Posts

Showing posts with the label Switzerland News

Behind the Candelabra takes top Emmy awards

Image
   Michael Douglas thanked his Behind The Candelabra co-star Matt Damon: "I can tell you, you were magnificent and the only reason I am standing here is because of you, so really you deserve half of this" The Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra has taken the top honours at this year's Emmy awards, held in Los Angeles on Sunday. The film, shown on the cable network HBO in the US, won three awards including best TV movie and a best actor award for Michael Douglas. Breaking Bad was named best drama, while Modern Family took the leading comedy award for the fourth time. Claire Danes took the best actress prize for her role in Homeland. Accepting his first ever Emmy award, Douglas thanked his family and his wife, Catherine Zeta Jones. Surprise win The couple, who have been married for 13 years, announced last month that they were "taking time apart". Claire Danes took the leading actress award for the second year...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Continued (pg3),... A lot of hyperactive children come to rifle club - they learn to stand still, to concentrate for much longer Michael Merki, Shooting instructor "But over the last 20 years, now that the majority of soldiers don't have ammunition at home, we have seen a decrease in gun violence and a dramatic decrease in gun-related suicides. Today we see maybe 200 gun suicides per year and it used to be 400, 20 years ago. " The army is not the only entity to have a tradition with guns however. About 600,000 Swiss - many of them children - belong to shooting clubs. On the second weekend in September each year, about 4,000 Zurich girls and boys, aged 12 to 16, take part in Knabenschiessen, a rifle marksmanship contest. The winner is honoured with the title King of the Marksmen. "Never point your gun anywhere but the target or the ceiling," instructor Michael Merki warns me as he gives me my first air rifle lesson at a Zurich shooting range. "Safety...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Continued (pg3),... A lot of hyperactive children come to rifle club - they learn to stand still, to concentrate for much longer Michael Merki, Shooting instructor "But over the last 20 years, now that the majority of soldiers don't have ammunition at home, we have seen a decrease in gun violence and a dramatic decrease in gun-related suicides. Today we see maybe 200 gun suicides per year and it used to be 400, 20 years ago. " The army is not the only entity to have a tradition with guns however. About 600,000 Swiss - many of them children - belong to shooting clubs. On the second weekend in September each year, about 4,000 Zurich girls and boys, aged 12 to 16, take part in Knabenschiessen, a rifle marksmanship contest. The winner is honoured with the title King of the Marksmen. "Never point your gun anywhere but the target or the ceiling," instructor Michael Merki warns me as he gives me my first air rifle lesson at a Zurich shooting range. "Safety...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Continued (pg2),... *. A special permit is needed to carry a gun in public - and is usually issued only to people who work in security, once they have passed theoretical and practical exams *. Twenty-six thousand guns were sold legally in Switzerland in 2012 to sportsmen, hunters and collectors Swissinfo: Give me a Kalashnikov Since that incident, gun laws concerning army weapons have tightened. Although it is still possible for a former soldier to buy his firearm after he finishes military service, he must provide a justification for keeping the weapon and apply for a permit. When I meet Mathias, a PhD student and serving officer, at his apartment in a snowy suburb of Zurich, I realise the rules have got stricter than I imagined. Mathias keeps his army pistol in the guest room of his home, in a desk drawer hidden under the printer paper. It is a condition of the interview that I don't give his surname or hint at his address. "I do as the army advises and I keep the barr...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Continued (pg2),... *. A special permit is needed to carry a gun in public - and is usually issued only to people who work in security, once they have passed theoretical and practical exams *. Twenty-six thousand guns were sold legally in Switzerland in 2012 to sportsmen, hunters and collectors Swissinfo: Give me a Kalashnikov Since that incident, gun laws concerning army weapons have tightened. Although it is still possible for a former soldier to buy his firearm after he finishes military service, he must provide a justification for keeping the weapon and apply for a permit. When I meet Mathias, a PhD student and serving officer, at his apartment in a snowy suburb of Zurich, I realise the rules have got stricter than I imagined. Mathias keeps his army pistol in the guest room of his home, in a desk drawer hidden under the printer paper. It is a condition of the interview that I don't give his surname or hint at his address. "I do as the army advises and I keep the barr...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but little gun-related street crime - so some opponents of gun control hail it as a place where firearms play a positive role in society. However, Swiss gun culture is unique, and guns are more tightly regulated than many assume. Throughout the attack, Anne Ithen kept her eyes shut. "I didn't want to see it. I didn't want those images in my head for the rest of my life... but I remember everything, every detail," she tells me. "Ninety bullets were fired and of course there was the homemade bomb - there was a hell of a noise." She drops her head slightly as she takes herself back to the Zug cantonal assembly chamber on the afternoon of 27 September 2001, where she was chairing the council meeting. She remembers hearing a loud bang and thinking briefly that someone had accidentally upturned the coffee table in the corridor. Then the door burst open and she saw Freidrich Leibacher, a lo...

Switzerland guns: Living with firearms the Swiss way

Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but little gun-related street crime - so some opponents of gun control hail it as a place where firearms play a positive role in society. However, Swiss gun culture is unique, and guns are more tightly regulated than many assume. Throughout the attack, Anne Ithen kept her eyes shut. "I didn't want to see it. I didn't want those images in my head for the rest of my life... but I remember everything, every detail," she tells me. "Ninety bullets were fired and of course there was the homemade bomb - there was a hell of a noise." She drops her head slightly as she takes herself back to the Zug cantonal assembly chamber on the afternoon of 27 September 2001, where she was chairing the council meeting. She remembers hearing a loud bang and thinking briefly that someone had accidentally upturned the coffee table in the corridor. Then the door burst open and she saw Freidrich Leibacher, a lo...