Apple to meet Swiss rail firm over clock dispute
Swiss national train operator SBB said on Friday it is to meet Apple representatives after the tech giant used its famous clock design on a new application for iPad and iPhone without prior agreement.
Day: September 21, 2012
Switzerland
France
France and Germany drift over eurozone crisis
Differences between France and Germany on solving the eurozone crisis are increasingly evident, with Paris pushing with more urgency than Berlin for banking reform and a Spanish bailout.
France
Strikes force Brittany Ferries to cancel services
Maritime transport company Brittany Ferries suspended all its services between Britain, France, Ireland and Spain on Friday following a series of wildcat strikes by French employees.
Switzerland
Swiss hand grenades reached Syria: Bern
Swiss hand grenades exported to the United Arab Emirates were sent on to war-torn Syria, Swiss authorities said on Friday, confirming reports that caused outcry in the fervently neutral country.
France
Pope to French bishops: fight gay marriage
The pope on Friday urged French bishops to fight for the traditional family based on marriage between a man and a woman, saying the battle "is not reactionary."
Sweden
Stockholmers to protest ‘license to dance’ laws
Dancing enthusiasts are holding a demonstration in central Stockholm on Saturday to protest against a rule in Sweden that forbids bar patrons from breaking into dance at establishments that don't have a specific dance license.
Norway
Oslo Muslims protest against anti-Islam film
Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators gathered in central Oslo on Friday afternoon for a peaceful protest against an anti-Islam film, while some 150 radical Islamists gathered outside the US embassy.
Sweden
French vineyard uncorks ‘Swedish’ champagne
The first ever Swedish-owned champagne house recently opened up its gates in northern France, promising a comprehensive environment policy and “honesty in the bottle”, The Local's Rebecca Martin discovers.
France
French filmmaker opens studio to rival Hollywood
French filmmaker Luc Besson cut the ribbon Friday on his "Film City", a vast studio complex created in a disused power station to offer Hollywood-style facilities right on the edge of Paris.
Germany
Upper house approves gender quota
The executive boards of Germany's top companies are set to become 40 percent female, after the upper house of the parliament, the Bundesrat, voted for a gender quota on Friday. Two conservative states supported the centre-left proposal.
Germany
Graverobber ‘blackmailed woman with son’s ashes’
A man accused of stealing the ashes of his ex-girlfriend’s dead son to blackmail her for €10,000 went on trial on Thursday in a district court in Gera, eastern Germany.
Sweden
‘Palme wanted protection the night he was shot’
The night he was murdered on a Stockholm street, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme requested protection from security service Säpo, but the call went unanswered, the slain politician's son has claimed.
Sweden
Swedish league’s ban on NHL players ruled illegal
The Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket) Swedish Hockey League’s ban on offering short-term contracts to lock-out affected NHL players for short-term contracts is in breach of competition laws.
Germany
iPhone 5 launch day fever in Germany
After a long wait, the iPhone 5 hit Germany on Friday, where the country's 10 Apple shops were hit with a wave of mayhem as fans from across the world grappled to own the latest in smartphone technology.
France
French mag snapped Kate with Irish snapper
French glossy Closer commissioned an Irish photographer to take the topless shots of Prince William's wife Catherine and can make a fortune selling them, celebrity photographer Pascal Rostain said Friday.
Germany
Bundesrat overturns ’57-second’ data law
Germany’s upper house of parliament has halted a new law affecting citizens' data privacy that caused a scandal earlier this year, when it was passed by the lower house in just 57 seconds.
France
10,000 Bangladeshis in French cartoon march
About 10,000 Bangladeshis took to the streets of Dhaka on Friday to demonstrate against an anti-Islam film made in the US and cartoons in a French satirical magazine caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.
France
France ‘come to terms’ with Holocaust role
France has finally come to terms with its role in the deportation of thousands of Jews to Nazi death camps, President François Hollande said Friday as he inaugurated a new Holocaust memorial centre.
Sweden
Shoppers shocked at empty Expert stores
Bargain hunters who queued outside stores of the recently bankrupted Swedish home electronics chain Expert were left disappointed as the shelves were found to be empty long before any of the customers entered.
Norway
Musical chairs in cabinet as Stoltenberg reshuffles
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Friday announced a major reshuffle of his centre-left government as he prepares for a tough re-election battle in next year's legislative polls.
France
Le Pen calls for ban on religious headwear
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called Friday for a ban on wearing Muslim veils and Jewish skullcaps in public, adding to religious tensions sparked by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Germany
OPEC 1975 terror attack suspect on trial
The trial of an alleged far-left radical accused of involvement in the deadly 1975 attack on an OPEC summit began on Friday in Frankfurt, following her extradition from France last year.
Germany
Deutsche Bank ‘to cut thousands of jobs’
Fresh rumours have surfaced of mass job cuts at Deutsche Bank, a daily paper revealed on Friday. Several thousand jobs could be lost amid restructuring aimed at saving the company billions.
France
Massive protests over Muhammad cartoons
Bloody clashes and violence flared Friday as Pakistan shut down for mass protests against a US-made anti-Islam film that has fanned global Muslim anger, inflamed further by French cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sweden
Sweden drops Saudi arms deal probe
A Swedish prosecutor has closed a preliminary inquiry into a controversial defence deal to help Saudi Arabia build an arms factory, prosecutors said Friday.
Germany
The Local’s guide to Oktoberfest
Looking to head to Munich this year for Oktoberfest? The Local has put together a guide to the world’s biggest beer bash that might get you out of Bavaria alive.
Switzerland
German cook fined €300 in spud gun seizure
A 29-year-old German cook was fined €300 and had his potato cannon confiscated after customs officers searched his car as he crossed the border from Switzerland.
Sweden
More Swedes stabbed in Naples hooligan attack
Attacks by hardcore fans of Serie A side Napoli left three more Swedes hurt following a Europa League match Thursday in the southern Italian port city, reports said.
Switzerland
Swiss capital agrees on quota for women
In a first for Switzerland, Bern's parliament has set a quota requiring at least 35 percent of the top positions in the city's administration to be filled by women.
France
France rejects bullfight ban
France's Constitutional Council on Friday rejected a request by animal-rights activists to ban bullfighting in the southern areas where it is still authorised.
Sweden
‘Nerdy’ Swede wins faux- Nobel for green-hair find
A Swedish researcher has won the Ig Nobel prize for improbable research after he solved the mystery of why people’s hair was inexplicably turning green in southern Sweden last year.
Germany
Chinese wood-eating beetles invade Rhineland
A Chinese wood-eating beetle has invaded western Germany, wildlife experts said on Thursday. They fear the insect's ferocious appetite could force authorities to chop down 300 trees in the city of Bonn.
France
iPhone 5 sales boom as strike threat evaporates
Apple's flagship store in France was doing a roaring trade in the sale of the iPhone 5 on Friday as a threatened strike by workers over a pay dispute failed to materialise.
Switzerland
Swiss to hike road sticker price by 150%
For the first time in 17 years, the Swiss parliament has decided to raise the price for the mandatory annual sticker - or vignette - that allows motorists access to the nation's motorways.
Germany
Magazine pokes fun at Islam video row
A German satirical magazine has entered the row over an anti-Islam video by printing a picture of the former German first lady in the arms of a turban-clad man with a dagger. The move comes during protests across the Arab world.
Switzerland
Trader’s boss ignored warning signs: defence
The former boss of a UBS trader accused of losing the Swiss bank $2.3 billion in "rogue trades" turned a blind eye to his excessive deals due to the profits they reaped, a London court heard Thursday.
Norway
Court upholds verdict in Muhammad cartoon case
A Norwegian appeals court upheld on Thursday the guilty verdicts of two men in a plot to bomb a Danish newspaper that had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, local media said.
Sweden
Man with knife attacked Reinfeldt bodyguard
A 24-year-old man armed with a knife attacked a bodyguard outside the government offices of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at Rosenbad in central Stockholm, according to a report in the Aftonbladet newspaper.
Germany
Toilet paper thief evades high-tech police hunt
German police have been left baffled by a toilet-paper thief in their own ranks after a two-year hunt. The mystery culprit could not be flushed out even after a hidden camera usually reserved for organized criminals had been installed to find him.
Sweden
More stores stung after cash firm bankruptcy
The effects of cash transport firm Panaxia’s bankruptcy have spread to convenient store chains Pressbyrån and Seven Eleven, according to a report by Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri (DI).
Sweden
Swedish doc caught taking pics of naked kids
An Uppsala doctor is under investigation for child pornography crimes after being caught with thousands of images of naked children on his phone.