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Ice man wins Crystal Globe
Carlo Janka has added the overall World Cup title to his list of ski trophies after coming first in the giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Friday.


Climate scientists get hot under the collar
An international group of national science bodies is to review the United Nations climate body in a bid to restore confidence in the beleaguered institution.

HSBC says bank data on 24,000 accounts stolen
Some 24,000 customers may have been affected by the theft of data from a Swiss branch of bank HSBC three years ago, the bank says.

?Muslims are now ?us? not ?them??
Four months after banning the construction of minarets, the Swiss are using Islam as an excuse to avoid re-defining themselves, says an expert on Muslim integration.

Swatch watches industry crisis from a pedestal
The fact that watchmaking giant Swatch outperformed its competitors last year amid a disastrous export market is no surprise, says one industry insider.

Torture expert blasts Human Rights Council
Torture and secret prisons are ?global phenomena? that are not being taken seriously by the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, warns a UN expert.



Construction boom may be moving too fast
Empty office and retail space may soon become a feature of many Swiss cities unless the pace of construction slows, a real estate report has warned.

Swiss could benefit from Dutch pension model
Switzerland should look towards the Netherlands if it wants to improve the efficiency of its occupational pension system, a pensions expert tells swissinfo.ch.

More silver surfers want to take the plunge
In Switzerland a majority of those over 65 years old do not use the internet, with many citing fears over technology use and the effort needed to learn about the web.

Can an image campaign save Switzerland?
As Switzerland?s cherished bank secrecy comes increasingly under pressure, the Swiss government has to decide whether now is the time to bring in PR professionals.
Switzerland, french part

Switzerland is the Matterhorn... but so much more as well

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Switzerland is 7 million inhabitants, 4 official languages and 26 cantons

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Seven million inhabitants in a territory of some 40,000 km2, at the crossroads of many great European countries. There are four official languages: German, in fact an assembly of dialects known as “swiss german” (spoken by about 65% of the population in the north and the centre of the country), French (20% in the west of the country), Italian (about 8% in the south), Romanche (less than 1% in the south-east of the Grisons canton) and other languages (around 7%).

 

 
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A brief history of Switzerland

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Peopled since prehistoric times, it was the “Helvetians”, a Celtic people, who gave their name to the Swiss and catapulted the country into History. Incorporated into the Roman Empire, Switzerland was gradually Christianised. The country was then to form part of the kingdom of Burgundy, then that of the Franks and of the Carolingian empire before becoming attached to the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.

 
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