20 Minutes. The administration of the city of Geneva wants schools to serve more vegetarian meals. Administrative councillor Esther Alder told 20 Minutes “We are receiving more and more requests, particularly from children’s parents.” While the city cannot impose rules on school canteens it hopes that all of its 47 school restaurants start to offer […]
A majority of Swiss support legalising cannabis, says survey
According to a survey, a majority of Swiss support the legalising the sale of cannabis under certain conditions. The survey, conducted by GFS Zurich for Fachverband Sucht and GREA, an association of professionals focussed on addiction, involved questioning 1,200 people by telephone. Of those surveyed, 22% had tried cannabis. The biggest variation was across age. Only 4% […]
Swiss commune fighting to have accused hate preacher expelled
20 Minutes. According to reports in the Tages-Anzeiger and by Swiss broadcaster SRF, the Swiss commune of Nidau wants the canton of Bern to expel a Libyan imam who has preached hate. The preacher has reportedly called for the destruction of all enemies of islam, including christians, jews, hindus, Russians and shiites. The man arrived in […]
A Swiss parliamentary commission wants to get rid of imputed rent
20 Minutes. In Switzerland, home owners have to add a theoretical rent to their taxable income. This means home ownership can increase your annual tax bill, sometimes substantially. For many home owners the tax effect of the theoretical or imputed rent is cancelled out by deductions for mortgage interest and home maintenance expenses, however those […]
8 people missing after Swiss landslide
According to Swiss broadcaster RTS, 14 people are unaccounted for following a landslide in the Val Bondasca region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden on Wednesday. Rocks and earth poured down the valley. A video of the landslide can be seen here. RTS shows the aftermath in another video. According to local police, six of […]
Swiss gender pay gap only 2 percent, says study
A report published by the head hunting firm Korn Ferry finds pay differences between men and women doing the same job are statistically insignificant. The report says that while it is true that, as a group, women get paid less than men, it is not because they receive less for the same work. It is […]
At least one catalan terror suspect spent time in Switzerland
Le Matin. According to Tages-Anzeiger, at least one of two of the suspects in the recent Spanish terrorist attacks, Mohamed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub, spent time in Zurich in 2016. Fedpol, Switzerland’s federal police, confirmed this information, which was published by Spanish media. Polizeiaktion in Barcelona: Mann mit Sprengstoffweste niedergeschossen. https://t.co/jzMYtg1Kzy — Tages-Anzeiger (@tagesanzeiger) August […]
Most popular Swiss baby names in 2016
Today, the Swiss government released statistics on the most popular baby names in 2016. The Swiss statistics office has been collecting this data for 31 years. In 2016, Mia (488), Emma (446) and Elena (327) were the three most popular girls’ names. Together these three names were given to 3% of the 42,900 girls born […]
40% would struggle if Swiss health insurance premiums rose, says survey
A survey by price comparison site comparis.ch found 40% would struggle if Swiss health insurance premiums rose significantly in 2018. The survey questioned 700 people across all of Switzerland. 20% of families said they couldn’t cope with a rise of CHF 10 a month and 13% said they couldn’t cope with a CHF 20 monthly […]
Halal and kosher meat might fall under proposed Swiss animal cruelty import restrictions
20 Minutes. A motion adopted by Switzerland’s parliament on 7 June 2017 proposes halting the import the meat of mistreated animals. The work of Matthias Aebischer, a socialist member from the canton of Bern, was originally focused on foie gras, frogs legs and fur, but there are now suggestions his motion might include animals slaughtered […]
