Elections are always fun events in Happy Valley. Think splendid, colourful posters plastered on our streets. Think informed debate and discussion at every street corner. And think intriguing flyers left in our mailboxes. And while an unfortunate court ruling in my native land has reduced my electoral rights to voting only vicariously, what could be […]
Archives for October 2015
SMI underperforms, Geneva bank jobs slump, Nestlé forecast cut, Syngenta steady
16 October 2015 – Weekly Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Swiss financial market news The Swiss Market Index suffered minor losses towards the end of this week, modestly underperforming global stocks as investors moved into more cyclical, US and emerging markets equities. A Federal Reserve report released this week […]
How Switzerland leads Europe on youth employment
In the second quarter of 2015 Swiss youth unemployment (based on the ILO definition) dropped from 7.7% (Q2 2014) to 6.4%. The measure includes those between the ages of 15 and 24 years old and while higher than Switzerland’s overall unemployment rate, Swiss youth fare much better than elsewhere in Europe. The overall EU rate […]
This week’s reviews: Appia, Irrational man, Pan
16 October 2015. Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers. APPIA ***1/2 (vo French) You may have never heard of the painter Dominique Appia. I had not. But thanks to writer/director […]
Concerns raised about Switzerland’s oldest nuclear reactor
The Beznau I reactor at the Swiss Bezenau nuclear power plant in Döttingen in the Canton of Aargau appears to be in worse shape than some had imagined. The reactor which sits on a man made island on the Aar river is currently on a rest period. It went into operation in 1969 and is […]
Swiss are world’s train travel champions
According to LITRA, the Swiss covered more distance by train than anyone else in the world in 2014. An average Swiss resident covered 2,288 km by train, more than twice the distance of an average Brit (1,056 km). Even the French with their world-class high-speed TGV train network were well behind the Swiss with only […]
Geneva’s fines for excessive noise and driving in bus lanes more than triple
Tribune de Genève. On 1 October 2015, fines in Geneva went up massively. According to Tribune Genéve, the increases are expected to put an extra CHF 3 to 4 million per year into Geneva’s public purse. The increases impact a myriad of things including driving and parking infringements and excessive noise. For example the fine […]
From bare-foot football to leading AIDS fight. Sidibé knows how to convince.
A walk in the park. This week Renu Chahil-Graf interviewed Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, the UN agency combating HIV and AIDS. Michel knows about discrimination. The son of a mixed-race marriage in Mali in the 1950s, he is well qualified to fight the discrimination faced by those with HIV. He also knows how […]
Swiss students push boundaries at Head fashion show in Geneva
On October 8 the Geneva University of Art and Design hosted its annual DEFILE HEAD fashion show and lucky me managed to get a front row seat to witness all the fashion action live and from up close. At the impressive Espace Hippomène, a former factory turned events hall, 15 bachelor’s collections and 3 master’s […]
Bern hyperlapsed – visit Bern in 2 minutes
Bern-based Studium-Punctum.ch created this stunning two minute time lapsed montage of Switzerland’s capital city, Bern. Watching this it is easy to imagine how the city inspired Einstein to picture himself riding a beam of light. One day in 1905, while working at the Swiss patent office in Bern, Einstein caught a tram. Looking back at […]