20 Minutes. In January, a young man from Valais, was excluded from Swiss military service because of his diet and beliefs. Because he is a vegan and won’t eat meat or wear boots made from leather he was declared unfit. Last Tuesday, the 19 year-old announced that his legal challenge had succeeded. The military has […]
Swiss clocks go back one hour this Sunday
Early on Sunday 30 October 2016 Swiss clocks turn back one hour. Officially they are adjusted at 3am. This means you can stay in bed longer and it will be lighter when you get up. On the down side, it will be darker in the evenings. The rest of Europe will adjust its clocks at […]
Swiss in favour of going nuclear free, says survey
24 Heures. On 27 November 2016, Swiss will vote on whether to shut down their nuclear power stations when they reach 45 years of operation. According to a recent survey by Tamedia, which owns the newspapers Tribune de Genève and 24 Heures, 55% of Swiss would like to see Switzerland’s nuclear plants shut down. The […]
Earthquake shakes houses in Switzerland
Tribune de Genève. According to Tribune de Genève, at 16:44 yesterday, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, shook Valais. The quake’s centre was 6km north of the town of Sierre at a depth of 8.3 kilometres. The quake, which lasted several seconds was felt throughout central Valais, a canton known for famous resorts such as […]
App offering discounted restaurant leftovers, launches in Geneva
Millions of tonnes of food are thrown away every year. The smartphone app, Too Good to Go (TGTG), aims to solve this problem by offering leftovers at deep discounts. App users locate offers in their vicinity, pay for them by credit card, and pick them up within specified time slots, usually within half an hour of kitchens […]
Switzerland gets its first snow of the season
20 Minutes. Parts of Switzerland were covered in snow this weekend as the snow line crept down to 900 metres in some regions. Appenzell-Innerrhoden had snow at this level, reaching 20 centimetres in depth in places. According to Sharon Satz, from Meteonews, this is quite normal. “It snows at this altitude nearly every year in mid-October. It’s not […]
Swiss government doesn’t want to ban glyphosate
24 Heures. Last Friday, the Swiss parliament ignored a petition calling for a ban on the use of the agricultural chemical glyphosate. The petition, put together by several associations including Greenpeace and the Romande consumer federation, and signed by more than 25,000 people, calls for a ban on the use of all synthetic chemical pesticides. Switzerland’s parliament doesn’t […]
This year’s best Swiss cheese, selected from over 800
Over the weekend a group of judges sniffed and tasted their way through more than 800 different cheeses at the tenth Swiss Cheese Awards hosted in the Vallée de Joux, in Vaud, Switzerland. The most pleasing to nose and mouth was an Alpine gruyère AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) made by Jean-Claude Pittet, from Brassus in […]
Swiss government drops plan to ban plastic bags as supermarkets agree to charge
Switzerland’s largest supermarket chains, Migros and Coop, both recently announced plans to start charging for disposable plastic carry bags. From the 1 November 2016, Migros will charge customers 5 cents a bag. In Migros’ own magazine, Christine Wiederkehr-Luther, director of the Environnement at Migros, says in 2013 the measure was successfully introduced in the canton […]
The almost invisible machinery that uses Lake Geneva to heat 400 homes
Today, a new heating facility on the shores of Lake Geneva was inaugurated. Le News was shown around the plant by an engineer from the maker, Celsius Groupe e. The largest of its kind in Switzerland, it takes heat from the lake, and has enough capacity to heat around 400 buildings. Finding the facility is […]
