It’s a sexist world. Women and their efforts are poorly covered by the media. A recent 2015 report by the Global Media Monitoring Project shows how women’s airtime progress has stalled. In 2015, women were mentioned in only 24% of news stories seen in newspapers, on television or on radio, exactly the same percentage as 2010. Some […]
Bad news for Swiss commuters
Last year the Swiss government decided to increase the fees train operators, including Swiss Rail, must pay to run their trains on Switzerland’s rail network. Switzerland has 4,641 km of track running as high as 3,454 metres, and one of the densest rail networks in the world. Maintaining all of this track costs a lot of money, […]
Financials and miners drive SMI gain despite drag of one Swiss heavyweight
4 March 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to close higher this week but lagging behind gains of global equity markets after heavyweight Roche fell almost 5% on Thursday after paying its dividend. Stock markets around the world extended their rally this week, continuing to […]
Film: Zoolander 2 – stars making fools of themselves
4 March 2016. ZOOLANDER 2 *** I reluctantly went to see this film to be able to warn you against it. I had heard the worst about it. Ben Stiller is a mediocre actor (unlike his talented parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) with a one-expression face and a knack for making garbage hits that have […]
Bern wants shops to stay open longer
Le Matin. The National council thinks shops should stay open until 8pm across all of Switzerland. 115 members against 68 would like to see shop opening hours harmonised across the country. The proposal would mean that retailers across Switzerland would be allowed to open from 6am until 8pm from Monday to Friday and from 6am until 6pm on […]
US prisoners awaiting execution were given paint and pencils. Here’s what happened.
Geneva-based political cartoonist Patrick Chapatte and Swiss investigative journalist Anne-Frederique Widmann got together and organised an exhibition of artworks created by death-row prisoners called Windows on death row. This unique art exhibition was inaugurated in Los Angeles last October. Death-row inmates from all over the US share their daily lives on death row and the reality […]
5 films that will change the way you feel about refugees
Some people flee their homes for a better life. Others do it for survival. The five films below bring to life the unimaginable savagery and tragedy of life in some parts of the world. These five are a small selection of those showing at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, running from 4 to […]
Geneva’s Left wants 1% of salaries to pay for dentistry
20 Minutes. Geneva’s Ensemble à gauche and Socialist parties want to see compulsory dental care and presented a proposal to Geneva’s parliament in mid-February. On Monday Geneva’s labour party (Parti du travail) launched a cantonal initiative for the same thing. The plan would be funded by compulsory salary deductions of 1%. Half of this would be categorised as […]
Geneva car show 2016. What’s under the cover?
On 3 March 2016, the rubber hits the stage at the Geneva car show. The show runs until 13 March. Tickets are CHF 16 per adult, reduced to CHF 8 after 4pm. The show is at Palexpo, next to Geneva airport. There are too many cars to mention them all so here are videos of two of the […]
Making foreigners feel unwelcome in Switzerland. It was worse in the 1970s.
A documentary, called The Schwarzenbach Years (Les Années Schwarzenbach), recounts Swiss disdain for foreigners in the 1970s. Clear parallels can be seen between then and now. The film will be shown at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva on 9 March 2016 at 14:30. Last weekend Last Sunday, close to 59% of Swiss voters rejected […]
