be used for Euro 2008

2005-01-28T13:50:00.000-05:00

Zurich's Letzigrund stadium will be used during the 2008 European championships, raising Switzerland's number of venues to the required four.

European soccer's governing body, which confirmed the decision Friday, had been concerned after legal challenges in Switzerland against rebuilding Zurich's Hardturm Stadium left the country with only three suitable sites.

UEFA now has accepted plans to rebuild the Letzigrund track and field stadium to hold games during Euro 2008, which will be shared with neighboring Austria.

Swiss Government Cuts 2005 Growth Forecast Amid Export Slowdown

2005-01-28T13:48:00.000-05:00

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Swiss government lowered its forecast for 2005 growth for the second time in three months as a slowdown in Europe and a rising franc threaten to erode exports.

Gross domestic product will probably expand 1.5 percent this year, down from the 2 percent predicted on Oct. 19, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern, Switzerland, said in a faxed statement today. The economy is expected to grow 1.8 percent in 2006.

Swiss Get High Marks for African Sanctions

2005-01-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

Switzerland is tightening up United Nations sanctions relating to West Africa, including freezing bank accounts of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor. African leaders have had a history of having fortunes in Swiss banks, but money found to be of criminal origin is now being stopped.

The head of Switzerland's sanctions division at the state secretariat for economic affairs, Roland Vock, says Swiss action against war-torn Liberia and divided Ivory Coast was announced late last week.

International Crisis Group West Africa analyst Mike McGovern says it is encouraging to see Switzerland being pro-active, even if some sanctions remain hypothetical. "It's got the significance of showing the goodwill of Switzerland which is a country that's often been used for hiding the ill-gotten goods in its very private bank accounts," he said.

Concerning Liberia, the U.N. Security Council asked in March, 2004, for all members to search for and freeze assets related to Charles Taylor.

Switzerland had already frozen about $5 million linked to the former warlord president in 2003, but later unblocked the funds because of what authorities called insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

Officials at the court in Freetown say they have been getting excellent cooperation from the Swiss. They are trying to bring Mr. Taylor to trial, but Liberian authorities say it would be better to wait for the peace process to take hold.

Mr. Taylor is accused of stashing millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts and elsewhere, from selling diamonds in exchange for weapons. Mr. Vock did not say how much money is currently linked to Mr. Taylor within the Swiss banking system.

In that matter, Switzerland announced late last year it would return to Nigeria almost $500 million allegedly stolen by the late military leader, after agreeing with Abuja authorities the money was of criminal origin.

Voice of America,27 January 2005, By Nico Colombant, Abidjan

Blair Opens WEF in Davos

2005-01-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

GENEVA - British Prime Minister Tony Blair will address the opening session of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos and is expected to lay out his priorities as president of the G8 group of nations for 2005.

  The G8 in 2005 will focus particularly on climate change, the WEF said. "The Forum has been especially happy to give its help and support to Mr. Blair's initiative on global warming," said Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF.

    Blair will also take part in a special session on Thursday to discuss "The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?" along with former US president Bill Clinton, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. The session will concentrate on the issue of debt relief for poorer nations.

    More than 20 heads of states, 70 cabinet ministers and a thousand senior business executives from 96 countries are expected to gather in Davos for the WEF annual meeting under the theme of "Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices."

    Created in 1971 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the WEF describes itself as a global community of business, political, intellectual and other leaders of society committed to improving the state of the world

Mismanagement in Iraq Oil-Food Deal

2005-01-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Internal U.N. audits of the Iraqi oil-for-food program found large contractors overcharging the world body by several million dollars and said one U.N. agency systematically mishandled funds in the field.

Fifty-eight reports were released on Sunday by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, who is conducting an independent probe of the $64 billion program.

One report, dated July 21, 1999, on Lloyds Register reported possible overcharges of $1.38 million because inspectors, who earned $770 a day, were not at their posts for 1,800 days. The British Lloyd Inspections firm, later replaced by the Swiss-based Cotecna Inspection SA, inspected goods entering Iraq so vendors could be paid.

Cotecna, which took over from Lloyds in 1999, also maintained a lower staff than was required by its contract, although it charged less per inspector than Lloyd's did.

The reports advocated reclaiming an "appropriate amount" of money from Cotecna based on its under performance."

Tsunami donations outstrip expectations

2005-01-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

The Swiss Solidarity charity says it has raised a record SFr130 million ($110.2 million) to help survivors of the Asian tsunami catastrophe.

The charity, which is the fundraising arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, said on Monday that the lion’s share of the money would be spent on reconstruction work.

How the Swiss got the dime and the bagel...

2004-12-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

This article explains imo very clearly how smart the swiss deal in their talks with the EU.

The Wall Street Journal, December 2, 2004
STATE OF THE UNION - Is Britain on Its Way Out?
By DANIEL HANNAN

It is worth looking at how Switzerland -- and, for that matter, its three partners in the European Free Trade Area, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein -- manage their relations with the EU.

The first thing one notices is that these countries are very rich. Over the past decade, the EFTA four have comfortably outperformed the EU. GDP per head in EFTA countries is, on average, twice that in the EU. Their unemployment rates are lower, their stock markets stronger, their currencies more stable and their interest rates well below those in the euro-zone.

What does it mean to be an EFTA country? The EFTA states are covered by the so-called four freedoms of the EU's single market: free movement of goods, services, people and capital. They are able to opt into other common policies on a case-by-case basis, whether research and development, classification of medicines or border-free travel. Yet they are spared the
huge costs and inefficiencies of the Common Agricultural Policy. They are also free to control their own fisheries and their own energy reserves. They are able to sign free-trade deals with third countries, and they are outside much of the EU's social and employment regulations. They have their own foreign policies, immigration controls, legal systems and civil rights. And
they pay only a token amount to the EU budget.

Three of these states, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, are also in the European Economic Area, which obliges them to assimilate some EU laws. But such regulation affects only a small and clearly delineated part of their public life. Although more than 3,000 EU directives have been implemented by these three states since 1992, they have required only 50 legislative acts in Norway and Iceland (fewer in Liechtenstein, which joined later). And unlike in the EU, the courts of the EFTA states do not have to automatically give force to EU rulings. Their parliaments are, in the correct sense of the word, sovereign.

British Europhiles like to claim that each of the EFTA states is, in its way, unique. "You can't compare us to Iceland," they say. "Iceland has fish." So, of course, would Britain but for the ecological catastrophe of the Common Fisheries Policy. "We're nothing like Norway," they go on. "Norway has oil." Well, Britain is the only net exporter of oil in the EU. "Switzerland is a special case," they add. "Look at all their banks and financial services." Look at the city of London, for heaven's sake, the
financial capital of Europe -- although not for much longer if we continue to adopt EU rules on taxation and banking practices.

Then, in a delicious back-flip, the EU-enthusiasts try a new argument. "But Britain is nothing like these EFTA states -- they're much smaller than us." This is a curious inversion of their usual contention, namely that Britain is too puny to survive on its own. What I think they mean, to be fair, is that Britain, as a country with global interests, cannot absent itself from Europe's councils.

But even this argument is hard to sustain. Switzerland , with a population of 7.4 million, manages to host most of the world's big international organizations, including the Red Cross and large chunks of the United Nations. Norway, with 4.6 million people, has extraordinary global reach: Its diplomats are active in Sri Lanka and the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Sudan. Iceland, with a population of just 280,000, has hosted visits from four U.S. presidents, two Russian leaders and, most recently, the Chinese premier, who stayed for several days to study the island's economic success.

Mr. Hannan is a member of the European Parliament. This is adapted from "Voting on the constitution: What Britain should know about the consequences," a policy paper to be published by Politeia this week.

Who do the Swiss-Americans want for President?

2004-10-29T15:32:00.000-04:00

As election day approaches in the United States, many of the 71,000 Swiss citizens living there say they hope President Bush won’t be re-elected. In the run-up to the presidential vote on November 2, swissinfo contacted some of them to get their views on the past four years in America.

Around 40,000 of the estimated 71,000 Swiss in the US are dual Swiss-American citizens, many of whom say they are fed-up with the Bush administration’s actions abroad.

“I’m not voting ‘for’ a candidate, but rather ‘against’ one,” said Walter Liniger, a music professor living in South Carolina, who says he is “ashamed of his American nationality”. “The worst thing is that Americans don’t know what to do… they are completely disoriented by fear and terror and their incomprehension of what’s going on,” Liniger said.

His comments were echoed by Bernard Nussbaumer, a film producer from canton Vaud who now lives in Dallas, Texas – President Bush’s home state. Nussbaumer says the past four years in America have left him “disgusted and without hope”.

“Half of this country is blind and anaesthetised,” he said. “I don’t think Bush is dishonest or has bad intentions… but I believe his values are fake, that he has caused a lot of damage to the US and that his country isn’t even aware of it.”

According to Matthias Meyer – a Swiss who spent many years living in the US as an executive director at the World Bank – terrorism has catapulted security and foreign policy issues to the top of the election agenda.

Besides being fed-up with US foreign policy, many Swiss citizens and dual nationals living in America are also critical of the Bush administration’s domestic track record. “When it comes to the environment, social issues and civil liberties, like freedom of expression, we have gone backwards by decades,” said Nussbaumer.

Meanwhile, Liniger believes America’s disadvantaged have been “manipulated by fear mongering” and that they are just as likely to vote for Bush as “the rich that have become richer under him”. He also cites an “erosion of the middle class,” which, in his mind, is becoming “more critical and liberal”.

But not all Swiss in the US share Liniger’s opinion. Peter Jordi, a businessman living in New York, is a strong supporter of the Bush administration. “I totally agree with what President Bush has done,” said Jordi, who added that he was happy about the tax breaks granted by the Republicans.

He also said he was in support of US foreign policy and the war against terror. “I know this isn’t how most Europeans feel, but in my opinion, the European way of thinking is defeatist,” said Jordi, who predicts that Bush is certain to win next week’s election.

For his part, Nussbaumer believes a Republican victory wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. “If Bush gets re-elected, the Americans won’t have any more excuses and they will have to make some choices… a little bit like children who have to learn,” said Nussbaumer. “Perhaps it’s better to let the Republican abscess burst… then we can try to heal it,” he added.

But he is sorry to see how deeply the country has been divided by the election. “It’s like a gigantic iceberg splitting in two, with both parties following opposite currents,” Nussbaumer said.

Copyright: Swiss Info

Switzerland May Lose Euro 2008 Soccer Championship

2004-10-05T13:39:00.000-04:00

European football’s governing body, Uefa, has told Switzerland and Austria that they may lose the right to stage Euro 2008 if they cannot provide four stadiums each.

Legal wrangles over rebuilding the Hardturm stadium in Zurich have left Switzerland with only three suitable venues in Bern, Basel and Geneva.

Shame on you, Switzerland, and Zurich, especially. So Zurich wants to be this worldly city, welcoming and open, elegant, trendy and full of fun, and then they can't even have an appropriate soccer stadium?

The small group of inhibitors state the protection of the environment as reason why the stadium could not be built.

Wake up, we are not talking about wide green pastures or a biological garden, here: This is Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, and some say it is the nation's secret capital. But with the reputation comes responsability and the willigness to deal with large crowds.

2004-10-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Audioblog!

2004-10-04T14:36:00.000-04:00

IN THE SPOTLIGHT - OP-ED: Magic Formula vs. direct democracy - something's gotta give?

2004-10-04T13:20:00.001-04:00

From the other side of the Atlantic, the current cock fight between Swiss Federal Councilmen Couchepin and Blocher looks a lot like a farce. Two of its aspects deserve special mention.

First, Pascal Couchepin has initiated a complete communications desaster. By unwisely rushing ahead with his untempered accusations he does commit the very crime he accuses Blocher of. The Secretary of the SVP, Ueli Maurer, in turn reproached Couchepin of trying to manipulate the people. Ironically, he's right. Maurer could handily spin the attack back on Couchepin, and give Blocher a free ride in publicity. While Couchepin's manoeuver is discussed by experts and the media, Blocher is in the headlines without having to say a single word. Mr. Couchepin's communications strategy behind this remains his secret.

Second, the actual issue of the magical formula of governing vs. direct democracy seems to escape the participants of the controversy around Mr. Blocher's role in the Federal Council. The real question at hand, namely how the Swiss intend to do politics, now and in the future, is blurred by the - not very original - accusations ad personam of Mr. Blocher.

Yet, the talk about "democracy with brakes" versus the "totalitarian direct democracy" reveals one thing: the magical formula is a fragile tool used to tamper the radicality of the principle of direct democracy. The principle of concordance of a representative-elected Federal Council and the sovereignty of the people are at odds.

Something's gotta give: Swiss leaders will have to decide soon, whether they understand themselves as ministers, i.e. servants of the people or as a special caste that knows better how to lead and rule the country. The debate about this better start sooner than later - provided the appropriate means of communications are in place.

What do you think? Let's talk about it!

POLITICS: US Election Officials Not Keen on Advice from Switzerland

2004-09-30T13:54:00.000-04:00

Swiss computer specialist Beat Fehr wanted to export Switzerland’s voting system to the United States to make US elections much more reliable. The Americans weren't keen on his advice.

He is convinced that the Swiss voting system would work in the US, although he concedes it is a little late in the day for November’s presidential race.

“About two months ago we sent more than 1,500 emails to election officials in the US but only got one or two responses,” Fehr told newswire Swissinfo.

Undaunted, he is pressing on with his ideas. “We can wait and make changes after the election,” he added.

Fehr argues that he could save the Americans millions of dollars, as well as promote confidence among voters that the elections are secret and secure.

SCIENCE: Arsenic Fights Rare Form of Leukemia

2004-09-29T14:54:00.000-04:00

Sept. 29, 2004 -- Arsenic, despite its poisonous nature, may help save lives. Mounting evidence suggests that an arsenic treatment is effective for a rare form of leukemia.

At the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer annual meeting -- held this week in Switzerland -- a group of Iranian researchers discussed new clinical trial findings of arsenic trioxide (its chemical name).

Only about 10% of leukemia patients have the rare condition called acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

WebMD

Science: Largest European Mushroom is Swiss and Carries a Funny Name

2004-09-27T11:19:00.000-04:00

A fungus that has been discovered in a mountainous Swiss national park area near the Ofenpass might be the biggest mushroom of Europe, scientists of the Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Countryside have declared.

The record-breaking fungus is a Honey Mushroom (armillaria ostoyae) and spans an area of 35 hectares (86 acres) or the equivalent of 35 football pitches. It is believed to be roughly 1000 years old. It is considerably smaller than another fungus of the same species that has been found in a national forest in Oregon, U.S. that measures 890 hectares, the largest living organism ever discovered.

The Honey Mushroom is mostly an underground network of threads the size of shoelaces. What is usually perceived as the mushrooms, the stereotypically shaped hats and stems standing above ground, are only the genitals of the fungus, rising out of the soil to spread their spores once they are mature.

In German, the Honey Mushroom is called "Hallimasch," a name derived from its medical function. Eaten raw, the Honey Mushroom can have the effect of a purge, thus its name "Heil im Arsch" or cure-in-the-bottom.

In the Media: Swiss Election Results covered by Reuters and AP

2004-09-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

The result of last weekend's elections in Switzerland have been carried in U.S. media, although exclusively through the reports of Associated Press and Reuters.

In what the AP called a "surprise result," the rejection of a two-part proposal to ease naturalization of second- and third- generation immigrants by 56.8% and 51.6% respectively, has been described as a victory for the conservative German-speaking regions.

Second-generation immigrants or "Secondos" are the first generation of children raised or born in Switzerland, while third-generation immigrants are first-generation immigrants' grand-children that have been born and raised in Switzerland.

The election results are said to be in accordance with the past 21 years of elections on the topic of eased naturalization and a further reinforcement of the "Hash-Brown Divide" of the alpine European country, the frontier between French- and German-speaking Swiss that runs along the popularity lines of the potato dish.

POLITICS: Swiss Muslim prof to try again for US visa

2004-09-24T17:06:00.000-04:00

SOUTH BEND -- Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan plans to reapply for a work visa in hopes of beginning his teaching position at the University of Notre Dame.

Ramadan had been scheduled to move to South Bend in August to begin a job as a tenured professor of religion, conflict and peace-building at Notre Dame. However, his work visa was revoked in late July by the U.S. State Department at the recommendation of the Homeland Security Department. Homeland Security officials have declined to specify why Ramadan is considered a risk.

Asked about the scholar's status, Notre Dame spokesman Matthew Storin said Thursday that Ramadan has decided to reapply for a visa through the American consulate in Switzerland.

"Because the State Department has said on a number of occasions they believe Ramadan should reapply for his visa, he is in the process of doing that," Storin said.

The application process generally takes about two months, Storin said.

Copyright: South Bend Tribune

BUSINESS: Struggling Swiss Airline Secures Loan

2004-09-24T16:56:00.000-04:00

BASEL, Switzerland - Switzerland's struggling national airline Friday announced it had agreed to a 325 million Swiss franc ($258 million) loan from an international banking syndicate.

The deal still needs the consent of unnamed "third parties" before it can be finalized and the company can draw on the credit, Swiss International Air lines said.

Talks were steered by Halifax Bank of Scotland and Barclays Capital, the airline said.

Under the deal, Halifax Bank of Scotland is set to provide 100 million francs and Barclays Capital 55 million francs.

Credit Suisse and UBS will provide 75 million francs each, while the Zurich Cantonal Bank's contribution is set at 20 million francs. All three Swiss-based banks are major shareholders in the airline.

Swiss has suffered massive financial problems since it was created out of the defunct Swissair in March 2002.

Copyright ap

BUSINESS: Swissnex San Francisco opened

2004-09-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

Leading Swiss and American scientists, authors and two of the world's most famous science-fiction museums gather at swissnex.

swissnex presents From Fiction to Science, a four-day event examining the mutually influencing domains of
science and fiction. The event takes place from September 29 to October 2 at swissnex in San Francisco.

The four-day symposium From Fiction to Science will be hosted by swissnex (http://www.swissnex.org) in collaboration with the Swiss science-fiction museum House of Elsewhere and the newly-opened Seattle Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Panel members include Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier and former White House advisor and author Gregory Benford.

swissnex offices and conference space are at 730 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA

BUSINESS: Swiss Gate Gourmet and Delta go to court in food fight

2004-09-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

A food fight Delta Air Lines is having with Swiss based caterer Gate Gourmet temporarily yanked regular food service off the menu for the struggling carrier.

the airline said a Georgia judge has ordered Gate Gourmet to resume full food and beverage service immediately.

Delta turned to the courts after telling its customers for the past day and a half that it was negotiating to end a vendor dispute.

Officials with Zurich, Switzerland-based Gate Gourmet, one of the world's largest airline caterers, acknowledged a spat with Delta but declined to explain the nature of the dispute.

"It's Delta's decisions -- I really can't comment," said spokeswoman Connie Voigt. She added she wasn't even sure if Delta remained a client as of Wednesday. She declined to say whether her company requested upfront payments in light of the possibility that Delta might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Voigt and other Gate Gourmet officials were unavailable for comment after Delta announced it had a court order.

Copyright: Kentucky Post

POLITICS: Swiss abroad get a voice in parliament

2004-09-23T13:27:00.000-04:00

Swissinfo reports that Swiss citizens living abroad are to be better represented in politics, following the founding on Wednesday of a special parliamentary group.

Some 83 politicians from all the main parties formed the group to ensure that the 600,000-strong Swiss abroad community is given a voice in parliament.

The Swiss have long been accustomed to forming groups across party lines to represent their interests in parliament. Farmers, for example, constitute a major lobby, and benefit from some of the most generous agricultural subsidies in Europe.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Christian Democrat parliamentarian Thérèse Meyer and others, it is the turn of Swiss living abroad to enjoy some say in the nation's affairs. Swiss expatriates number 612,000 people - equivalent to nearly a tenth of the country's population.

Most live in neighbouring France and Germany, but substantial numbers reside in Italy, Britain and the United States. Smaller communities can also be found in places like Israel, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. The numbers may in fact be far higher, says Jean-Paul Aeschlimann, vice-president of the Swiss Abroad Organisation, and honorary consul in Montpellier, France. "It's likely that 30 to 40 per cent of Swiss living in France are not registered," he told swissinfo.

Around 90,000 Swiss living abroad are registered to vote - the same number as in an average-sized canton. Political parties in Switzerland tend to "rediscover" the Swiss Abroad briefly at election time, but the difficulty in appealing to such a diverse constituency means they tend to be forgotten once the polls close.

According to Meyer, it should not be solely up to Swiss voters abroad to inform themselves about the country. She believes they should have some support back home as well. Aeschlimann takes the view that the Swiss abroad are an undervalued asset to the country - namely in the form of ambassadors.

He says Swiss at home have the perception that their fellow citizens abroad live in a time warp, nurturing fond memories of the way Switzerland used to be. In reality, he says, the Swiss abroad tend to be young, dynamic, and very often in positions of influence in the countries where they live.

Copyright: Swissinfo

SPORTS: New York Soccer Players Wanted

2004-09-22T14:28:00.000-04:00

The Swiss Soccer Club of New York is looking to get more players.

They play every Wednesday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, followed by a friendly get-together at the Mont Blanc Restaurant on 48thStreet in Manhattan.

The skill level is from mediocre to excellent and everyone is welcome, and you don’t have to be Swiss to qualify.

The gym is located at: Humanities High School 351 West 18th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues on the 7th Floor.

If you are interested in joining please contact al@dlnyc.com.

MEDIA: Marc Neumann has first look at Swiss American Blog, says he might join

2004-09-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK - Free lance media entrepreneur Marc Neumann has had his first look at the The Swiss American Blog, and he liked what he saw. "I was particularly impressed by two things: by the simplicity of the blog, and by the amount of work my good friend and possible future partner Roman Elsener has already put into the blog."

Answering the invite he had received in late August, Neumann promised to join the efforts of Roman Elsener without further hesitation. To prove his point he would post a blog entry on his own. "We really have to get things going and I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity to join Roman in his excellent work", Neumann said.

Neumann already envisions future enhancements to the site, although without giving further specifics. "Improvements will be announced in due course", he said.

Unnamed sources have been cited saying that it is an open secret Elsener and Neumann have already a Beta version of the blog. According to these sources, the new version will provide news and press monitoring services and will be structured according to areas of interest such as politics, business and arts culture, in a brand-new design.

The new blog could go up as early as mid-October.

Asked to comment, Neumann would not go into details. "Just stay tuned and you will see", he said.

POLITICS: Swiss companies raided in nuclear weapons probe linked to Libya

2004-09-07T14:27:00.000-04:00

BERNE - Police have raided three Swiss-based companies in connection with a probe into a German national suspected of having helped Libya develop nuclear weapons, a media report said on Sunday.

Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said the raids had been carried out at the request of the German authorities and were linked to the activities of the man, Gotthard L., a resident of the northeastern city of St. Gallen active in the nuclear industry.

The Swiss prosecutor's office would only confirm that a police operation concerning "a person resident in Switzerland" had been carried out, and refused to reveal the identity of the person or the type of company targeted by the raids.

Last February the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) handed the Swiss authorities a list of 15 people suspected of having taken part in secret Libyan and Iranian nuclear programmes.

Switzerland admitted then that the name of a German national aged 61 and living in St. Gallen ws on that list and his home had already been searched.

PEOPLE: Swiss becomes world's first jet propelled flying man

2004-09-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

A Swiss pilot, Yves Rossy, became the first ever jet propelled flying man, after he managed to fly over the Swiss Alps for four minutes.

The 45-year old flier attached two jet engines to wings on his back, and managed to reach a speed of 112 miles per second.

The feat, which took him five years to perfect, was achieved by flying out of a plane and landing with a parachute. "It was absolutely fantastic - freedom in three dimensions. I felt like a bird," Rossy was quoted as saying.

BUSINESS: Swiss named "Best Airline for Europe"

2004-09-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

The travel magazine "Travel Savvy" awarded Swiss International Airlines the title of "Best Airline for Europe". According to the magazine's readers, Swiss beats all other European competition. The winner of the "Best Overall Airline" award, however, goes to Air Singapore.

In September 2003, Travel Savvy splashed onto the scene as a hip and refreshing alternative to stodgy travel publications. To celebrate its first anniversary, the September/October issue features the "Best of" Awards, which reveal readers' picks for the best in travel today.

Copyright: rel./PRNewswire

BUSINESS: Scientists at CERN Set Internet2 Speed Record

2004-09-07T13:46:00.000-04:00

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) set a new land-speed record for Internet2, a second-generation network serving universities and research institutes.

The team transferred 859 gigabytes of data in less than 17 minutes. It did so at a rate of 6.63 gigabits per second between the CERN facility in Geneva, Switzerland, and Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., a distance of more than 15,766 kilometers, or approximately 9,800 miles.

Scientists are racing to move gigantic amounts of data by 2007, when CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will switch on. This huge underground particle accelerator will produce some 15 petabytes of data a year, which will be stored and analyzed on a global grid of computer centers.

High-energy physicists are excited about the LHC because they hope it will allow them to find the Higgs boson, a theoretical particle that they believe creates mass. "Physicists are trying to fill in the blank spaces in our model of high energy physics," said Jim Gray a Microsoft Research engineer who helped set Wednesday's record.

Researchers aren't the only ones excited about blazing data speeds. This record speed of 6.63Gbps is equivalent to transferring a full-length DVD movie in four seconds. There are uses in astronomy, bioinformatics, global climate modeling and seismology, as well as commercial applications from entertainment to oil and gas exploration.

Copyright: Enterprise IT Planet

SCIENCE: Get Your Licks

2004-09-03T15:27:00.000-04:00

To most of us, ice cream is merely delicious. But to a food engineering professor it's a phenomenon of physics.

One enemy of the creaminess is heat shock. "When you take ice cream out of the freezer and let it sit for a while, and some of the ice cream melts, and then you put it back in the freezer…we have more ice that's being formed, but not in the form of new ice crystals. It's forming around the existing ice crystals, so all the remaining ice crystals get bigger," says one scientist. "The ultimate outcome is that you feel ice crystals in your mouth when you eat the ice cream, and that's not a good eating experience."

Now, a new technique from Switzerland for battling heat shock is making ice cream that can stay creamy longer. Described in Discover Magazine, the patented process pioneered by Erich Windhab, a food engineering professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, churns and pumps the ice cream out of an extruder at lower temperatures and with smaller ice crystals than the traditional process allows.

CULTURE: Schiller's Tell in New Glarus

2004-09-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

NEW GLARUS, Wis. - Telling the tale: For the 67th time, performances of "Wilhelm Tell" by Friedrich Schiller will be held in New Glarus this weekend. The drama, based on Swiss history and lore, is performed three times: once in German and twice in English. The German language play will begin at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. The English performances are scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. For more information, check www.wilhelmtell.org or call (800) 527-6838.

Other Swiss weekend events include a Laternenumzug, or Light Parade, at 8 p.m. today; a yodeling contest at 6 p.m. Saturday; an "Alpine Festival" at 8 p.m. Saturday and an ethnic fashion show at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

BUSINESS: Heidi.com Streetwear Clothing Brand is Growing

2004-09-03T14:59:00.000-04:00

Heidi.com, based in Switzerland is selling t-shirts, jackets and other clothes all over the web. This urban streetwear fashion brand has doubled its sales in less than one year.

The Swiss company based near Neuchâtel in Switzerland has successfully launched its first summer street wear clothing collection. Now this young company is about to launch its first winter collection. Skateboard, snowboard and surf oriented, the team is working hard every night to create something original and of high quality.

For more info visit www.heidi.com

POLITICS: Blocher proposes setting up refugee camps abroad

2004-09-03T14:56:00.000-04:00

Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher has proposed setting up refugee camps abroad as a way of stemming the flow of asylum seekers into the country.

But the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has criticised the plans and warned that they will not solve the problem of illegal immigration.

Blocher’s proposals come as the Swiss parliament debates plans to tighten the country’s asylum laws. The justice minister, a member of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, suggests that refugee centres could be built in African countries and the Balkans.

Under Blocher’s plans, the UN would be charged with sharing out quotas of “genuine refugees” among European countries able to take responsibility for them.

Switzerland would no longer have to deal with large numbers of asylum applications, but would be responsible for 4,000 refugees per year.

Blocher added that the Swiss army and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) would take charge of the refugees in purpose-built camps set up in crisis regions.

But SDC spokesman Harry Sivec said the proposals should be taken in the context of a wider international debate on asylum.
“This suggestion needs to be discussed in the first instance at the international level, together with the UNHCR,” said Sivec.

SCIENCE: Swiss researchers' study ties revenge with satisfaction

2004-09-03T14:55:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON -- Dirty Harry had it right: Brain scans show revenge really might make your day.

Planning revenge sparks enough satisfaction to motivate getting even -- and the amount of satisfaction actually predicts who will go to greater lengths to do so, report Swiss researchers who monitored people's brain activity during an elaborate game of double-cross.

That might not sound too surprising. Just consider the old saying, "Revenge is sweet."

But beyond helping to unravel how the brain makes social and moral decisions, the study illustrates growing interest in the interaction between emotion and cognition -- which in turn influences other fields such as how to better model the economy.

The new study chips "yet another sliver from the rational model of economic man," said Stanford University psychologist Brian Knutson, who reviewed the Swiss research. "Instead of cold, calculated reason, it is passion that may plant the seeds of revenge," he said.

People often are eager to punish wrongdoers even if the revenge brings them no personal gain or actually costs them something. From a practical standpoint, that might seem irrational.

In research reported in today's edition of the journal Science, University of Zurich scientists used PET scans to monitor the brain activity of game players to determine what motivates that type of revenge.

Two players could either trust and cooperate with each other so they both earned money or one could double-cross the other and keep an unfair share. Sometimes the double-cross was deliberate; other times, rules of the game dictated it. The victim could retaliate by fining the double-crosser different amounts, but sometimes had to spend his own money to impose that fine.

All 14 players chose revenge whenever the double-cross was deliberate and the retaliation free. Only three retaliated when the double-cross wasn't deliberate.

POLITICS: Swiss Arrest Seven Suspected in Laundering Case

2004-09-03T14:49:00.000-04:00

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss police arrested seven people suspected of laundering billions of Swiss francs in illicit gains from trading drugs and weapons.

The arrests were made in connection with investigations of ``international criminal groups'' thought to have invested in cigarettes to disguise the source of their funds, the Office of the Attorney General in Bern, Switzerland, said in a faxed statement.

Police raided about 20 homes and offices in the Ticino, Jura, Vaud and St. Gallen regions, seizing a ``large amount'' of documents and assets. The people arrested are Swiss citizens and foreign nationals residing in Switzerland, the statement said.

``They are strongly suspected of belonging to or aiding a criminal organization,'' the statement said. ``They are accused of have laundered money totalling several billion Swiss francs over a period of years.''

No further details would be given while the investigation is ongoing, the authorities added.