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Students in Switzerland built a wheelchair that knows how to climb stairs
An electric wheelchair that can climb most stairs, including spiral staircases, has been developed by Zurich-based students. The Scalevo Wheelchair can mount one stair per second and was designed by 10 students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and the Zurich University of the Arts. When being used on normal flat ground it balances on two wheels like a Segway and allows users to turn on the spot in order to quickly change direction.
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Swiss Anti-Immigration Party Wins Big in Elections
A nationalist party campaigning on fears about mass migration to Europe appeared set Sunday to become the big winner in Swiss legislative elections, according to projections, continuing a shift to the political right for Switzerland. The anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party appeared set to gain 11 seats and the pro-business Free Democratic Party three in the lower house of Parliament, the National Council, according to the latest figures from RTS, a state-backed broadcaster.
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Swiss alternative bank breaks negative rates taboo
A tiny Swiss bank specialised in financing social and environmental projects will on January 1 go where no retail lender has gone before, applying negative interest rates on individual clients.
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Women wearing a burqa will be fined £6,500 in Swiss region
Women who wear full face veils in public in a Swiss state could be fined up to £6,500 under new rules imposed by the local government. Females muslims will be banned from wearing the burqa in shops, restaurants or public buildings in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. The local government in the southern Swiss state approved the ban after a referendum in September 2013 saw two in three voters backing the move.
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HSBC whistleblower given five years’ jail over biggest leak in banking history
The whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing at HSBC’s Swiss private bank has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Swiss court. Hervé Falciani, a former IT worker, was convicted in his absence for the biggest leak in banking history. He is currently living in France, where he sought refuge from Swiss justice, and did not attend the trial. The leak of secret bank account details formed the basis of revelations – by the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other media outlets...
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A watchmaker's paradise
In the Joux Valley, in the south-west corner of Switzerland, the traditional craft of watchmaking is flourishing, as John Laurenson discovers.
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Palaces, Penises, and Parties With the Young Jet Set
Forty-eight hours in Gstaad, made for Instagram. By Maureen O'Connor.
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Switzerland signs deal to end banking secrecy
Switzerland, in an effort to combat tax evasion and money laundering activities, has agreed to a deal with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreeing to exchange data with 60 other countries that will effectively end its banking secrecy. Switzerland is the world’s largest offshore wealth center, with an estimated $2.2 trillion in assets compared to a $632.2 billion GDP.
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Let Artificial Intelligence guess your attractiveness and age at this Zurich University website
Scientific researchers of ETH Zürich together with dating app BLINQ created this machine learning algorithm. Try your own photo now!
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Swiss taxman says delay payments to beat negative interest rates
Taxpayers in parts of Switzerland this year face an unusual request from fiscal authorities: please delay settling your bill.
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Dramatic footage shows avalanche sliding down Swiss mountain
This is the dramatic moment an avalanche covered an alpine road with ice, rock and snow as it thundered down a mountainside. The avalanche was deliberately triggered by authorities in the Swiss town of Saxon in order to minimise the risk of motorists and residents being caught off guard by an uncontrolled downpour. Two men who filmed the breathtaking scene from the road are heard exclaiming in shock as huge mounds of snow spill on to the road just yards from where they are stood.
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How a Small Company in Switzerland Is Fighting a Surveillance Law — And Winning
A small email provider and its customers have almost single-handedly forced the Swiss government to put its new invasive surveillance law up for a public vote in a national referendum in June. “This law was approved in September, and after the Paris attacks, we assumed privacy was dead at that point,” said Andy Yen, co-founder of ProtonMail, when I spoke with him on the phone.
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The European country that wants to pay all of its citizens £1,700-a-month – whether they work or not
Switzerland is set to vote on a proposal that wants to pay everyone 2,500 Swiss francs (£1,700) a month regardless of whether people are working or not. If the plans go through, it will become the first country in the world to provide a basic unconditional monthly income, and they are already the first country to vote on the matter.
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'Swiss Army knife' armoured vehicle unveiled
BAE Systems unveils its reworked 'Swiss Army knife' armoured vehicle - aptly named the Terrier
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Switzerland votes on expelling foreigners for minor crimes
Voters will be asked if foreign national guilty of two minor crimes, such as traffic offences, in 10 years, should be expelled
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Swiss voters reject plan to expel foreigners for minor crimes
People in Switzerland have rejected a plan to automatically expel foreigners who commit minor crimes, results show. Some 59% of voters have said "No" to the proposal put forward by the right-wing Swiss People's Party. The vote happened amid growing unease at rising immigration and the problems which, the party says, come with it. But opponents said the law would create a two-tier justice system unfairly targeting foreigners...
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Swiss banker whistleblower: CIA behind Panama Papers
Bradley Birkenfeld is the most significant financial whistleblower of all time, so you might think he'd be cheering on the disclosures in the new Panama Papers leaks. But today, Birkenfeld is raising questions about the source of the information that is shaking political regimes around the world. Birkenfeld, an American citizen, was a banker working at UBS in Switzerland when he approached the U.S. government with information on massive...
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Swiss snowboard star Estelle Balet killed in avalanche
World champion extreme snowboarder Estelle Balet was killed in an avalanche on Tuesday while making a film in her native Switzerland. Police said the 21-year-old Swiss athlete was struck by the snow slide early in the morning above Orsieres, near Switzerland's southern border with France and Italy. She had been following another snowboarder, who was not caught in the avalanche. Valais state police said in a statement that rescuers...
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U.S. Labels Switzerland an Internet Piracy Haven
Every year the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes its Special 301 Report highlighting countries that aren’t doing enough to protect U.S. intellectual property rights. In 2016 the report sticks to a tried and tested format, with countries such as China, Russia, India and Ukraine all making the Priority List once again. However, just as the USTR wasn’t afraid to place Canada on the Watch List several years ago, this year it has added another ally.
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Global first? Every Swiss could be guaranteed $2,600 a month tax-free
Chalk it up to Swiss affluence. Voters here will decide next month whether all 8 million citizens and legal residents should be guaranteed a generous monthly income, something no country in the world has ever done. On June 5, Swiss voters will weigh in on a radical proposal that would mandate the government to guarantee $2,600 a month tax-free to every adult citizen and legal resident, and $650 to each child.
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