Many supposedly reputable foreign companies are taking Swiss consumers to the cleaners. Their marketing is masterful in its obfuscation. Some recent product launches exemplify how such companies seek to make excessive profits by charging “Swiss prices” when they have no need to, and how they abuse consumers’ trust here. Netflix, the US-based video on demand […]
Archives for November 2014
1 hour faster to Milan
The Gotthard Base Tunnel running under the Swiss Alps is one step closer to completion: all 290 km of track for the new flat rail link are now laid. The 57-km tunnel, which is the central component of the CHF 9.74 billion project, will surpass the current world record for the longest tunnel held by […]
Geneva: Assisted suicide central?
Geneva will become the new home for the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, which voted in favour of leaving New York in late October. According to GenevaLunch.com, the move, which is likely to take place in 2015, is associated to possible changes in the NGOs tax status in the US. The organisation has […]
CERN names new director general
Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti has been named director general of the CERN particle physics research centre. She is the first woman nominated and chosen to head a leading global scientific institution. With a doctorate from the University of Milan, Gianotti has worked as a CERN researcher since 1987. Once she receives formal approval from the […]
Switzerland’s Anne Frank Legacy: Beyond frontiers and religions
Several weeks ago, I travelled to Basel with my wife and 14-year-old son to see an old family friend, Buddy Elias, now 88 and the last living relative of Anne Frank. The first cousin of Anne, Buddy had emigrated to Switzerland in 1931 with his family from Frankfurt, two years prior to the Nazi takeover. […]
Feast Away from Home: Where to go for Thanksgiving dinner
Every year in late November, Americans come together with family and friends to reflect, be thankful and help those in need, all while sharing a sizable meal composed of roast turkey, cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, string beans and decadent pies. There are few American celebrations that represent the comfort of home and family as whole-heartedly […]
The United Nations: more consultants, fewer rights
Cash loans online easy approval. GENEVA The United Nations both here in Geneva and worldwide is relying increasingly on consultants with short-term contracts to do its work, seriously hampering the organization’s overall professionalism. Consultants, many who have come to Switzerland with their families from other countries, or may be on mission elsewhere in the world, […]
Swiss Cricket
2014 Gingins Cricket Club Autumn Indoor Tournament Cricket, that wonderfully eccentric sport beloved by an odd bunch of nations whose only real link is that they were once part of the thankfully defunct British Empire. And now in Switzerland, the sound of leather against willow is ringing out from Zurich to Gingins. Over the first […]
Wikipedia to hold Swiss fundraiser throughout December
Every time you access Wikipedia from a computer in Switzerland during the month of December you can expect to see a banner asking you to help fund projects in Switzerland. The online fundraising campaign aims to raise $50 million worldwide primarily from individual readers. Last year, Swiss donors gave an average of CHF 43. Wikipedia […]
Destroy mode!
“Nothing,” said my younger daughter when I walked past her last week, and my blood froze in my veins. As any parent knows, a child’s protest of innocence usually means that they have done something naughty. And if that protest comes before they’ve even been accused of anything, then they’ve done something really naughty. Luckily […]