Tribune de Genève. According to September data recently published by the canton’s statistics office Ocstat, Geneva had a population of 494,666 by the end of September 2016. Tribune de Genève said the symbolic bar of half a million will without a doubt be reached in the coming months, before qualifying its prediction saying it will […]
Geneva unveils big tax changes
Le Matin. After nearly ten years of European Union opposition to preferential company tax deals, Switzerland’s government agreed in 2014 to do away with such arrangements. Under current rules Swiss cantons can offer preferential tax rates to certain companies, mostly multinationals with most of their activity abroad. In Geneva, these special rates mean certain companies pay tax […]
A pilgrimage to Geneva’s cemetery of Kings, with artist and writer John Berger
British writer and artist John Berger – 90 years-old on 5 November, 2016 – has lived in the nearby French Haute-Savoie since the 1970s and has made a name celebrating the vanishing culture and life of European peasants. But as Peter Hulm points out, Berger is also a surpising fan of bourgeois Geneva, and of […]
Author of false bomb alert at Geneva airport gets huge bill
Le Matin. On 14 October, the author of a false bomb alert was sentenced to six months prison after arriving at Geneva airport the day before, and declaring there was a bomb on board an Aeroflot aircraft he was trying to catch to Moscow. The flight connected to another from Moscow to India, where the man […]
Perpetrator of false bomb alert at Geneva airport gets prison sentence
Tribune de Genève. Last week a man arrived at Geneva airport at 1pm and told staff at the Aeroflot counter there was a bomb on board the plane he was attempting to board. The 39 year old man arrived late and his flight to Moscow was about to take off. Taking the threat seriously, the […]
Something far worse than parking wardens arrives in Geneva
Tribune de Genève. Yesterday, a specially equipped car started sweeping through Geneva’s boulevards photographing and recording car licence plates. The owners of those found to be parked without valid tickets will be sent a fine. The car, adorned with special camera equipment invented by the Dutch firm Arvoo, is faster and more systematic than its human […]
Swiss fact: Zurich has Switzerland’s sixth highest percentage of foreign residents
In 2015, 25.5% of Switzerland’s population were foreign, or one in four. However, foreigners were not spread evenly across the country. The canton with the highest percentage of non-Swiss living within its borders was Geneva, where 42.1% of the population lived without a Swiss passport. Next on the list were the cantons of Basel-City (36.2%), […]
Frankenstein’s monster spotted in Geneva at his first murder site
By Bill Harby Beware: Dr. Frankenstein’s creature still lurks in Geneva. In 2014 he returned to the scene of his first murder in the Plainpalais quarter, and there he still stands near the skatepark, a fearsome hulk, an expression on his face halfway between horror and grief, oblivious to the shocked stares of passersby surprised […]
Exploring Geneva in one day
Explore Geneva in one day? No way, right? Well yes. Here’s an itinerary. By Bill Harby Get up early and start your day at Cornavin, the main train station. Pick up delicious fresh pastries and coffee from one of the patisseries there. Stroll to the Pont du Mont-Blanc and cross where the lake feeds into the […]
Geneva extends crackdown on drivers blocking intersections
Tribune de Genève. Started two weeks ago, Geneva’s crackdown on those who block intersections, has been extended for a further fortnight. Drivers caught blocking the flow of transversal traffic through intersections will be fined CHF 60. The objective of the operation is freer moving traffic and clearer intersections. The situation occurs when a car travelling […]
