SWI swissinfo

Switzerland hasn't hosted the Winter Olympics since 1948. All bids in the meantime have been scotched by either Swiss voters or the Swiss Olympic Committee (RDB) After Sion’s failed bid to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2006, the capital of canton Valais is trying again. Not everyone shares the Olympic dream, however. An environmentalist and tourism expert tells swissinfo.ch why he is not convinced. On Friday, officials launched their campaign, “Sion 2026 – the Games at the heart of Switzerland”. It would involve four cantons in weste Switzerland, and Sion as host city. Another bid, from canton Graubünden, also plans to share events among several cantons, including Thurgau, St Gallen and Schaffhausen. The national organising committee, Swiss Olympic, will decide between the two options in April, and the inteational selection process will conclude in June 2019. However, Christophe Clivaz, a Green Party politician from Valais and professor of sustainable tourism at the Universi SWI swissinfo...

Neusoft wants to expand its presence in Europe with healthcare services (Keystone) Switzerland can expect to see a lot more companies coming over from China in the coming years, according to Liu Jiren, co-founder and chairman of leading Chinese software firm, Neusoft. Chinese companies made the headlines in Switzerland last year with several notable merger and acquisition (M&A) deals, including the record $43.3 billion takeover of Basel agrochemical giant Syngenta by the China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina). Yet more are taking advantage of Switzerland’s political stability, technical know-how, strong financial system and low corporate tax rates to set up regional headquarters in the alpine nation. It also helps when diplomatic relations between the two countries are at a high point, as witnessed by the free trade agreement and visit earlier this week of Chinese President Xi JinPing. Speaking to swissinfo.ch at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Liu said Chinese comp SWI swissinfo...

Jan 21, 2017 - 11:00Going to the movies is still a beloved pastime in Switzerland, which has more than 270 cinemas. A new book, “Rex, Roxy, Royal”, takes us inside a few of them.Sandra Walti, one of the book's publishers, has long worked behind the scenes at an independent cinema in the town of Aarau. The idea of creating a photo book featuring movie theatre interiors came to her over the years, while cleaning her cinema after a screening or creating the programme for the following month. The project finally came into being about a year ago, with her co-publisher Tina Schmid. Ten collaborators from across Switzerland scoured archives and conducted historic research for the book. Photographer Olivier Lang travelled throughout Switzerland and documented cinemas in big cities and small towns, from mini-to-multiplexes. The resulting book takes readers across the country and brings them closer to the history of the cinemas, at a time of declining ticket sales. The switch from analog to digi SWI swissinfo...