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S U B S C R I B E
The National
Weekdays from 7:00 to 9 am
Dave Goodman joins journalist Helena Humphrey in Geneva and Jo Fahy in Zurich to present a cross-country national morning broadcast with news and views from around Switzerland. Listen to interviews, opinions and fresh voices from across the country’s four linguistic regions. With a cheerful, entertaining, conversational format, the new National is designed to accompany the listener in his or her start to the day, with Swiss and international current affairs, as well as music from the Anglophone pop-rock repertory of hits.
Featuring: Business Report, Sports Round-Up, Dateline CH, WRS News, Brain Freeze, The Weekender and more…
Brain Freeze: Footballer David Beckham has announced he’s retiring from the game. Can you name one of the teams he played for in his 20-year career?
Friday, 17 May, 2013
Friday, 17 May, 2013
Live music and a 'naval' parade
Friday, 17 May, 2013Find out about the re-opening of the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. Plus a free festival in Geneva tomorrow with everything from live music to balloon rides. And don’t miss the naval parade in Nyon. Celeste Neill and WRS’s Jo Fahy have all that—plus dates not to miss for your diary:
Friday, 17 May, 2013Find out about the re-opening of the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. Plus a free festival in Geneva tomorrow with everything from live music to balloon rides. And don’t miss the naval parade in Nyon. Celeste Neill and WRS’s Jo Fahy have all that—plus dates not to miss for your diary:
Midwives call for control of delivery rooms
Friday, 17 May, 2013Midwives should be put in control of the delivery room. That’s the call coming from the Swiss midwifery Association Congress in Thun. They believe too much money is being wasted on unnecessary caesarian sections and other medical procedures. They’ve launched a petition to gauge support for a change in the practice of delivering babies. One of those attending the conference was midwife Sue Brailey who worked in Switzerland for many years and also lectured at the University of Applied Science on Midwifery. WRS’s Pete Forster spoke to her at the Congress and began by asking about the evidence that current obstetric practice is over-medicalized:
Friday, 17 May, 2013Midwives should be put in control of the delivery room. That’s the call coming from the Swiss midwifery Association Congress in Thun. They believe too much money is being wasted on unnecessary caesarian sections and other medical procedures. They’ve launched a petition to gauge support for a change in the practice of delivering babies. One of those attending the conference was midwife Sue Brailey who worked in Switzerland for many years and also lectured at the University of Applied Science on Midwifery. WRS’s Pete Forster spoke to her at the Congress and began by asking about the evidence that current obstetric practice is over-medicalized:
For students, 'coming out...very difficult'
Friday, 17 May, 2013Today, May 17, is International Day Against Homophobia. To mark the event the cantons of Geneva and Vaud tonight intend to honour, amongst others, a number of student organisations that have formed to raise awareness about homophobia and make their colleges a more welcome place for gay and lesbian youth. WRS’s Pete Forster spoke to two students involved in programmes in their respective colleges—Kimberley Berney of Collège de Saussure and Ambre Jeanneret of Collège Claparède. He began by asking Kimberley if at her school she’d seen incidences of homophobia:
Friday, 17 May, 2013Today, May 17, is International Day Against Homophobia. To mark the event the cantons of Geneva and Vaud tonight intend to honour, amongst others, a number of student organisations that have formed to raise awareness about homophobia and make their colleges a more welcome place for gay and lesbian youth. WRS’s Pete Forster spoke to two students involved in programmes in their respective colleges—Kimberley Berney of Collège de Saussure and Ambre Jeanneret of Collège Claparède. He began by asking Kimberley if at her school she’d seen incidences of homophobia:
Sadness, outrage at teen's murder
Friday, 17 May, 2013Where did it all go so wrong? A man referred to in the press as Claude D was released on parole seven years before the end of his 20-year sentence. Showing signs he might rape and kill again, he was ordered back to jail but won his appeal. On Monday, he struck again, and before daybreak on Wednesday, he led police to his new victim: 19-year old Marie. People are outraged and both judges and leaders in the canton of Vaud are at pains to justify a series of bad calls made along the way. WRS’s Lucas Chambers has this story:
Friday, 17 May, 2013Where did it all go so wrong? A man referred to in the press as Claude D was released on parole seven years before the end of his 20-year sentence. Showing signs he might rape and kill again, he was ordered back to jail but won his appeal. On Monday, he struck again, and before daybreak on Wednesday, he led police to his new victim: 19-year old Marie. People are outraged and both judges and leaders in the canton of Vaud are at pains to justify a series of bad calls made along the way. WRS’s Lucas Chambers has this story:
Dateline CH: EU tightens screws on banking secrecy
Thursday, 16 May, 2013Some say the pressure on Switzerland to abandon banking secrecy has become unbearable. The BBC’s Imogen Foukes weighs in on how the EU is tightening the screws further on demanding the automatic exchange of information:
Thursday, 16 May, 2013Some say the pressure on Switzerland to abandon banking secrecy has become unbearable. The BBC’s Imogen Foukes weighs in on how the EU is tightening the screws further on demanding the automatic exchange of information:
Privatisation scandal hints at 'uncomfortable truths'
Thursday, 16 May, 2013This week, the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) reported that 2012 represented a near record for the number of money laundering cases. Among the more high profile has been the case in Bellinzona of the Czech mining company MUS where it’s alleged a small group of managers laundered hundreds of millions of francs through a series of Swiss companies and bank accounts. The case centers around five Czech and one Belgian illegally acquiring a controlling interest in coal mines in the privatisation programme of the the early 1990s without making the knowledge public. Covering the case for Radio Prague in the Czech Republic has been Jan Richter. He explained to WRS’s Pete Forster how the fraud began to unravel:
Thursday, 16 May, 2013This week, the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) reported that 2012 represented a near record for the number of money laundering cases. Among the more high profile has been the case in Bellinzona of the Czech mining company MUS where it’s alleged a small group of managers laundered hundreds of millions of francs through a series of Swiss companies and bank accounts. The case centers around five Czech and one Belgian illegally acquiring a controlling interest in coal mines in the privatisation programme of the the early 1990s without making the knowledge public. Covering the case for Radio Prague in the Czech Republic has been Jan Richter. He explained to WRS’s Pete Forster how the fraud began to unravel:
Salvation Army soldiers bank on low-key act
Thursday, 16 May, 2013Switzerland doesn’t have the best record in the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years but a group of six Salvation Army members are hoping to change that tonight. They controversially won the ticket to represent their country in Malmo in Sweden and are competing against 16 other songs this evening to win a place in Saturday’s Grand Final. Whatever happens they’ve already made Eurovision history. Ninety-five year-old Emil who plays the double bass will set a new record for being the oldest ever musician to perform on the Eurovision stage. WRS’s Dave Goodman is in Malmo and spoke to the group about why they are taking part, who they’re up against and their hopes of giving Switzerland its 3rd Eurovision win:
Thursday, 16 May, 2013Switzerland doesn’t have the best record in the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years but a group of six Salvation Army members are hoping to change that tonight. They controversially won the ticket to represent their country in Malmo in Sweden and are competing against 16 other songs this evening to win a place in Saturday’s Grand Final. Whatever happens they’ve already made Eurovision history. Ninety-five year-old Emil who plays the double bass will set a new record for being the oldest ever musician to perform on the Eurovision stage. WRS’s Dave Goodman is in Malmo and spoke to the group about why they are taking part, who they’re up against and their hopes of giving Switzerland its 3rd Eurovision win:
Could you pass the language test to become Swiss?
Wednesday, 15 May, 2013The canton of Zurich has come up with a standardised German test for foreign nationals who want to become Swiss. At the moment, local communiites can come up with their own test, and it differs across the canton. Some places hold a half-hour conversation with applicants, some set a written and oral exam based on third-party advice. The aim of this new development is to make the citizenship process a bit more transparent and fair. WRS’s Jo Fahy spoke to Otto Hänseler, head of naturalization for the cantonal municipalities:
Wednesday, 15 May, 2013The canton of Zurich has come up with a standardised German test for foreign nationals who want to become Swiss. At the moment, local communiites can come up with their own test, and it differs across the canton. Some places hold a half-hour conversation with applicants, some set a written and oral exam based on third-party advice. The aim of this new development is to make the citizenship process a bit more transparent and fair. WRS’s Jo Fahy spoke to Otto Hänseler, head of naturalization for the cantonal municipalities:
Trade unions sew up wins in textile factories
Wednesday, 15 May, 2013Behind a groundbreaking accord to improve safety in textile factories are two global federations of trade unions which incidentally are both based in Switzerland. UNI Global Union and Industriall have been negotiating to get global clothing manufacturers to sign on—and they already have major multinationals on board: H&M, Marks and Spencer or Inditex, which owns Zara. Yet other big names haven’t joined so far. They have until today at midnight to do so. WRS’s Jo Fahy talks to Jenny Holdcroft, who’s Policy Director at Industriall, one of the two organizations that initiated the agreement:
Wednesday, 15 May, 2013Behind a groundbreaking accord to improve safety in textile factories are two global federations of trade unions which incidentally are both based in Switzerland. UNI Global Union and Industriall have been negotiating to get global clothing manufacturers to sign on—and they already have major multinationals on board: H&M, Marks and Spencer or Inditex, which owns Zara. Yet other big names haven’t joined so far. They have until today at midnight to do so. WRS’s Jo Fahy talks to Jenny Holdcroft, who’s Policy Director at Industriall, one of the two organizations that initiated the agreement:
