24 Heures. Last week someone passing through Basel train station found an envelope when entering the station. To her surprise it contained 50,000 francs. The woman who found the cash was a 22 year old from France. She went to the police station last Wednesday after finding the envelope on Tuesday. According to Blick, The […]
Archives for December 2016
Coop to launch insect meatballs and burgers
Switzerland’s federal government recently announced plans to authorise the commercialisation of insects and worms as domestic food products. The supermarket Coop has applied for authorisation under the new rules, and plans to launch a new range of insect-based products. High in protein, insects come with a low carbon footprint and resource requirement. The federal office […]
Swiss MPs want cyclists to systematically lose driving licenses for rule breaking
20 Minutes. Hans-Peter Portman, a parliamentarian from Zurich, wants cyclists who break the road rules to suffer the same penalties as drivers. Last week, he, along with 72 other members, signed a parliamentary motion to have the sanctions stiffened for errant cyclists. According to Blick, the most common transgressions are crossing white lines, running red lights, weaving […]
December rally continues this week for SMI
16 December 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. 2016’s December rally continued this week as Swiss and European equities outperformed global stocks. The US dollar continued to surge after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates for only the second time in a decade on Wednesday. Fed Head Janet Yellen […]
Switzerland’s costliest cantons for tax, housing, health, commuting, and childcare
This week the bank Credit Suisse published its cantonal cost of living report. Its ranking considers a typical household’s biggest expenses: tax, housing, commuting, basic health insurance and childcare. It takes income and deducts all of these costs to arrive at a measure of disposable income. In a simplified world it might be expected that […]
Comedy: well-known British comic Simon Evans returns to Switzerland after 9 years
Brought to you by International Comedy Club. Hello! Welcome aboard! Take a seat! Buy a bloody ticket or clear off! I know where you live! Simon Evans has performed on Michael McIntyre Roadshow, Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, Celebrity Mastermind, University Challenge – The Professionals as well as acting in Rich Hall’s Cattle […]
No increase in Swiss cigarette tax likely in 2017
20 Minutes. Switzerland’s parliament voted 117 to 60 to reject the Federal Council’s plan to increase the tax on a packet of cigarettes in 2017. The Council of States, Switzerland’s upper house, will give its verdict next. From 2005 to 2015, the price of a packet of the most widely sold cigarettes has risen from […]
Switzerland’s best drivers are in German-speaking cantons, says report
The insurance company AXA Winterthur took a database of the roughly 70,000 declared accidents that occur annually across Switzerland, and sorted them by canton to see which had the best driving record. The rate of reported accidents was highest in Italian-speaking Ticino, which was ranked last, just behind Basel-City and Geneva. Next from the bottom were Valais and Vaud. Higher […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland is one of the world’s top 5 coffee exporters
According to UN trade statistics, the small Alpine nation exported US$ 2.4 billion1 of coffee in 2013. This figure is far higher than its cheese (US$ 615 million2) or chocolate (US$ 822 million3) exports, two far more famous Swiss exports. In 2013, Swiss coffee exports ranked 4th behind Brazil ($5.3b), Germany ($3.4b) and Vietnam ($2.9b). Ethiopia, […]
Private funds and UN agencies need to cooperate more, says president of Oak
A Walk in the Park with Kathleen Cravero-Kristoffersson, the president of Oak Foundation. Cravero-Kristoffersson has always had one objective: to improve lives, especially for women. Sometimes this has meant putting her life on the line. Now president of Oak Foundation, a private family foundation headquartered in Geneva, she is focussed on issues of social and environmental concern, […]