When the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in February, 1989 after nearly a decade of failed occupation, most Red Army soldiers were already gone. In their stead, they left a demoralized force of Afghan soldiers and militia to protect the communist ‘Khalqi’ regime in Kabul. With their backs to the wall, these would continue fighting […]
Archives for March 2017
Furore over request for Swiss military personnel to give train seats to public
20 Minutes. An announcement made on Monday on a train from Geneva to Bern left a military serviceman from Vaud shocked. On Monday morning, after a flood of passengers boarded the train in Fribourg, a Swiss Rail train manager asked Swiss Rail employees and military personnel to stand up and give their seats to standing members […]
Swiss military aptitude seems to depend on job, socio-economic status and political leaning
Le Matin. Based on a study of 240,000 Swiss military conscripts between 2010 and 2015, what an individual does, where they live, their socio-economic status, and their political leaning correlates with whether they are deemed fit for the Swiss military forces. The study conducted by the University of Zurich, shows that trades people, farmers and […]
FILM: A United Kingdom – an African king marries a white British woman
31 March 2017. A UNITED KINGDOM *** How does one rate and describe a film that is not very well written, is overly sentimentalized, yet is a pleasing, touching film that should be seen? Seen for its intriguing, true historic story, and for its main star, David Oyelowo, the brilliant Nigerian/English actor who recently portrayed Martin […]
Knocking it all down: French property developers dictate Lake Geneva’s urban vision.
Special Investigative Report Part III: Early last year, the London Sunday Times ran a two-page spread on how Paris law and local governments are enabling ‘promoteurs’ – property developers – to destroy France’s historic village centres. Largely ignored by the local press, but shared on social media, this article triggered an extraordinary response among thousands […]
COMEDY: Ross Noble – ranked one of the world’s 100 greatest stand-ups
Brought to you by International Comedy Club. After sell-out runs in both the UK and Australia, award-winning comedy legend Ross Noble will be bringing his hit show Brain Dump to locations across Europe. Famed for being the comic master of surreal tangents, the British household name will be touring mainland Europe and Scandinavia this Spring […]
Paleo music festival announces 2017 line up
Nyon’s much awaited outdoor music festival recently announced this year’s lineup. The festival, which takes place from 18 to 23 July 2017 in a field outside the Swiss town of Nyon, will include artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arcade Fire, Pixies, Midnight Oil, Jamiroquai, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Justice Live, Black M and […]
Four of the five women fined for wearing full veil since start of ban are Swiss
20 Minutes. On 1 July 2016, Ticino became the first Swiss canton to ban full veils or full covering of the face in public. Since then only six transgressions have been recorded by the canton’s police. Of the six, one was issued to a Saudi national who quickly paid the CHF 100 sum, said the […]
Woman fined for singing in the streets of Lausanne
20 Minutes. Walking through town listening to your favourite music and singing along to its tune is not something you would expect to end in court. For one 37 year old woman in Lausanne it did. On 1 June 2016, at around 6:30pm, the woman, singing to the tune “I feel good” by James Brown, was stopped […]
The number of solo parents rises in Switzerland with big variances across cantons
Between 2014 and 2015 the number of solo parents rose 11,500 (+5.6%) bringing the total to 218,000. Single parent families made up 6% of Swiss households in 2015, according to statistics released this week. The percentages vary significantly by canton. The cantons with the highest rates of of solo mums and dads are Geneva (8.7%), Neuchâtel (8.0%), […]