The 57-kilometre-long Gotthard base rail tunnel was officially opened on 1 June 2016. It is the world’s longest train tunnel, longer than the Channel Tunnel and the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, which links the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokaido. The 200 km/h tunnel journey, which starts in the German-speaking Swiss canton of Uri and […]
Nearly 4 tonnes of rubbish removed from Lake Geneva
20 Minutes. Early figures show nearly 4 tonnes of rubbish were removed from the lake and its shores by volunteers during the 8th edition of the lake cleaning event called Net’Léman. “Net” is short for the French word nettoyer and Léman the local name for Lake Geneva, although some locals at the Geneva end of the […]
Mercury passes in front of the sun today – timing in Switzerland
Today, planet Mercury will pass across the sun. Not everyone will be able to see it. Those in Australia, New Zealand and Japan will miss it. The event occurs 13 to 14 times a century. The last time our solar system’s smallest planet passed between the earth and the sun was in 2006. The next […]
The snow is back. Again.
Some in Switzerland awoke to snow on Sunday morning. The weather service Meteo News is predicting more light snow overnight and on Monday across the Swiss plateau. Speaking to Le Matin, Lionel Peyraud of Météo Suisse said 10 to 17 cm of snow could fall at altitudes above 1,000 m, with 15 cm falling on the […]
Sun powered aircraft Solar Impulse completes Pacific ocean crossing
Solar Impulse 2 left Hawaii on 21 April at 6:15 am local time (UTC-10) and landed at the Moffett Airfield on 23 April at 11:44 pm local time (UTC-7), completing its crossing of the Pacific, using only the power of the sun to drive its four motors, a feat considered impossible by industry experts. The […]
The Patrouille des Glaciers 2016 cancelled
The decision was taken this morning to cancel the last race of this year’s Patrouille des Glaciers, the iconic Swiss ski race between Zermatt and Verbier that takes place every two years. The ski mountaineering race organised by the Swiss Army, in which military and civilian teams compete, consists of four races. This year, the […]
Solar impulse back in the air and bound for the US
Born in Switzerland and now heading from Hawaii to California, Solar Impulse 2 took off early this morning from Kalaeloa in Hawaii, as it continues its round-the-world flight. In silence, the 100% solar-powered aircraft took off across the Pacific at 6:15am Hawaii time (UTC-10) bound for California. The plane belonging to Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, […]
Rising tiger numbers are nothing to cheer about
When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) roared the news last week that “for the first time in 100 years, tiger numbers are growing”, the media, including the New York Times, splashed the headline around the world. Few journalists checked out the headline or the facts. After all, WWF said so. Yet, as science writer […]
Swiss buy more and more meat across the border
Swiss are buying increasing amounts of meat in neighbouring countries according to Switzerland’s professional meat union (UPSV). Over the border After three years of rising, Switzerland’s appetite for meat appears to have declined by around 1% in 2015, or 2% on a per capita basis, to an annual average of 51.4 kg per person. These numbers […]
Stiff new fines for littering in Switzerland
Tribune de Genève. Throwing a cigarette butt on the street or an empty can on to the side of a road is set to become an offense with a steep fine. The new rules, supported by the Federal Council, and likely to be adopted by parliament over summer, will apply to all of Switzerland. According […]
