The think tank Avenir Suisse thinks that the Swiss system of referenda, where popular votes can change the Swiss federal constitution, has been hijacked by political parties and minority interest groups and needs fixing. According to the think tank, this cornerstone of Swiss direct democracy has become the instrument of political parties and a marketing […]
Archives for April 2015
Swiss Rail lost CHF 1.9 billion in 2014
Despite reporting improved results for 2014, the Swiss Rail Group (CFF/SBB/FFS) was heavily dependent on government support. Revenues increased by CHF 223 million to CHF 8,542 million, however this revenue figure includes CHF 2,249 million of public money. Net profits at CHF 373 million were up 57% on 2013 including the CHF 2,249 million government […]
CERN takes first step into uncharted territory
Geneva, 5 April 2015. After a minor hiccup around two weeks ago requiring repair of a short circuit in one of the super cooled magnets that power the particle accelerator, proton beams were fired today for the first time in two years in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The LHC is the most […]
Top 10 Swiss employers in 2015 – only one foreign
On 1 April 2015, the recruitment agency Randstad, announced the 10 winners of its 2015 best-Swiss-employer awards. Those surveyed were asked how much they would like to work for those companies with at least 1,000 staff. These responses along with other aspects such as career prospects, work environment, pay, work-life balance, training, job security, quality […]
What’s on – things to do this week – Le News
Every week, Le News offers a selection of events to inspire you! Here are a couple of ideas, however be sure to check out the complete selection for this week here. In Geneva, this weekend you have the Electron Festival which offers an eclectic sample of artists and a line-up allowing you to discover today’s electronic music. You can also […]
Win Alan Davis stand up comedy tickets in Geneva
Alan Davis is a funny fella. Watch this hilarious video, which contains the answer to the question below 2 minutes into the video. If you answer correctly your name will go into a draw for a pair of free tickets to his show on Wednesday 29 April 2015, 20:00 at Uptown in Geneva. Alan Davis […]
Wine review by Nina – Diolinoir – Swiss Red
St-Saphorin, Diolinoir, Alexandre Chapuis et Fils 2013 The ingenuous Swiss. Not only have they mastered watch, cheese and chocolate making they have also mastered the art of creating fantastic new grape varieties unique to Switzerland. Given this you can understand why they export less than 1% of their wine. Their wines are so good its […]
British Royal bank accounts not moving to Switzerland
According to Reuters the Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) will buy Coutts, the British bank famous for having British royalty among its clients. UBP will however only buy Coutts’ international business, so the British accounts of the royals will not be included in the deal as the UK arm of Coutts remains with Royal […]
Orange to disappear from Switzerland
The phone brand Orange Switzerland, recently bought by the French billionaire Xavier Niel, will not be around for much longer. The business, originally part of Orange S.A. in France, was acquired by Apax Partners, a private equity firm in 2012, and then eventually sold to Niel late in 2014. Now the new management have now […]
How much could you be saving on beauty treatments?
With a global revenue of 379 billion dollars in 2013 and a predicted worldwide turnover of at least 461 billion dollars by 2018 the beauty industry is positively booming. And it is not just cosmetic products that we are spending money on. We are also spending billions of dollars a year on spa services. A […]