15 March 2016. BROOKLYN **** A fine romantic film is a rarity, and here is such a pearl. Underlying the romance is the more meaty tale of a young girl emigrating alone to America from her home in Ireland in the early 1950s, with all the turmoil that such a move entails: the fears of a […]
Archives for March 2016
The airline seat that could lead to waistline based pricing
A recently published US patent application, made by Airbus, shows a reconfigurable aircraft seat that could accommodate anything from a slender family of four to two larger adults. The image above shows the family configuration, despite the two in the middle looking more like shrunken adults than children. This image shows the seat configured for two […]
Swiss army rocks to the music of Queen
Freddie Mercury, front man for the British rock band Queen, spent much of his final years in Switzerland. Mercury recorded his last music in 1991 in Mountain Studios, a recording studio in Montreux the band bought in 1978. David Bowie’s life in Switzerland (Le News) The band continues, but with only two of its original members: […]
New tax to pay for new minimum Swiss income?
20 Minutes. According to 20 Minutes, those behind this June’s vote proposing a minimum income, have come up with a new way to fund it. They want a tax on electronic transactions. The initiative calls for an unconditional minimum monthly income of CHF 2,500 for each adult and CHF 625 for each child. The projected annual cost […]
What would you do if you found 144,000 francs?
One week ago, a couple left CHF 144,000 in a bag on a tram in Basel. The bag was found and handed to the police by a public transport employee. The couple were on their way to visit their daughter when they left a bag containing 144,000 francs in a tram. Once returned to the […]
Are you a struggling writer? The Geneva writers conference could help.
The conference is for people who not only wish to take their writing seriously, but who also have a stake in eventually publishing their work, either through traditional outlets, or as independently published authors. In today’s publishing climate authors are making less money than ever. Higher percentages and more control pertain where authors have the […]
Film: the mum and her little boy who live in a single room
11 March 2016. ROOM **** This film, that spends half of its time in the confines of one room with just a mother and her little boy, yet remains powerful and touching, is a masterwork. Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue, it’s a riveting tale directed by Lenny Abrahamson, with amazing portrayals by little Jacob […]
Franc surge temporary after ECB sends mixed signals
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish flat this week (-0.12%), outperforming global equity market (MSCI World -0.68% ) with European stocks losing value after the long awaited ECB policy meeting. Stock markets around the world were mixed with risk appetite increasing ahead of Thursday’s European Central Bank (ECB) policy […]
Vaud moves ahead with phase out of controversial Swiss tax deals
After nearly ten years of European Union (EU). OECD and G20 opposition to certain controversial Swiss tax structures, Switzerland’s government agreed a deal in 2014 to do away with such arrangements. Under current rules Swiss cantons can offer preferential tax rates to certain companies, mostly multinationals with most of their activity abroad. This is now changing. What […]
Swiss asylum numbers down sharply in February
On 10 March 2016, Switzerland’s administration published numbers on asylum requests in February 2016. 2,705 requests were made during the month. Most came from citizens of Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. February’s number is more that 25% lower than January, when 3,618 requests were filed. The same countries, Afghanistan (651 requests), Syria (244 requests), Iraq […]