Switzerland exported close to 18% more arms over the first nine months of 2018 than it did in the first nine months of 2017, according to figures published by State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). According to the numbers, in the nine months to 30 September 2018, Swiss companies exported close to CHF 300 million […]
Swiss Rail plans to test free WiFi on trains
Swiss Rail announced on Thursday that it would test free WiFi, named FreeSurf, on certain routes next year with a plan to extend the offer to all major routes from 2020, according to RTS. Train passengers benefiting from the tests in 2019 will be those travelling on InterCity trains between Lausanne and St. Gallen, Geneva […]
Greenpeace calls on Swiss supermarkets to cut plastic
In campaign entitled: Stop overdressing, the organisation Greenpeace is criticizing Swiss supermarkets for their widespread use of plastic packaging. Protesters, who assembled outside the headquarters of the supermarket Migros in Zurich on Tuesday, proclaimed that fruit and vegetables come in natural packaging and that wrapping them in plastic is a form of over dressing. The […]
Vaud begging ban start date announced
Vaud’s government announced the canton’s ban on street begging will begin on 1 November 2018, according to the newspaper Le Matin. From this date, anyone caught begging in the canton will risk fines of CHF 50 to CHF 100. Anyone organizing dependents or people under 18 to beg will face fines of CHF 500 to […]
Gotthard tunnel speeder finally behind bars
Four years after a reckless life-threatening trip through Switzerland’s Gotthard tunnel, a German speeder was finally put behind bars in Germany on Tuesday. The police went and collected him from his home in Stuttgart, according to the newspaper Le Matin. The judge had tried to convince the 44 year-old to make his way to prison […]
Cost of Swiss healthcare second highest in the world and rising
Swiss healthcare costs of 12.2% of GDP are the world’s second highest after the United States where healthcare consumes 17.1% of GDP, according to 2016 figures presented by the Federal Statistical Office on 18 October 2018. Switzerland spent CHF 80.5 billion on healthcare in 2016, the latest figures reveal. This comes out at around CHF […]
Nearly half of Swiss residents in Geneva have more than one nationality
Across all of Switzerland, 17.3% of Swiss over 15 have more than one nationality. However in Geneva, the figure (45.0%) is close to half. No other Swiss canton comes close. The next highest are Ticino (29.2%), Vaud (27.6%) and Neuchâtel (26.7%). The German-speaking cantons of Basel-City (23.8%), Zurich (20.5%) and Zug (15.3%) are next. Of […]
Governments meet in Geneva to get tough on the tobacco industry
On 11 October 2018, Governments of 181 countries and the European Union met in Geneva for the 8th conference of the parties to the global tobacco treaty, formally called the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The tobacco industry has a history of using legal threats to intimidate governments into abandoning the […]
Swiss children reach only 77% of their potential, according to World Bank
Yesterday, the World Bank released its Human Capital Index (HCI), a measure of how much human potential nations realise. Singapore takes the top spot. A child born there can expect to realize 88% of their potential. Switzerland comes 20th with 77%, just ahead of New Zealand. Among european nations, Switzerland is 14th, behind Italy (13th), […]
Family planning and climate change – the arithmetic causing a stir
Following the recent release of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on its dramatic climate change predictions, the news agency APF published a chart from 2017 showing the effects of various actions to reduce human emissions. Quelques moyens pour réduire son empreinte carbone #AFP pic.twitter.com/QcFw0waCUG — Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) October 8, […]
