Le Matin. Jean-Michel Dolivo put forward a motion for Vaud to follow Geneva and grant permits to illegal workers. Vaud’s cantonal parliament rejected the plan by 71 votes to 60. The proposal would have worked in a similar way to Papyrus, a plan unveiled in Geneva recently, which grants visas to illegal workers that meet […]
Nationwide burka ban rejected by Swiss government
20 Minutes. After the National Assembly narrowly accepted a proposal for a nationwide ban on the burka, the Council of States (upper house), rejected the plan on Thursday by 26 votes to 9, with 4 abstentions. The proposal put forward by Walter Wobmann (UDC/SVP) has now been definitively rejected. At the same time Walter Wobmann […]
Swiss score highest number of patents per capita. Again.
According to the European Patents Office (EPO), once again Switzerland topped the per capita patents ranking in 2016, with 892 applications per million inhabitants. Second and third places went to the Netherlands (405) and Sweden (360), followed by Denmark (334) and Finland (331). The first non-European country was Japan in ninth place (166), well above […]
Green politician wants to ban all petrol and diesel cars from Swiss roads by 2025
20 Minutes. National Councillor Balthasar Glättli tabled a motion that would require all cars in Switzerland to be electric by 2025. He sees this as a way to meet emission levels set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change which aims to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees by 2030. His plan […]
Geneva Motor Show wishes women a beautiful and sweet day
Today is international women’s day and the theme is Be Bold For Change. As the Geneva motor show prepares to open, we noticed they had posted something on their Facebook page to mark the day: “Women are honored today! We wish them a beautiful and sweet day!” The car industry has traditionally been male dominated. […]
Switzerland ranked best country despite relatively low GDP per capita
In a new ranking by US News, Switzerland is described as a nation with cultural contributions disproportionate to its small size. Swiss citizens have won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than any other nation. Switzerland takes first place by being a solid all rounder. Out of the 80 countries included, Switzerland ranks […]
Thought provoking art meets the animal kingdom at Geneva’s Natural History Museum
To celebrate its 50th birthday, Geneva’s Natural History Museum invited two artists to transform parts of the building. French artist and engineer Alexandre Dang graced the windows with his dancing solar art, and Nicolas Righetti, a photographer from Geneva, created a photographic installation called “Guided Visits!” (Visites Guidées!). Dang’s provocative work comprising 2,000 solar-powered dancing figurines […]
Earthquake shakes Switzerland
An earthquake, measuring 4.6 on the richter scale, shook Linthal in the canton of Glarus at 21:12 on 6 March 2017, according to the Swiss Seismological Service. The quake occurred at a depth of 5 km. In addition, the Swiss Seismological Service tweeted that the quake occurred at Ortstock in the canton of Schwyz and measured 4.7. […]
Switzerland ranked world’s worst currency manipulator
The Economist magazine placed Switzerland first in a recent ranking of currency manipulators. According to the analysis, China, commonly thought of as the world’s champion at keeping its currency’s value artificially low, appears to be doing the opposite: actively trying to push the value of its currency up. On the other hand, Switzerland that has […]
One Swiss resort suffers lowest snowfall in recorded history
This season, a resort on the southern side of the Alps received the least snow in recorded history, according to Meteo Swiss. Between December 2016 and February 2017, the resort of Bosco-Gurin in Ticino received snow cover of only 14 cm. This is the lowest depth since the region started recording snow depth in 1961. […]
