Last year the courts invalidated the canton’s refusal to offer school places to children living in France. According to the newspaper Tribune de Genève, the canton continues to refuse these children places in its schools. In 2016, around 1,500 children living in France were going to school in Geneva. In 2017, things changed. 143 of […]
Death of child in skiing accident acts as reminder of the dangers of reckless skiing
The recent death of a young girl in a skiing accident in Lenk in Switzerland has reopened the debate on how to deal with dangerous skiers. On 28 December 2018, a four year old girl, who was hit by a skier at the resort of Lenk in the canton of Bern, died in hospital after […]
Vaccination against tick borne encephalitis now covered by Swiss health insurance
In the face of a rapid rise in the number of infections, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has confirmed to various newspapers that vaccination against tick borne encephalitis is now covered by basic Swiss health insurance. In 2018, 377 cases of infection were recorded, 40% more than in 2017 and three times […]
Question: Many parents hope their children will have lots of choice in life. But is this a recipe for happiness?
Dan Gilbert, the author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” challenges this idea. Gilbert thinks choice is the enemy of happiness and cites research to support his conclusions. For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
37% drive after drinking too much alcohol, according to Swiss survey
In Switzerland, 37% drive after drinking too much during the festive season, according to a survey by Comparis. Most people will exceed Switzerland’s maximum blood alcohol level of 50 milligrammes of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood (0.25 mg/litre of breath) after drinking 500 ml of regular beer or 250 ml of wine. For […]
Be careful eating Chinese fondue, says Swiss food safety agency
Chinese fondue is a culinary crossover between two nations. A dish that exists in both China and Switzerland. The Swiss version retains the communal pot of hot broth, thinly sliced raw meat and Chinese mushrooms of the original but departs radically in terms of flavour. The Chinese one uses chili, sesame and soya, while the […]
Swiss driving age to drop to 17
Recently, The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, decided to reduce Switzerland’s minimum driving age to 17. Currently, residents of Switzerland need to be 18 before they can obtain a learner’s driving licence, a licence that allows driving while accompanied by a licensed driver. From 1 January 2021, this age will drop to 17. The process of […]
Swiss supermarkets selling products with no country of origin on label
Even when labelled properly food labels provide precious little information on what a product might contain. For example, a piece of farmed salmon will typically be labelled only with its country of origin, containing no information on what the fish has been fed. Contaminated fish feed can significantly push up the level of dioxins found […]
Plans for Swiss paternity leave being discussed
A government commission has come out in favour of paid paternity leave and has until 2 March 2019 to discuss a plan to offer new fathers two weeks of paid leave, according to RTS. The aim is to come up with a compromise between the 20 days in a referendum being put to voters at […]
Children as young as 11 held responsible for phone debts at Swisscom
Before the advent of mobile phones few children had phone contracts. Now, many young children have them. So what happens when payments are missed? If the contract is with Swisscom, then children as young as 11 could have debt collectors pursuing them, according to a case reported by RTS. According to RTS, a 22 year-old […]
