Former Swiss fighter pilot, Yves Rossy, known as “Jetman” recently flew in formation with an Airbus 380 in Dubai with his famous jet pack. Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1959, he previously flew for the Swiss military and as a commercial pilot for Swiss Air. Recently, he and Frenchman Vince Reffet jumped from a flying […]
Why Swiss rejected Daylight saving
At 3am this Sunday morning, Swiss time moves back one hour, giving Swiss residents an extra hour to sleep or party. Until fairly recently however, there was no Daylight Savings Time (DST) in Switzerland. In 1978 Swiss voters rejected plans to move to the current system of DST when 52.1% voted against it in a […]
Swiss justice agrees to FIFA extradition
Today the Swiss Federal Justice Office (OFJ) agreed to the extradition of Rafael Esquivel, one of six FIFA managers in custody, to the United States. The decision marks the culmination of a process that started on 27 May 2015 when six of FIFA’s senior managers where taken into custody after Swiss police captured them in […]
A young tennis fan was crushed by the crowd. Roger Federer did what you’d expect
A small boy, who was trying to get the Swiss tennis player’s signature at the US Open tennis match on Wednesday, was saved from a crushing crowd by several security guards. They boy was successfully rescued. Some tennis stars might have stayed focused on their game and not thought much about the event. The young […]
Does the SwissPass protect your personal data? Questions are asked.
20 Minutes. According to the newspaper 20 Minutes, the national Councillor Jean Christophe Schwaab is asking how well the SwissPass protects your personal data. The recently launched SwissPass card, which can be used on Swiss trains, other transport networks and in ski areas is already being criticised. Councillor Schwaab has brought his concerns of privacy […]
Manor tracks customers using their mobile phones
2o Minutes. A Manor store in Basel analyses customer movements by accessing phone data via the wi-fi connections of mobile phones. Every smart phone emits a wi-fi signal along with the phone’s unique identifier or MAC address. Once the system has accessed the phone and picked up its MAC address, the phone and its user’s […]
The Swiss name that’s popular across all languages – 2014 baby names
On 4 August 2015 the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics (OFS) published the most popular baby names in 2014. Last year saw the arrival of 85,287 newborns in Switzerland. 41,437 girls and 43,850 boys. The choice of names varied depending on the regional language, however in 2014 there was a name that made the top […]
Swiss ‘steal’ French water
This week pictures of a Swiss army helicopter scooping water out of a French lake in the Jura region of France flew around world media. The water was used to quench the thirst of Swiss cows after a long heatwave which depleted local water supplies. The Swiss army’s actions surprised bathers and drew criticism from […]
Do you struggle to pronounce the names of Swiss towns?
Do you struggle to pronounce the names of Swiss towns? Does Montreux come out sounding like Montrow or does the zzz sound in Lausanne come out as an sss? Well it appears you are not alone. The English model and actress Cara Delevingne seems to have the same difficulty. The video clip below shows her […]
Man arrested for charging phone on train
According to wired.co.uk a 45-year old man was recently arrested for charging his phone on a London train. The offence described as “abstracting electricity” in section 13 of the 1968 Theft Act1 carries a maximum sentence of 5 years. Furthermore, text next to the train plug states that it is to be used only by […]
