A recent study by Switzerland’s Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) found that 43% of Switzerland’s population was overweight or obese. Of these 30% were overweight and 13% obese. This rate of obesity was the same as the global average in a 2014 study. The research, which used the Body Mass Index (BMI) to measure levels of obesity […]
China fines Swiss-based packager Tetra Pak for breaking monopoly rules
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. According to Reuters, following an investigation, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said, it found out that Tetra Pak violated some provisions in China’s anti-trust law and will impose a fine of 668 million yuan ($97 million) on Tetra Pak for “abuse of dominant market position”. The […]
Swiss National Bank won’t cut record low interest rate again, survey shows
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank, which has the lowest interest rate among the world’s major central banks, may be done cutting. SNB President Thomas Jordan and his fellow policy makers will keep the deposit rate unchanged at minus 0.75 percent until at least the end of the first quarter of […]
A pilgrimage to Geneva’s cemetery of Kings, with artist and writer John Berger
British writer and artist John Berger – 90 years-old on 5 November, 2016 – has lived in the nearby French Haute-Savoie since the 1970s and has made a name celebrating the vanishing culture and life of European peasants. But as Peter Hulm points out, Berger is also a surpising fan of bourgeois Geneva, and of […]
Swisscom promises to put an end to unwanted sales calls
Swisscom’s fixed line (remember those) customers will be given the option of blocking unwanted calls from 28 November. The service will be free and can be activated by checking a box online or by calling the Swisscom hotline (0800 800 800). Sunrise and UPC are expected to follow Swisscom by mid 2017, according to 24 […]
Anger rises in Bern over Clinton donation
24 Heures. Over the weekend the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag revealed that the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), a government agency, made a large payment to the Clinton Foundation, at a politically delicate time when Switzerland was in the middle of difficult discussions over Swiss banking activities related to US citizens. In February 2011, […]
Birds confined as avian flu arrives in Switzerland
The Swiss federal office of food security and veterinary affairs (OSAV) announced that from tomorrow, all of Switzerland will become a controlled zone. The agency aims to avoid all contact between wild birds and domestic ones. Adding that nothing so far indicates Swiss bird farms have been affected or that the virus has been transmitted […]
Those with less are worth more in Schwyz than Geneva
Last Friday, the federal Swiss tax office published the latest statistics covering the wealth and earnings of the nation’s more than 5 million tax payers – Switzerland has wealth tax, so net worth is included in tax returns. The highest percentage of the very wealthiest (CHF 10 million plus) lived in Schwyz. Geneva also made […]
New Zealand earthquake leads to tsunami alert
Those, with friends or family in New Zealand, living in Switzerland, may be unaware of the recent earthquakes that hit New Zealand, or may have been confused by some reports. According to GeoNet, New Zealand’s official source of geological hazard information, six severe1 earthquakes have been recorded since midnight New Zealand time. The most severe […]
SMI: Trump win boosts pharma and financials
11 November 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. A rally in pharmaceutical and banking shares helped boost the Swiss Market Index this week as investors weighed the prospect of a Trump’ presidency in the United States. Stocks in the healthcare sector jumped after Donald Trump’s victory as drug pricing […]
