20 Minutes. Some who move to Switzerland might not be aware that they are almost certainly required to pay one of the world’s highest broadcasting licence fees. An annual Swiss licence costs CHF 451.10 per household. The onus is on you to determine if you are liable, sign up with Billag, a subsidiary of Swisscom, and pay. […]
Archives for 2017
Geneva has Switzerland’s worst traffic, ranking ahead of New York
The satellite navigation company TomTom, has collected over 14 trillion measurements from over 450 million GPS devices around the world, crunched the data, and worked out which cities have the worst traffic congestion. The latest ranking is based on 2016 data. Mexico city had the worst traffic congestion. The average time lost to traffic there […]
Swiss analysis: Switzerland’s gender pay gap – what the detail reveals
In 2014, the average gross annual salary for a full-time male worker in Switzerland was CHF 81,000, CHF 10,000 or 12.5% higher than that of an average woman. But what does this high level difference mean? Inspired by the Swedish statistician Hans Rosling, who passed away recently, we decided to dig deeper to see what […]
Uncertainty and concern follow voter rejection of Switzerland’s company tax reform
Speaking to Tribune de Genève, Serge Dal Busco, Geneva’s minister of finance, voiced his concerns about last Sunday’s rejection of Switzerland’s planned company tax reform. At the same time he remains optimistic about the chances of a new federal corporate tax reform project. His biggest concern is that Bern might backtrack on its promise to […]
FILM: Loving – a true story of a multiracial couple who took their case to the Supreme Court
17 February 2017. LOVING *** Richard and Mildred Loving fell in love and got married in 1959 in a small town in Virginia. They had known each other for many years and were very happy together. The only problem was that Richard was white and Mildred was black. And mixed marriages were not legal in […]
5 romantic Swiss spring getaway ideas
Buds will soon be on the trees, and our juices will start flowing, so it’s time to plan a romantic getaway with your sweetheart. Here are 5 love-struck suggestions. By Bill Harby Ascona-Locarno, Ticino Canton Nesting: The Art Hotel Riposo in the heart of Old Town Ascona offers intimacy amid fine design with its own […]
Beware of fake Swisscom invoices bearing trojans
Switzerland’s federal authorities have issued a trojan warning. A trojan is a malicious computer program designed to hack computers. The trojan is hidden in an email pretending to come from Swisscom, advising of an invoice. The fake invoice contains malware known as Dridex, a piece of software designed to steal banking information. It starts by installing a […]
Should streets be closed to cars to let children play?
20 Minutes. Elected member of the Green Party, Alfonso Gomez, would like to see some of Geneva’s streets closed to cars on Wednesdays and Sundays to give children more space to run around. Gomez, cites a study by Pro Juventute, which calculates that an average city kid spent 3 to 4 hours running around outside […]
Swiss unemployment rises. French-speaking cantons worst affected.
Le Matin. The unemployment rate across Switzerland climbed by 0.2% to 3.7% in January, and regional differences were clear. Across French and Italian-speaking cantons the rate averaged 5%, while across the German-speaking cantons it was 3.1%. The unemployment rate climbed across Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons with Neuchâtel remaining the worst affected. There the rate climbed 0.3% to […]
Unauthorised Bible distribution causes outrage in Geneva
Tribune de Genève. According to the newspaper, parents of children at the Collège de Drize, in Carouge, Geneva, were outraged when their children, aged between 12 and 15, arrived home last week with copies of the New Testament. It turns out the Bibles were distributed by Gideons International, an American evangelical organisation, without authorisation. The organisation has […]
