Switzerland’s largest natural ice skating venue is open. Lac de Joux in the Jura in the canton of Vaud has frozen sufficiently to allow ice skating. The lake, which is Switzerland’s largest above 1,000 m, covers 9.5 km² and is relatively shallow, reaching a maximum depth of only 32 m. It lies in a microclimate […]
Women’s march drew thousands on to the streets of Geneva
Story, photos and video by Bill Harby In spite of freezing temperatures in Geneva on Saturday, an estimated 3,000 people or more took part in the Women’s March for Dignity in support of human rights. The event was one of hundreds around the United States and the world on this day – not coincidentally on […]
Nyon’s Paleo music festival wins at European Festival Awards
Last week, Nyon’s Paleo music festival won the award for the best medium sized festival at 2016 European Festival Awards in Groningen in the Netherlands. Paléo remporte le prix du meilleur festival européen (best med-sized fest) lors des European Festival Awards! #paleo pic.twitter.com/Ayp8ZqAqAv — Paléo Festival Nyon (@PaleoFestival) January 11, 2017 Competing festivals on the […]
Chateau d’Oex balloon festival has started
Le Matin. The international hot air balloon festival starts at Chateau d’Oex this Saturday, 21 January 2017. 70 pilots and their teams will converge on the pre-Alpine town in Vaud for the 39th edition of the festival. For nine days pilotes from 15 countries will take to the mountain sky. Special displays will be staged […]
Why was China’s president not served Chinese fondue rather than a cheese one?
A few days ago, RTS showed Chinese president Xi Jinping in Bern eating cheese fondue, a food quite alien to the Chinese palate, although local cheeses can be found in parts of China and it is being eaten increasingly in western foods such as pizza and burgers. From the look on his face in the video it […]
Squeezed and angry: how to fix the middle class crisis – a look at Switzerland
One of the topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos is: Squeezed and angry: how to fix the middle class crisis. As a precursor, the WEF published the 135 page Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017, which ranks Switzerland 3rd behind Norway and Luxembourg on inclusion, out of a group of 30 advanced economies. In […]
Winds of over 140 km/h hit Vaud today
High winds whistled past the Dôle today. At 1,677 m above sea level, the Dôle is the second highest peak in the Jura. Winds there today went as high as 142 km/h. Down by Lake Geneva, winds got up above 90 km/h in Saint-Prex and Nyon, according to MeteoNews. Maximum wind speeds in other places today […]
Switzerland ranked number one at attracting and keeping talent, says study
This year’s 2017 Global Talent Competitiveness Index places Switzerland at the top. In addition, the study by the business school INSEAD, with input from the Adecco Group and the human capital leadership institute, puts Switzerland at or near the top on all six measures that make up the overall ranking of 118 nations. Switzerland excels […]
Freezing Bise wind to sweep across Switzerland
The cold, dry wind known as the Bise, which blows across the Swiss plateau, occurs when the air pressure in eastern Switzerland exceeds that in the west. As the wind reaches Lake Geneva it gains intensity as it is channeled through the narrow gap between the pre Alpine mountains and those of the Jura to the […]
Swiss franc less overvalued according to latest Big Mac index
On 12 January 2017, the Economist came out with its latest Big Mac index. Also known as the burger benchmark, the index compares the price of a Big Mac around the world. This catchy, if highly incomplete means of comparing the relative purchasing power of different currencies, uses the United States and the US$ as its […]
