<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Politicians celebrated the August 1 National Day with speeches urging the Swiss to unite in the face of expected economic hardships. The soaring value of the Swiss franc means there could be trouble ahead for many businesses.</span></p>
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<p>Switzerland will celebrate its founding this year with its own new apple species, the Galmac, adding a new twist to William Tell's mythical apple-shot which indirectly led to Swiss independence.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Council of States has ruled that Swiss private home-owners must continue to build fallout shelters, in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster</span>.</p>
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<p>Switzerland has identified a third person infected with a rare strain of the E. coli bacteria that has killed 18 people in Europe, authorities said Friday.</p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Switzerland's second-largest supermarket chain, Coop, has pulled Spanish cucumbers off its shelves after authorities in Germany found the produce partly responsible for a deadly food-poisoning outbreak there.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Swiss government introduced new rules Wednesday to protect products from the Alpine region. From the beginning of next year, the label "Alpine" can only be used for products that abide by the region's regulations.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that an insurance company must cover the dentist bill for a woman who broke a tooth while eating olive bread, reports said.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">From the creamy raclette to gruyère cheeses, Switzerland is set to sign an agreement with the EU to protect the geographical origins of about 20 Swiss products. </span></p>
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<p>Works by many of the world's greatest modern and impressionist artists will be sold at auction in June with the closure of the gallery of late Swiss art trader Ernst Beyeler.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">A new case of BSE has been detected in the Canton of St. Gallen, the first in five years.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 26px;">Wine drinkers in Switzerland consumed 1.7 percent more in 2010 than the year before.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The recent spell of dry and warm weather in Switzerland could lead to shortages of a number of crops, farmers have warned.<br /></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Swiss spent 26 billion francs on dining out and drinking in bars last year, regaining their appetite after the financial crisis, with steak and fries the most popular dish.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland says the Alpine country’s checks on food imports are over-the-top.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small; white-space: pre;">Owners of sushi bars in Zürich have told worried customers that their food is not sourced in Japan, amid fears that they may be put of </span></p>
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