Jérôme Martinu joined the Neue Luzerner Zeitung in 2002 as sports editor. In 2006, he moved to the regional sections, which he later headed. Martinu, who studied history and communication sciences at the universities of Bern and Fribourg, has been a member of the editorial board since 2009.

Dominik Buholzer worked at the former Urner Zeitung from 1995. In 1998, the trained teacher became editorial director of the Neue Nidwaldner Zeitung, in 2006 he moved to the Switzerland department of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung as editor, in 2007 Buholzer became head of the newsdesk and finally a member of the extended editorial management. Since February 2012, Buholzer has been responsible for the Sunday edition of Zentralschweiz am Sonntag.

The previous deputy editor-in-chief Stefan Ragaz is leaving at his own request to take on a new challenge. Ragaz had held this position at the Neue Luzerner Zeitung since 1996 and had been in charge of the national sections for the last few years. Stefan Ragaz brought a broad range of journalistic experience to the job, most recently introducing the new editorial system under his leadership.

Yamina Maanan joins the agency as Community Success Manager, where she manages mandates in the area of online community building and social media. She holds a Master's degree in Communication Management from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has many years of experience working for agencies and companies. Most recently, she worked as Community Manager for the youth program and online platform Zambo on Swiss television and was previously responsible for the main sponsors of the 2008 European Championships as Project Manager Events.

Coundco has been further strengthened by the arrival of Cristina Sebald. Thanks to her many years of experience in customer service, she will play a central role in the Cleint Service division alongside Garry Bachmann, Head of Production and member of the Executive Board, according to the press release. Cristina Sebald was most recently in charge of the Polo St. Moritz 1899 brand and was responsible for project management, events and sales, among other things. Prior to this, she worked together with Yamina Maanan as Product Manager at Kuoni.
 

Ringier and Bank Zweiplus have founded a joint venture, Ringier writes in a statement: Cash Zweiplus. Ringier is contributing the Cash brand and the business and finance platform of the same name with 170,000 unique users to the joint venture. Bank Zweiplus is contributing its direct customer business: The more than 30,000 bank customers will access online banking via the Cash platform with immediate effect. Bank Zweiplus will remain responsible for all account and custody account management and related tasks. For the first time, business and financial information, advice and banking services will be provided from a single source, the statement continues. Cash will continue to offer information as before: News, commentary, background reports and analyses, as well as market data. The platform provides its customers with the full range of financial services: savings, investments, pensions and financing - combined with personal advice from a team of 30 specialists. As a "cross picker," the user chooses for himself which parts of the offering he wants to use. Cash's existing information offering will continue to be available to all interested parties free of charge.

The business model

The business model of Cash Zweiplus is based on the one hand on the banking business, and on the other hand on the classic publishing business consisting of user and advertising markets. Cash Zweiplus is owned 50/50 by Ringier and Bank Zweiplus. The Board of Directors has equal representation. Bank Zweiplus is represented by Alfred W. Moeckli (Chairman) and Markus Aisslinger, Ringier by Michael Voss and Martin Werfeli.

Cash Zweiplus employs 46 people. The Executive Board consists of Christoph Hartgens (Chief Executive Officer), Marcel Gamper (Chief Customer Officer - Banking), André Michel (Chief Operating Officer - Publishing Business) and Urban Scherrer (Chief Technology Officer). The editorial team will continue to be headed by Editor-in-Chief Daniel Hügli.
 

After that, you will probably never again be annoyed by your colleagues banging away at their keyboards and talking wildly. And instead of being annoyed by the street noise, you will appreciate every roar of the engine. Because absolute silence is not as beautiful as we imagine it to be.

Orfield Laboratories in the USA has created a place in which 99.99 percent of noise is absorbed. According to Welt.de, a room in which you sleep has an average volume of 30 decibels. In the quietest room in the world, a volume of minus nine decibels was measured. So it really is quiet. But absolute silence doesn't seem to be as pleasant as you might imagine - no one has ever been able to stay in this room for longer than 45 minutes. This is partly because you suddenly hear noises from your own body that you weren't expecting.

But anyone who thinks the project is just a gimmick designed to free mankind from its fanatical quest for silence is wrong. The studio complex is used by companies to test the acoustics of sounds - for example, cell phones or car fittings. Bob Dylan also recorded an album in the building, and occasionally astronauts who are to spend months in a space station train for their mission. So this quietest place in the world is a useful thing.

> Further information on the absolutely silent room can be found at Welt.de.
 

This means that all ZSC and Walter Scheibli fans can follow the game of the year live on Radio 24 while traveling, working at night or at home, the private broadcaster said in a statement on Monday. During the qualifiers and the play-off games so far, Radio 24 has already received countless emails from listeners who have switched off the sound on their TV sets to listen to Walter Scheibli's commentary. At the last and all-important game tomorrow, Tuesday, there will now be the opportunity to listen to Walter Scheibli's iconic commentary on TV throughout the game.

The activities are part of the planned Upper Valais construction cooperation, as Swisscom writes in a press release on Monday. As part of the cooperation, around 16,000 homes and businesses in the Upper Valais will be connected to the fiber optic network in a first step by 2015. Swisscom will begin with the expansion in Brig-Glis and will include the fiber optic connections in the cooperation as soon as it has been signed. The cooperation agreement is due to be signed in summer 2012. Around CHF 40 million will be invested in the first phase of the expansion of the new fiber optic network in Upper Valais. Swisscom will cover 50 to 60 percent of the necessary investment.

In Switzerland, a home or business is connected to the fiber optic network approximately every two minutes. By the end of 2011, Swisscom and its cooperation partners had connected around 364,000 homes and businesses with fiber to the basement. By the end of 2015, this figure should be around one million - which corresponds to a third of households. To date, around 10 percent of Swiss homes have been connected.

In future, over 2.7 million Facebook users in Switzerland and Liechtenstein will also be actively offered help from Tel 143, according to a press release issued on Monday. If friends or other users express suicidal intentions, there is the option of contacting Facebook directly using a form. After completing the form, the person concerned will receive an email with contact details from Tel 143 as well as the information and encouragement that they can contact the Dargebotene Hand for advice confidentially and anonymously at any time.

Following the expansion of the Dargebotene Hand's online offering in recent years, the collaboration with Facebook is a further step to take account of the changing communication habits of a younger audience, the statement continues. The new prevention offer on Facebook also applies to French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino.

Google collected personal data without permission and then deliberately failed to cooperate with the FCC in its investigations, the US communications regulator announced. For this reason, it imposed a fine of 25,000 dollars on the dominant search engine provider. Google rejected the accusations on Monday night and stated that the company had passed on the relevant information to the authority. Google announced that it was preparing a response to the authority's action.

Between 2007 and 2010, Google collected data in the USA and worldwide for its Street View service. Street View allows Internet users to display street views from Google Maps and Google Earth. (SDA/RTD)
 

In April 2009, the journalist reported in the NZZ am Sonntag under the title "Schelte für den Bundesanwalt" (Scolding for the Attorney General) on the dispute between the then Minister of Justice Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Attorney General Erwin Beyeler. He quoted statements made by the Federal Councillor to the subcommittee of the National Council's Control Committee responsible for her department.

Serious breach of secrecy

On the agenda at the time was an expert report on the use of resources by the federal criminal authorities. According to the minutes quoted in the NZZ am Sonntag, Widmer-Schlumpf is said to have said that she and Beyeler "kept having arguments because we don't understand leadership in the same way".

In its ruling published by the NZZ and Tages-Anzeiger on Monday, the High Court assessed the report in the NZZ am Sonntag as a "serious breach of confidentiality". It concerned a "very sensitive topic of some political explosiveness" and was likely to "unnecessarily strain" the relationship between the Federal Councillor and the Attorney General.

The privacy protected by law should make it possible to express oneself "freely and impartially". Participants in meetings should be protected from having to justify their statements in public at a later date. In principle, non-public meetings also serve to ensure the efficiency and relevance of the work of Parliament and the Federal Council.

Damage for conflict resolution

The potential for damage did not lie in the publication of the already known leadership conflict, but in the revelation by Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf of the Federal Prosecutor's personal assessment, which was not intended for the public and was reproduced verbatim. The publication was therefore capable of causing considerable damage to the state's interest in a factual investigation of the conflict.

The defense had demanded an acquittal and pointed out that the article had not brought anything fundamentally new to the table. The High Court did not accept this as justification. Rather, the accredited Federal Parliament journalist had "undoubtedly known" about the confidentiality of the committee minutes.

The High Court fined the journalist 400 francs for publishing official secret negotiations. It thus confirmed the judgment of the lower court. The journalist has lodged an appeal against the decision with the Federal Supreme Court. (SDA)