From the beginning of February 2020, employees working for the canton of Ticino will need to clock out if they want to go for a cigarette break, according to RTS. The new rule, which is the first of its kind in Switzerland, follows comments made last year by a parliamentarian who pointed out the favourable […]
Credit Suisse accused of spying on Greenpeace
According to SonntagsZeitung, the bank Credit Suisse has been spying on Greenpeace. Nearly three years ago, the environmental organisation thwarted security and disrupted the bank’s general assembly with a stunt aimed at shaming Credit Suisse for financing Energy Transfer, a company involved in the construction of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline running through reserves […]
Poverty rate falls slightly in Switzerland
In 2018, the percentage of the population in Switzerland living below the poverty line fell from 8.2% (2017) to 7.9%, returning to the same level as it was in 2010. Most affected by poverty were those aged under 18 (9.6%) and those aged over 64 (13.7%). Single parent families (19.3%), those without tertiary education (12.7%) […]
Top 10 environmental concerns in Switzerland
Recently published data show the top ten environmental concerns among Switzerland’s residents. In 2019, top of the list was pesticide use. 89.4% considered this very (52.9%) or fairly (36.5%) dangerous. Next was loss of animal and plant diversity. 88.2% considered this very (53.8%) or fairly (34.4%) dangerous. Third was climate change. 87.8% considered this very […]
Dual nationality in Switzerland – nearly 1 in 5
In 2018, 18.1% of Swiss citizens 15 years old or older living in Switzerland held another nationality, according to figures recently published by the Federal Statistical Office. Over 8 years this percentage has risen by 4.3 percentage points. In 2010, the same percentage was 13.8%. The percentage in 2017 was the same as in 2018. […]
Swiss government wants to quickly change laws to allow gay marriage
Switzerland’s Federal Council announced that it would like to quickly give gay couples the right to marry, according to RTS. It also said that it did not think the change would require changing the constitution and could be achieved by changing laws. It would like to see legal changes that would make it easy for couples […]
5G protests continue in Switzerland, following inconclusive report
On 25 January 2020, further protests against the roll of 5G mobile technology took place in 16 towns across Switzerland, according to protest organisers. The protests follow the publishing of an inconclusive Swiss report by experts on the health risks of the radiation emitted by the technology published on 28 November 2019. Some hoped the […]
Heavy snow falls in Swiss resorts
This week, Switzerland’s mountain resorts are experiencing heavy snowfall. By Wednesday evening between 20 and 50 centimetres of fresh snow will have fallen at altitudes above 1,000m, reaching a depth of 70 centimetres in some places, according to Meteo Swiss. The snow line will be between 600 and 900m, according to the weather service. The […]
New commemorative Swiss franc Federer and Einstein coins
Following the success of the pre-sale of Roger Federer coins at the beginning of December 2019, a further 37,000 will be issued by Swissmint in various minting qualities on 23 January 2020. The coins are commemorative. In addition to coins featuring the well-known tennis star from Basel, there is a tiny (3mm diameter) gold coin […]
Switzerland makes the short list of full democracies in 2019
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2019 Democracy Index includes only 22 out of 167 countries in the category of fully functioning democracies. 15 were in Europe. Notable countries missing from the list were the US, Belgium and Italy, which were all classified as flawed democracies. This year the average global score fell from 5.48 to 5.44, […]
