The last time the winter Olympics were in Switzerland was 1948 when they took place in St. Moritz. Since then Switzerland has not been a host despite being in the running six times. This week, Switzerland’s sports minister Viola Amherd said she would welcome the Winter Olympics in 2038, reported RTS. On Friday, the Federal […]
How Lausanne’s Ukraine Centre is helping Ukrainians help Ukrainians
Within a few weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine over 6,000 refugees had fled to Switzerland’s canton of Vaud. In response, three English speaking churches in Lausanne grouped together with other concerned local residents to set up the Ukraine Day Centre to help the refugees. “The canton was doing its utmost to provide vital […]
Homelessness much higher in French-speaking Switzerland, shows study
According to a study by the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) undertaken between 2020 and 2022, there are large differences in homelessness between French-speaking Switzerland and the rest of the country. The study, which researched homelessness across Switzerland’s eight largest cities (Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Luzern, Lugano, St. Gallen and Zurich), identified […]
Ukraine refugee day centre opened by English-speaking churches in Lausanne
A Day Centre for Ukrainian refugees will be opened on 28 April 2022 supported by three local English-speaking churches. Based at the Scots Kirk, Avenue de Rumine 26 in Lausanne, it will be open Thursday and Sunday afternoons (14h00 – 17h00). Gillean MacLean, Minister of the Scots Kirk explains why the Centre is being established: […]
Lausanne offers drink covers to combat drug rape risk
The city of Lausanne announced that it would spend CHF 5,000 on 4,000 silicon glass covers to help those frequenting bars and night clubs in the city protect themselves from being drugged with a drug known as GHB, reported 20 Minutes. GHB is a well known date rape drug, a category of drugs used to […]
Trains running again between Lausanne and Geneva after 3-day outage
On Tuesday, trains services between Geneva and Lausanne were halted after the ground near part of the rail network collapsed in Tolochenaz near Morges. Trains started operating between the two cities early on Friday morning after a 3-day hiatus. From 5 am on Friday trains started running but were required to slow to 20 km/h […]
The last time Switzerland made it to the quarter-finals
On Monday, 28 June 2021, Switzerland knocked world champions France out of Euro 2020 after extended play and a shoot out in Bucharest to make it through to the quarter finals. The last time Switzerland made it to the quarter-finals of a major football competition was during the World Cup in 1954, 67 years ago […]
Unisex toilets find political support in Vaud
A majority of Vaud’s parliament voted in favour of looking at a proposal to exempt those providing toilets to the public from the current legal requirement to provide separate toilets for men and women, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. Under the proposal, put forward by Vassilis Venizelos of the Green Party, establishments, such as […]
Vaud police association rejects allegations of racism and violence
On 24 June 2020, the Professional Association of Vaud Police (APGV) announced that it rejects recent accusations of racism and violence and deplores the lack of public support from politicians. The association, which represents members of the canton’s police force, is upset that some are crudely assuming that policing in Vaud is the same as […]
Black lives matter protests in Switzerland
Following protests and riots in the US in response to the death of George Floyd, an estimated 2,000 people took to the streets of Lausanne over the weekend to protest, according to 20 Minutes. George Floyd died after a police officer in the US city of Minneapolis dug his knee into Floyd’s neck and kept […]