Switzerland wants out of its nuclear energy programme as soon as the life expectancy of its reactors is reached. With evident agreement between the political center and left wing, the first nuclear installation to be shut down in 2031 will be the oldest one, Beznau I (commissioned 1969). By 2034, the Swiss will have gradually […]
Archives for December 2014
Palestine Geneva summit: Once again to the breach
GENEVA Over the past several years, Geneva has been re-asserting itself as a neutral mediation centre, either formal or informal, for conflicts such as Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear issue. Back in 2003, it also hosted an Israeli-Palestinian peace effort known as the Geneva Initiative, which outlined possible venues for genuine reconciliation. The […]
Climate change in Switzerland; plus newspapers for young people.
Following this week’s compromise Lima Climate Change agreement, which basically keeps the global initiative on track with governments promising to bring forward their commitments until next year’s pivotal Paris conference, the question now is whether this will finally mean real action. It’s taken a long time for politicians and select business interests to acknowledge that […]
Only the young can master a new language: myth or truth?
Popular wisdom has long held it that the younger you are the easier it is to learn a foreign language. Whether expat or immigrant, parents of small children have long noticed, often to their own chagrin, how quickly their offspring become bilingual. It’s a phenomenon the Swiss have long exploited in order to preserve the […]
Christmas in Switzerland
Christmas begins early in Switzerland. Not just the commercial onslaught noticed in shops but the quieter celebration of Advent on the 4th Sunday before Christmas Eve, which this year fell on 30 November. Swiss children traditionally receive Advent calendars with 24 small flaps to open one each day until the 24th to reveal a Christmas […]
Gamaret Meylan 2012
Gamaret Meylan 2012 Veering away from Valais towards Ollon this time. Ollon is situated at the foot of the mountains on the southeast end of Lake Leman near Aigle. Gamaret, à la mode for quite a few years now, is a red wine grape variety created at the Station Fédérale de Recherches en Production Végétale […]
Swiss higher education under attack
Last February’s referendum seeking to restrict mass immigration from the European Union already has seriously damaged Swiss universities and complicated student exchanges. The federal government in Bern has less than three years (February, 2017) to decide how to implement the curbs on the free circulation of people, the pillar of the European cooperation, as constitutionally […]
CHF 117 million for International Geneva
According to Bern, Switzerland’s budget for International Geneva is to be increased by CHF 44.8 million annually from 2016-2019. Seeking to strengthen the country’s role as premier host to the United Nations, the Federal Council plans to dish out a total of CHF 117.2 million over the three-year period. While the UN headquarters operates as […]
Swiss democracy and xenophobia: Need for more open debate
Last week’s Le News editorial questioning whether the over use of Switzerland’s referendum system was actually undermining democracy through too much democracy received considerable reaction, much of it irate. Clearly, we had touched on a sacred cow, even if not of the Swiss Brown or Simmental variety. How dare one criticize Swiss democracy? It has […]
Will Uber bring the same tragedy and drama to Basel?
LAUSANNE Uber, the quasi-taxi company, is back in the news, again for all the wrong reasons. The company has just launched its service in Basel despite condemnation by local taxi firms, but also public authorities and lawmakers elsewhere. For such critics, the city would do well to heed the advice of those who have experience […]