In developed nations like Switzerland much progress has been made on women’s rights. However, violence and harassment against women remains high and is one of the reasons why women are striking on 14 June 2019. According to a survey by Amnesty International, 22% of women 16 or over in Switzerland have been subjected to non-consensual […]
Switzerland has best winter for 11 years
The Swiss Hotel Association recorded a 0.7% increase in overnight stays during the 2018/2019 winter season. From November to April, 16.7 million overnight stays were recorded in Switzerland, 8.8 million by foreign visitors and 7.9 million by Swiss travelers. The increase was highest among foreign visitors. Nights spent by foreign visitors rose 1% to 8.8 […]
Plastic bag use declines steeply in Switzerland
In 2016, nearly 418 million disposable plastic bags were distributed at retail checkouts across Switzerland. By 2018, the number was less than 57 million, a drop of 86%, according the Swiss Retail Federation. Most of the decline occurred after a group of retailers in Switzerland signed an agreement with the Swiss Retail Federation to charge […]
Swiss government decides not to act on roaming charges
The National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, rejected a motion to force Swiss mobile phone operators to remove EU roaming charges. 99 voted against, 78 for and 14 abstained, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. In 2017, the European Union (EU) forced EU operators to stop charging their customers extra for calls made outside their home country […]
Some Swiss train platforms might not be smoke-free until 2020
Many looking forward to smoke-free train platforms in Switzerland might be disappointed. The public transport union (UTP) announced in November 2018 that Swiss train platforms would be free of smoking from 1 June 2019 after testing the concept earlier in 2018. However, according to a recent press release 1 June 2019 is the rollout start […]
Geneva’s traffic as bad as Shanghai’s
The satellite navigation company TomTom has published its annual traffic ranking of 403 cities across 56 countries on 6 continents, based on data from its GPS devices in cars across the world. Congestion is expressed as the amount of extra travel time caused by traffic congestion. An overall congestion level of 50% means that the […]
Swiss People’s Party provokes left on immigration climate impact
In a newly launched campaign, the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) is calling parties on the left climate devils (“klimateufel”) for their stance on immigration. It argues that more immigration leads to greater strain on the environment, citing more cars, higher electricity consumption and more construction. The UDC, a party with a focus on controlling immigration, […]
Women to go on strike in Switzerland
On Friday, 14 June 2019, women across Switzerland plan to go on strike as part of a global movement calling for gender equality and an end to violence against women. Over the last 10 years, an average of 25 people have been killed annually as a result of domestic violence in Switzerland. 75% of the […]
Overnight trains could return to Switzerland
Last week a spokesperson for Swiss Rail told Swiss broadcaster SFR that the rail company was discussing reintroducing long distance overnight sleeper trains. 15 years ago, Switzerland had an extensive overnight train network with destinations including Rome, Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Graz Zagreb and Moscow. Progressively nearly all of these […]
Switzerland world’s 4th most competitive nation, according to business school ranking
Every year, Lausanne-based IMD business school publishes its global competitiveness ranking. Switzerland climbed from 5th last year to 4th behind Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. Venezuela (63rd) was last. The ranking, established in 1989, incorporates 235 indicators and takes into account a wide range of “hard” statistics such as unemployment, GDP and government spending […]
