Новости за 13.02.2018

The authorities must carry out more research to better understand the addictive risks of new products such as electronic cigarettes and legal cannabis, and impose a new legal framework, the non-governmental organization Addiction Switzerland says. In its latest “Swiss Panorama of Addictions 2018” report published on Tuesday, the NGO called for a ‘new approach’ to cope with the growing offer of psychoactive substances and public demand for new products, which are ‘shaking up the field of addictions”. Читать дальше...

Swiss health insurance companies and surgeons have reached agreement on charging flat rates for certain ophthalmic operations. Talks are continuing regarding other surgical areas. The move is seen as a step towards reducing rising health costs.  Santésuisse, the association of Swiss health insurers, said in a statement on February 9 that it had signed a contract with the association of Swiss surgeons (FMCH) regarding a flat-rate outpatient plan for certain ophthalmic operations. Fixed rates will be paid for cataract and glaucoma operations... Читать дальше...

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The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) plans to double the number of partnerships with the private sector in the next two years, it announced at its annual conference in Bern on Tuesday.  "We currently have 30 partnerships with the private sector. We plan to double this number by 2020 and we are confident of achieving this goal,” SDC Director Manuel Sager declared at the opening of the conference. The aim is to launch projects with companies involved in sustainable development... Читать дальше...

The Anna Göldi Museum has received a donation of CHF1 million ($1.1 million), the museum announced on Monday. This should allow the museum to stay open all year round. The museum first opened in August 2017 and shows the history of the maid Anna Göldi, who was famously tried and executed as the “last witch of Europe” in 1782 by the local courts in the canton of Glarus. The exhibition guides visitors through the past of the old Swiss Confederation. It also highlights the value of our contemporary... Читать дальше...

The Anna Göldi Museum has received a donation of CHF1 million ($1.1 million), the museum announced on Monday. This should allow the museum to stay open all year round. The museum first opened in August 2017 and shows the history of the maid Anna Göldi, who was famously tried and executed as the “last witch of Europe” in 1782 by the local courts in the canton of Glarus. The exhibition guides visitors through the past of the old Swiss Confederation. It also highlights the value of our contemporary... Читать дальше...

According to a survey, 72% of Swiss business leaders in China expect “higher” or “substantially higher” sales of goods from Switzerland to China and Hong Kong in 2018 than in 2017, when exports reached a record CHF16.7 billion ($17.9 billion). Just 5% of business leaders anticipated lower export figures this year, according to the preliminary results of the 2018 Swiss Business in China Survey, which were released Tuesday by Swiss Centers China. Full results from the survey of 108 Swiss and 440... Читать дальше...

Rivers are the lifelines of the world. Their waters crisscross cities, countries and continents. But after a week on the mighty Mekong, our correspondent sees a need for more ‘river democracy’. With the cool dry season reaching its peak, the water levels on the Mekong River have lowered several meters. This makes navigation difficult as the river in its inner Laotian section is full of islets, reefs and small waterfalls. “I know every shoal and cliff,” states Mr Barlao, our captain on the Mekong Sun boat, our home for a week. Читать дальше...

Today, on World Radio Day, we celebrate the power of radio and its role in bringing people together. It is also an occasion to look back at how swissinfo.ch began... with radio. Beginning in 1935, special programmes for the Swiss abroad were broadcast over short wave.  In 1939, the Short Wave Service got its own antenna, located at Schwarzenberg in canton Bern. Here is a sample programme from May 3, 1949, with a speech in Switzerland by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. And in this interview from 1958... Читать дальше...

Last year, some 10,078 new members joined the euthanasia organisation Exit, the group announced on Tuesday. The number of actual assisted suicides went down slightly, whilst the average age of Exit members rose. At the end of December 2017, the organisation had 110,391 members in German-speaking Switzerland and in Ticino, according to the figures in the press release. Last year, 734 people ended their lives using Exit’s services, compared with 723 the previous year.  The number of requests from... Читать дальше...

Switzerland’s Federation of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) supports a proposal to do away with mandatory licence fees for public service broadcasters, which will come to a nationwide vote on March 4. Two of its members sat down to discuss the issue.  The SME umbrella organisation is up against an alliance of most political parties, parliament, the government, trade unions and most sectors of the business community, who recommend voting against the initiative. But it is a political force to be reckoned with... Читать дальше...

Despite a recent survey showing low Swiss support for hosting the 2026 winter Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has expressed confidence in the bid. He was speaking on Monday from this year’s event in PyeongChang, South Korea. “The debate is just beginning”, the IOC head told Swiss Public Television RTS, just one day after an opinion poll published in the Swiss media revealed that only 36% of respondents supported the so-called Sion 2026 campaign for the southern Swiss canton of Valais. Читать дальше...