Switzerland

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November 2008
- Swiss Legalize Heroin Injections
  
  BBC | Nov 30, 08 11:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a safe-injection program for heroin addicts today, BBC reports. The referendum, backed by 68% of voters, makes permanent a 14-year-old Swiss program that allows doctors to shoot up heroin users while attending to their medical and mental health needs. Switzerland will be the first nation to make such a program official policy. More »
October 2008
- Watchmaker's Anti-Fakery Technique Is So Money
  
  Portfolio | Oct 24, 08 6:23 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Swiss watchmaker has broken new ground in the effort to fight fakery, Portfolio reports, using techniques designed to foil currency counterfeiters on a new line of timepieces that run to $50,000. Vacheron Constantin uses laser engraving on tiny components, and coats dials with transparent film printed with tiny characters. “You have to secure a person's investment,” the firm’s CEO says. More »
- Swiss Offer UBS $60B Bailout
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Oct 16, 08 6:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Switzerland became the latest nation to shore up struggling banks, reports the Telegraph , as it bailed out UBS to the tune of $60 billion today. The Swiss central bank will offer UBS a capital injection of $6 billion in exchange for 9% of the company, and it will allow UBS to offload billions in illiquid assets into a specially created fund. Another top Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, also received a lifeline after raising $10 billion from Mideast investors. More »
- Sensitive Swiss Ban Plant Humiliation
  
  Wall Street Journal | Oct 10, 08 5:37 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Swiss scientists eager to carry out genetic experiments on plants can’t be rash—they must first consider the how their actions make that tulip feel. Government-backed ethicists studied the effects of such experimentation on plants’ dignity; they found that it was wrong to hurt plants for no reason, or to genetically render them sterile, the Wall Street Journal reports. The finding sparked new rules, based on a constitutional amendment. More »
- Fraud Case Breaches Venerable Swiss Secrecy
  
  New York Times | Oct 1, 08 10:50 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Swiss authorities are cooperating with an American investigation into a tax fraud scandal, dealing a major blow to the nation's tradition of banking secrecy. Swiss bank UBS is alleged to have helped up to 20,000 American clients evade taxes by stashing their fortunes—collectively worth $20 billion—in undeclared accounts. Now, after initial resistance, Switzerland has agreed to hand over confidential data to the Justice Department, reports the New York Times . More »
September 2008
- Alps Artifacts Offer Clues to Climate Change
  
  AFP | Sep 6, 08 10:48 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A melting glacier in the Swiss Alps has revealed hundreds of ancient artifacts, providing valuable information about both history and climate change through the ages, AFP reports. The area was walkable only during warm periods when the glacier receded. “The site itself is the most important find because we have this correlation between climate change and archaeological objects,” says a researcher. More »
August 2008
- Swiss Pardon Europe's Last Executed Witch
  
  Independent (UK) | Aug 28, 08 4:56 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - It's 226 years too late to restore her head to her body but the Swiss have decided to restore the good name of convicted witch Anna Goeldi, the Independent reports. Goeldi, the last person in Europe to be executed for witchcraft, was tortured and killed after being accused of casting spells to make a young girl convulse and spit pins. More »
June 2008
- Art Basel: Brisk Sales, but No Frenzy
  
  New York Times | Jun 5, 08 9:55 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Art Basel, the world's most prestigious (and most expensive) art fair, opened Tuesday in Switzerland amid grumbles that works for sale were of middling quality and overpriced. "Now there are just too many art fairs," said a director of PaceWildenstein, one of New York's biggest galleries. As the New York Times writes, this year's Art Basel is loaded with well-known names at the expense of new discoveries. More »
April 2008
- Credit Suisse Posts $2.1B Loss
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Apr 24, 08 4:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Credit Suisse has announced it lost a mammoth $2.1 billion in the first quarter, reports the Financial Times. The Swiss banking group, which until recently appeared to have escaped the worst of the credit crunch, continued to post strong earnings from its private banking sector—but that wasn't enough to outweigh writedowns of $5.2 billion. More »
February 2008
- Musharraf Pushes Swiss to Prosecute Foe
  
  Guardian (UK) | Feb 21, 08 10:37 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - As the battle to control Pakistan heats up, President Pervez Musharraf's lawyers have asked the Swiss government to prosecute Asif Ali Zardari over decade-old corruption charges. Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto and leader of the victorious Pakistan People's Party, is charged with hiding $55 million in kickbacks in a Swiss bank account. Bhutto herself faced similar charges in Switzerland before her assassination. More »
- Stolen Art Found in Parking Lot
  
  Guardian (UK) | Feb 19, 08 6:55 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The four 19th-century paintings stolen from a Swiss museum have reportedly been found in an unlocked car parked outside a Zurich psychiatric hospital. Although police have not yet confirmed the find, Swiss media are reporting that the $168 million worth of loot—one work each by Cézanne, Degas, Monet, and van Gogh—has been recovered. The paintings were stolen by masked gunmen on February 10. More »
- Thieves Snag 2 Picassos
  
  Guardian (UK) | Feb 8, 08 2:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Thieves stole two Picasso paintings that belong to a German museum from a Swiss art gallery where they had been on display, the Guardian reports. The pilfered works, Tete de Cheval and Verre et Pichet, were on loan from the Sprengel Museum. Combined, they're worth $4.5 million, AFP reports. More »
January 2008
- Davos Summit: a Moral Sham?
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jan 25, 08 9:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Davos summit, an annual retreat “where money comes to find morality and politics comes to meet money,” is the capital of capitalism—yet the world's economic crisis is only spoken of in whispers there, writes Julian Glover in the Guardian . Instead, moguls press the flesh with Middle East oil magnates and Chinese or Russian officials—anyone who can buoy the West's wobbly economy with a nod or a phone call. More »
- Power Brokers Return to Davos
  
  Independent (UK) | Jan 22, 08 12:00 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Swiss ski resort of Davos turns into a giant think tank tomorrow as politicians, financiers, and other masters of the universe gather for the World Economic Forum. This year's summit will eschew some of the Hollywood glamor of sessions past, the Independent reports: Emma Thompson will put in an appearance, but the current pessimistic financial mood means Davos 2008 is going back to its roots. More »
December 2007
- Swiss in Turmoil as Power Sharing Collapses
  
  Reuters | Dec 13, 07 11:09 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - After 49 years, Switzerland’s cozy form of consensus government collapsed today, when the right-wing People’s Party went into opposition, angered by the ejection of one of its members from the cabinet. “You have forced us to go into opposition, destroyed our treasured system of government and sacrificed your sworn interest in concordance, collegiality and tolerance,” the party’s head raged. More »
- Swiss MPs Eject Populist Leader
  
  Bloomberg | Dec 12, 07 10:59 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Cristoph Blocher, the controversial head of Switzerland's People's Party, has been ejected from cabinet in an unexpected move that could end 50 years of consensus politics. The populist leader was slated for reelection as justice minister, Bloomberg reports, but a surprise deal by the three other parties voted in another People's Party member who didn't seek nomination. MPs broke into applause after the vote. More »
- It's All Downhill From Here
  
  Conde Nast Traveler | Dec 2, 07 1:08 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Make your holiday ski trip one to remember by visiting one of these renowned ski locales around the globe. Courtesy of Conde Nast Traveler : Courchevel 1850, France Verbier

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Stories

Swiss Legalize Heroin Injections

Watchmaker's Anti-Fakery Technique Is So Money

Swiss Offer UBS $60B Bailout

Sensitive Swiss Ban Plant Humiliation

Fraud Case Breaches Venerable Swiss Secrecy

Alps Artifacts Offer Clues to Climate Change

Swiss Pardon Europe's Last Executed Witch

Art Basel: Brisk Sales, but No Frenzy

Credit Suisse Posts $2.1B Loss

Musharraf Pushes Swiss to Prosecute Foe

Stolen Art Found in Parking Lot

Thieves Snag 2 Picassos

Davos Summit: a Moral Sham?

Power Brokers Return to Davos

Swiss in Turmoil as Power Sharing Collapses

Swiss MPs Eject Populist Leader

It's All Downhill From Here