Forum Wallis has established itself as a world leader in presenting new music in the medieval Swiss Alpine town of Leuk. Its 12th festival, from 17 to 21 May, it offers some 50 works from 25 countries. In all, the festival has presented 300 premieres since 2006, including Stockhausen’s rarely performed Helikopters + Strings Quartet […]
Archives for April 2018
Switzerland experiences an exceptionally cold March this year
According to Swiss Meteo, north of the Alps, March 2018 was around one degree colder than average monthly temperatures between 1981 and 2010. South of the Alps it was one of the coldest in 30 years. March 2017 was Switzerland’s hottest March since 1864, registering an average temperature 3 degrees above the norm, an average […]
The Swiss National Bank owns more A-class Facebook shares than Zuckerberg
At the end of March 2018, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), held 8.93 million A class shares compared to Mark Zuckerberg’s holding of 8.91 million, according to the newspaper Handelszeitung. However, most of Zuckerberg’s shares are B class shares, a class of shares which is not quoted and give the founder control of the business. […]
How a Swiss-American journalist ended up in court for defending French cultural heritage
In 1989, war correspondent Edward Girardet came face to face with Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden threatened to kill him. This time around it’s money and principle rather than his life that are at stake. On 4 April 2018, he’ll be in a French court defending himself against a defamation charge brought by a French […]
Food consumes far less of Swiss budgets than it did 25 years ago
Comparing the most recent statistics on Swiss consumer inflation to those in 1993 reveals a steep drop in the percentage of spending allocated to food. When statisticians calculate consumer price rises they look at the prices of a standard basket of goods. In 1993, food and non-alcoholic beverages made up 14.3% of the value of […]
Swiss fact: more than 60% of one Swiss canton is farmed organically
25% of Switzerland’s surface is farmed, a total of just over 1 million hectares. Much of the rest is mountains or forest. Of this roughly 1 million hectares, 142,000 hectares (13.5%) is farmed organically. The organic percentage varies hugely by canton and even more by region. The canton with the least organic farming is Appenzell […]
Aerial photos of Zurich 100 years apart
The first photograph was taken by Eduard Spelterini between 1893 and 1924. Swiss-born Spelterini was an early aviator who took to the air with his camera in a balloon well before flying as we know it became a reality – the Wright brothers made their first powered flight in 1903. The photograph below was taken […]