Switzerland’s government been grappling with the politics of extending universal tax-funded parental leave for a number of years. Some are pushing for paternity leave for fathers and others for a shared pool of parental leave, which mums and dads can apportion. There is also a popular vote working its way through the system which aims […]
Zurich city launches initiative to allow foreigners to vote
Last week, the city of Zurich filed a cantonal initiative to allow foreigners to vote at a municipal level in the canton. In July 2019, Corine Mauch, Zurich’s mayor, announced her plan to launch the initiative. If the initiative is successful foreign residents with B or C permits who have lived in Zurich for at […]
Switzerland’s largest glacier could shrink by half by century end
Recent 3D modelling estimates how climate change will affect the Aletsch Glacier. In the worst case scenario modeled by researchers at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, only a few small patches of ice would remain. Aletsch, the largest glacier in Switzerland and the Alps, currently stretches over 23 km from its 4,000m high starting […]
Steep drop in violence among young men in Switzerland
After quadrupling between 1995 and 2008, acts of violence among men aged 15 and 24 in Switzerland dropped by 56% between 2008 and 2017, according to a recent analysis by accident insurer Suva. In 2017, there were around 1,600 violent offenses, compared to around 3,600 in 2008. The number of cases has been broadly flat […]
Tobacco use costs Switzerland 5 billion francs a year
Health care in Switzerland is funded by a mixture of taxes and health insurance premiums. Much of the insurance premiums paid are compulsory with no discounts offered to non-smokers. According to figures recently published by the Swiss association for smoking, the annual direct medical costs of smoking are CHF 3 billion (2015), or CHF 350 […]
E-cigarettes to be taxed in Switzerland
Switzerland’s Federal council supports advice from a public health commission to tax e-cigarettes, according to Le Matin. The plan to tax e-cigarettes forms part of an update to Switzerland’s tobacco laws, which are to be extended to include other products containing nicotine. In addition, the proposed rules will ban e-cigarette use in non-smoking areas and […]
Hitting women acceptable to a significant percentage of boys in Switzerland
A study done by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences shows surprisingly high support for violence against women among young people in Switzerland, according to the Aargauer Zeitung. 8,300 young people at school aged 17 and 18 across 10 cantons were asked a series questions. Around half of the group were boys. As part of […]
Swiss temperatures set to drop sharply
Summer in Switzerland appears to be running out of steam. Between Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures are set to drop sharply across much of Switzerland, according to Swiss Meteo. In Geneva, the daily high will fall from 26 to 19, in Zurich from 25 to 16 and in Basel from 27 to 18. #MétéoSuisse #meteo L’automne […]
Most Swiss election candidates favour raising retirement age to 67
A majority of the candidates putting themselves forward for election as federal parliamentarians on 20 October 2019 favour raising Switzerland’s retirement age to 67, according to a survey done by Smartvote and reported in the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag. This could produce a parliamentary majority on the issue after the federal election. Switzerland’s official retirement […]
Swiss research leads to cancer break through
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute recently deciphered the structure of the CC chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7), a signaling protein. Cancer cells use CCR7 to guide themselves into the lymphatic system, spreading cancer throughout the body. The resulting secondary tumors, called metastases, are responsible for most cancer deaths. This new understanding of CCR7 is a […]